Went to Lock 8 again on a short trip this past weekend. I caught one measly little ol bass. My buddy however caught one nice chunky bass. 2.25 i'd say. Dark comes quick now that the time has changed. At least i got to go!

Glad you got to go Buzz.  Where is lock 8?

Lock 8 is located in Hale County(south of Tuscaloosa County) in the Akron community. To get there, say from AL I-20/59 take exit 71a and go southward on Hwy 69 so. toward Moundville, AL. Go through Moundville, continue on hwy 69 to Havana Junction(10 mi. ?). Veer right onto hwy 60(where it forks) go a half mile maybe and turn right onto Stewart Road, county road 42(you will see a propane tank farm at the turn). Follow that road to the community of Akron( On Stewart Road, you will only go over the RR tracks, once). Then take a right at the battered brown boat ramp > sign onto L st. (don't take a left to go back over the RR tracks at the end of Stewart Road) and follow it out until you hit the water.  Caution- that last road, L st. is a humdinger!.....from the boat ramp (on the water) some of what we fish is upstream, mostly on the right until to go approx. 5 to 6 miles then some is on the left ....back water areas that is.

No more than i get to go, I am thrilled to just get out there ever so often! And the water surface temp was approx. 68* btw. The 2 we caught came from the entrance to 5 mile creek.

Bing Map it(or equiv.), that'll let you view the area at least.

Jig Man, If you wind up going to Wind Creek State Park/Lake Martin on your winter excursion, the widest part of the lake(on that end) is just past the Woods and Youngs Island areas. If the wind is up, be xtra careful(if  your ina boat), i've seen and rode 3+ ' rollers out there  . Four creeks: Elkahatchee and Coley up stream, and Sandy (which is huge), and Manoy creek down stream from Wind Creek State Park. Not counting the main lake areas, those 4 alone ought to keep you busy for a few years  .

Also, there is a bouy marker off the main point out from the Park, ... as you turn to go down stream toward the islands.... whatever you do!?, do not cut between the buoy and the point! You might tear your drawers up!

  That sounds like a real good choice to me Dane, as there are indeed some dandy fish down there. My Foreman at work, and his partner, fish there a couple of times a year in their club tournaments and they have fished it for years also. If you'd like I could check with him, closer to time that is, on some areas say from Roland Cooper Park on down so maybe that'll help you some too. He's usually generous with helping someone trying new waters so I don't think he would mind at all. I know he's helped me on more than one occassion!

 The Alabama has a real good Crappie population too so you might just be in for an overall good trip. Just like at your house, we do tend to get heavy rains that time of year so flooding does occur at times(choc. milk) but from reading a few years of fishing post of yours, that would not be anything new to you either .

ltr!,

Buzz

Jack it is just north of Camden on the AL river.

JJ, Shell Creek Landing is on the lower end of Dannellely and is where the club(NBC) puts in and is where you and i fished together ... that was the last tournament we fished togethe if i remeber correctly. You and i caight spots that afternoon while sharing the area with Ellis and Hillbilly part of the time. I don't remember our poundage(under 10 i'm sure, but ...) but we went from 1 tiny LM caught off the wing wall to a limit of spots  in a few hours fishing the current late in the day(after lunch), and we even culled all but one of our first limit to get what we had. It was one of those tournaments where i actually contributed to the bag, lol.