LAKE LU

Fishing

Newsletter

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Three Year Monthly Angler Attendance Comparison

2018 Angler Attendance

2017 Angler Attendance

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Three Year Bass Harvest Comparison

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Three Year Bream Harvest Comparison

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We received 2.9 inches of rain at the lake for the

month of January. Secchi disc readings indicate 48

inches of visibility. Water temperature is 50°F.

I forgot to include the big bass data from 2017. I

will include it in the January 2018 newsletter. We

had 57 big bass caught that ranged in size from 3.5

pounds (smallest) to 11.5 pounds (largest). These

bass collectively weighed a total of 409.50 pounds.

We only had 7 bass removed from the fishery. The

average big bass weight was 7.18 pounds per acre!

That is growing a very nice average trophy class bass

per acre folks!

January through December the following lures were

used to catch the 57 bass. Jerk bait, rattletrap (x 8

times), crawfish rattletrap (x 8 times), buzz bait,

rattletrap, watermelon red curl tail worm, lizard,

swimbait, chatter bait, buzz bait (x2), watermelon

seed worm, crankbait, rooster tail (x2), plastic

worm, plastic crawfish, jerk bait, white lizard,

lizard, white lizard, purple finesse worm, fire tiger

frog, rattletrap, 12-inch watermelon worm, hula

popper, red eye shad, Ned rig, Ned rig, crawfish

rattletrap, white buzz bait, oval head jig and pig,

crank bait, brush hog, swim bait, crank bait, green

worm, accidentally caught on live shell cracker.

Many bass anglers are having great luck with the

rattle trap crankbait this January. The chrome blue

and chrome black are working the best. The Yo-Yo

technique of rattletrap presentation is giving

success to those that know how to work it. The

crawfish crankbait is good as well. Best results are

with the fire red crawfish and not the more muted

color lure. We have had a big bass caught every day

that it was not too cold to keep anglers away from

the lake. One thing is for certain, the extreme cold

set a record of days that no one came out to the lake.

There is another certainty that I have found

following extremely cold winters. The coldness of

the winter is in a direct relationship to how crazy

anglers and visitors will behave once the weather

finally does change and turn nice. It’s like all that

cabin fever is released all at once on the first really

beautiful day.

Darren Mayfield is a first time Lake LU bass angler,

and he caught and kept this nice 8-pound bass.

Darren is a big crankbait angler and must have had

60 or 70 crankbaits in his tackle box. Darren will

catch many big bass at Lake LU.

Glenn Rawson, a UWA student, caught and released

this nice 5.75 pound 20.75-inch bass on 1-24-18.

Damion Welch and Jay Cowan, UWA students and

members of the UWA bass fishing club, caught these

nice 8- pound and 6.75-pound bass. Both fish were

released.

Jeff Shelton, a UWA staff member and assistant

coach of the UWA bass fishing club, caught this nice

6-pound bass last week. Photo by Damion Welch.

We got a new outboard motor to use on the lake! A

sincere thanks to the UWA administration for the

purchase. Now we can pull more big, dead trees out

into the lake to serve as fish attractors.

2018 BASS HARVEST REGULATION As soon as I hear of a regulation change I will inform

the public

Anglers have an unlimited bass harvest at Lake

LU, as long as the bass is less than 14 inches in total

length.

In addition, anglers may also harvest 1 fish

greater than 22 inches in total length, per person,

per day at Lake LU.

Please continue to encourage anglers to harvest

small bass. ~ Jay Haffner

Bluegill harvest REDUCED to 25

bream per person per day

REMINDER: Bream harvest has

changed and anglers may only catch

25 bream per person per day.

I had used the lake tractor and pushed up a big

brush pile back in December that needed burning.

Now this trail section looks neat and clean.

January sunset.

If anyone wants any information regarding fishing,

nature trails or prairie wildflower blooming times,

please give me a call at 205-652-9266 or e-mail me at

lrr@uwa.edu.

Feel free to visit the Lake LU website at

www.lakelu.uwa.edu.

Thank you,

Robby Limerick

Lake Manager

Lake LU

The University of West Alabama

lrr@uwa.edu

1-205-652-9266.

mailto:lrr@uwa.eduhttp://www.lakelu.uwa.edu/mailto:lrr@uwa.edu

All photos by R. Limerick unless otherwise noted.