We are fishing the Alan Henry Working Man's T, Friday Night Bites on October 3rd, this Friday night. We fish from 6:30 to 10:30, being in line with your fish by 10:30. $20 entry fee with an optional $5 big bass pot. 3 fish limit, so if you keep 3, one must be 18" or longer. Of course, if you catch 3 over 18", more power to you. We look forward to seeing you at the ramp. Please check in by 6:20, as I fish too. We launch at 6:30.

Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Haven't ever had a chance to fish Alan Henry and will try and make it up there tomorrow if I get off work. Lake sure jumped up with that last good rain. I know fishing was tough before that has anyone fished it since the rain?

I have a hard time consistently catching fish on Alan Henry. But I've done better after the rain than I've ever really done before the rain. Catching spots on spooks almost anywhere, I'm just having a hard time catching any largemouths. Only largemouth I've seen recently is a close to 3lb fish my daughter caught (first bass ever) on a small swim bait right before all the rain.

Alan Henry has gone in the past 5 years from one of the best to one of the worst. The spots are about all anyone catches. Just had a benefit tournament there put on by my bass club. Big Bass won $1500. A guy from our club won. 90 contestants. 3.5 pounds won $1500. Been like that for a long time. I hope the new increase of 10 ft of water will help.

Anybody ever been fishing with the guide on the lake that catches 50+ fish/day with 20+/day over 5 lbs?

I keep reading these reports thinking I just got to find out a way to catch them. Really wanting to book several trips just to prove to myself those kinds of trips are possible.

I've never booked a guide, but I know there are some big fish in that lake. Last spring, a guy motored over to me so I could help him take a picture of one he caught. He pulled out a double digit LMB from the livewell. To me, it was like shaking hands with bigfoot. I couldn't believe it. My PB on AH is a 6. The big ones are there albeit fewer and farther between than we would like.

I think what would help Alan Henry out the most is if the spot population was drastically reduced. I take my wife out fishing with minnows, and we'll catch 1lb spots all day long...same size, length, and weight. There should be a little variance there between the classes, but it doesn't seem like there is.

I think I have made up my mind that we are going to start keeping our limit of small spots every trip we make. So far we've been releasing everything we've caught.

No doubt there are big fish out there, I just have a hard time believing these people consistently the numbers of large fish that are being claimed. Not in any way saying they are being dishonest. I would just love to see this once with my own eyes to help boost my confidence a bit on the lake.

I have been with him he does not catch those number ever time out but he does mopre times than not. That is iof you are talking about Mr. Pool, and his spoons do work.

I am confident in saying that I have fished Alan Henry more than any one person over the last year. I pull my boat down after work and will fish to midnight 2 or 3 times during the week. I will fish all day on a Saturday and spend the night in my truck to fish all day Sunday....Divorce will do this to a man, I know many of you know what I am saying. Therapy it seems.

Here are my observations....

1) The fish at Alan Henry will feed in spurts and streaks....I have been on countless schools of fish that will not touch any bait at all for hours at a time and then BAM.....they go crazy for about 30 minutes.It seems to me that I very rarely pick up one single fish from a location. It is either feast or famine.

2) There are some big fish still in AH. I also think they travel together and live together. If I catch a real nice largemouth, I can almost assure you there is another one of the same size or bigger in the same school. The big fish schools are harder to find, but they are awesome when you get on one. They do hang out below the more aggressive schooling Spots on OCCASION...I do not see this as much as people seem to mention it on Alan Henry. I have seen big fish schooling in the same area as the little spots schooling. Iy seems you never know the size of fish in a school until you catch one....Makes it fun!

3) Find the shad and you will find the bass. As I mentioned earlier, they might not bite right away, but they will sometime and then get ready. It seems they will work the water from 30 ft all the way to the surface when they are ready to eat. It can get wild and then......shuts off again.

4) Mr. Pool and his brother know more about Alan Henry than anyone living. He catches fish and big fish. If you see that yellow Stratos on the lake, you might want to pay attention for a few minutes....just fyi with all due respect.

Just my observations from a full year of fishing the lake weekly. Take care and set the hook! BWG

No, no one goes out and catches 5+ lbers consistently outside of spawn. You will hear a lot of fishing stories about that lake (or most lakes). AH has some big fish and people catch them now and then, but no one is putting them in the boat more often than not. Generally speaking, if people have stories like that, they would have more proof than words.

I'm just happy we got some water that may help us have some sort of fishing for a few more years.

Good luck to anyone who heads out there.

BWG,

Remember, I owe you $25. The 1.9 lb spot I caught last time was big fish, I just needed a squeaker to win the T, but alas, fish 4, Thad 1. We donate all the spots caught to the local crappie fishermen, or have the last 3 events. they eat what they catch, so it is a windfall for them. I have seen some big fish caught out of that lake through the years. We just need to get an 18" minimum length on LMB and no limit on 5 spots. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Had 11 fish the T with first place being 4lb 4oz one 2 fish, one over. Caught dead sticking a flue style bait with big fish being 3-10. 2nd place was 3-8 on 2 unders. He caught his fish on a black buzzbait. Nearly all anglers weighed fish, so the additional water seemed to help the bite. The buzzbait guy said he caught 15-20, but nothing of size. I had a 2 lb spot, but nothing to go with him. All spots were kept to reduce thte population as much as possible and the LMB was released, unharmed. Seemed like most fish were caught by hitting them in the head, they were scattered from one end of the lake to the other.

Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains