Neely Henry is a unique place. Down river looks like a good size lake and upriver from downtown Gadsden fishes like a creek. We have plenty of coosa spotted bass. 2-3 pound spotted bass and a kicker largemouth will get you up front. In March however, it takes pretty heavy stringers to win. But don’t think for one minute that you can’t generate a heavy string with these spotted bass. My lure of choice is the original Bill Lewis Rat-L-trap (chrome with blue black, 1/4 or 1/2 ounce) especially if their feeding. You can catch spots as fast as you can cast and even land some doubles (one fish on each treble).
If the bite is a little slow I’ll switch to a 6″ electric red worm. The worm I use is from a company called “curly tail” from Birmingham, AL. Some of the local shops down here carry them. That might seem a little old school but I’m very confident with my T-rig. Others like throwing jigs and grubs and such.
If I get a limit of spots I then move up to the shallow grass or boat docks and start hunting for that kicker largemouth. I love buzzbaits and other topwater plugs like the tiny torpedo if conditions are right for the grass. I will work boat docks to death with my t-rig or jig-n-pig. If all goes well I might get to cull some spots. Having five spots in the boat sure does ease the pressure so you can relax and concentrate on that one kicker.
Check out http://lakes.alabamapower.com and print the generation schedule for Neely Henry. When the dam is generating, the current picks up and will turn the spots feeding lamp on. Also, here is a good article http://fishin.com/reports/al/neely.htm about the lake and fish behavior across all 4 seasons. Dustin King’s (King Fisher) website is http://www.dustinkingfishing.com. He can put you on the fish! GOOD LUCK!