Logan Martin Lake Fishing Reports: Spots, Seasons & Tips
15,263 acres of Coosa River water between Neely Henry and Logan Martin Dam — east Alabama's shallow, current-fed spotted bass and largemouth tournament stage.
The latest Logan Martin Lake fishing reports put bass on shallow coves and deep current seams — this 15,263-acre Coosa River reservoir has hosted three Bassmaster Classics and produces spotted bass, largemouth, crappie, and catfish year-round.
Alabama Power closed the Coosa River with Logan Martin Dam near Vincent in August 1964, backing water 48.5 miles upstream to the tailrace of Neely Henry Dam and creating 15,263 acres of shoreline-rich reservoir east of Birmingham. Locals call it the Lake of a Thousand Coves because the shoreline folds into pocket after pocket between I-20 and the dam, where the lake widens out of its original river channel. Above I-20 it still runs like a river. Logan Martin has hosted three Bassmaster Classics, a Toyota Series opener, and the 2024 St. Croix Bassmaster Open. Spotted bass, largemouth, crappie, catfish, stripers, and hybrids all live here. Joey Nania, who fishes the Elite Qualifiers and guides the lake, calls it a two-pattern fishery — you can catch them shallow in the backs of pockets or deep on the main lake, often both in the same day. Clarity runs stained to clear depending on Alabama Power's generation schedule.
“Logan Martin Lake holds fish in patterns you can set your watch to. The bite isn't a secret — it's what most fishermen don't know about where the grass thins onto a hard ledge.”
Alabama Fishing Atlas Editorial
Fishing Logan Martin Lake on video
Bassmaster Open at Logan Martin Lake — Day 1 takeoff
Bassmaster
Logan Martin Lake South Section Breakdown — Bass Fishing Spots
Logan Martin spot breakdown
02 · Live
Today's Bite
—
Bite Score
Unavailable
Based on water temp, barometric pressure, moon phase & solunar window.
Major and minor solunar windows shift daily with the moon’s transit. Fish the windows above, or check the Seasonal Playbook below for Logan Martin Lake’s current pattern.
03 · The Calendar
Seasonal Playbook
March through May on Logan Martin is the shallowest window of the year, and rising water from winter pool to summer pool keeps the bass moving. Water climbs from the mid-50s into the 70s. Pre-spawn largemouth stage on Choccolocco Creek Mouth flats and the back of every cove from Lincoln's Landing to the I-20 bridge — a chatterbait, a square-bill crankbait, or a Texas-rigged creature bait on laydowns works every time. Spawn windows hit Parker pockets and the Broken Arrow arm by mid-April. The Logan Martin bass fishing spawn pattern is well-documented — Joey Nania's read at the 2024 Open was that the quality largemouth kicker can come shallow while spotted bass are already working deep. Spotted bass move with the spawn but hold on main-lake rock year-round. Crappie fill the brush piles on the lower lake by late March. Logan Martin crappie fishing peaks April.
June through August and Logan Martin goes summer-pool and settles into a two-story pattern. Spotted bass concentrate on main-lake structure — long points, bridge pilings, and offshore ditches in 12-25 feet on the wider lower lake between Riverside and the dam. A drop-shot, a shaky head, and the underspin are the Logan Martin bass fishing staples. Largemouth stay in the creek arms on wood and bucket-marker cover; skip a wacky worm at the boathouses on Broken Arrow or Woods Island Creek and cover water. Night fishing peaks July and August — dark single-Colorado spinnerbaits and Jitterbugs along rip-rap from 10 PM to 2 AM. Striped bass and hybrids school on shad on the open lower-lake water; watch for bird activity and burn a swimbait through. Dam generation runs the current — check Alabama Power's schedule. The Logan Martin dam fishing pier at Lakeside Park holds bream all summer.
September into November shad migrate back into the creek arms and set Logan Martin on fire. Water drops through the 70s into the 60s. Spotted bass and largemouth run with the shad up Choccolocco Creek, Broken Arrow, and Woods Island — creek mouths produce from dawn until the sun is high. Swimbaits, underspins, and walking topwater baits take schooling fish on the lower-lake flats. The October window is the year's best reaction-strike bite — Logan Martin fishing report data from 2024 Open practice showed fish running down a Whopper Plopper in three feet of water. Crappie kick back in and hold on the Broken Arrow brush piles from mid-October on. Crankbait fishing gets good as stained water seeps into the creek arms — a shad-colored medium-diving bait on shallow grass and wood transitions catches three-pounders. Catfish stay active on cut-shad in the dam tailrace through November.
December through February and Logan Martin slows down but stays fishable. Spotted bass pile on deep rocky structure on the lower lake — 20-40 feet on channel swings, the I-20 bridge pilings, and Coosa Island points. A drop-shot with a small shad-colored worm and a jerkbait on a fifteen-second pause are the winter bread-and-butter. Largemouth concentrate on wind-driven rocky banks in the creek arms and eat jig-and-pig worked slowly. The best Logan Martin fishing spots in winter are the current-washed rock seams near the dam — a bladebait, a flutter spoon, or a football jig in 30-50 feet catches spots and the occasional hybrid. The Logan Martin dam tailwater below Riverside holds catfish in the deeper holes all winter — cut shad on a slip sinker rig. Crappie fishing Logan Martin Lake turns to deep-water brush piles and bridge pilings on the lower lake — a 1/32 jig on eight-pound test.
12-month calendar
Tap any month to expand pattern notes. Legend: B = Bass · C = Crappie · S = Striper · Cf = Catfish.
Per-season technique videos
Alabama Bass Trail TV — 2024-01 ABT 100 #1 Logan Martin Lake
Alabama Bass Trail TV
Chatterbait fishing for LARGE Coosa Spotted Bass — Logan Martin Alabama
B Fish — Coosa spotted-bass footage
Smashing bass at Logan Martin lake early March 2026
Tournament pros have been decoding Logan Martin Lake for five decades. Every tip on this card is cited to the original weigh-in recap or angler interview — no paraphrased fluff, no invented quotes.
2024 · spring
Joey Nania
St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Logan Martin (2024 field read)
There are a ton of variables in play allowing you to fish shallow and deep, which is a good fallback plan should one not option not work. The X factor is there is still the potential to catch a quality largemouth in shallow water. If someone gets one of those bites, and can back it up with 2 1/2 pound or more pound spotted bass they are in business.
The pattern: Nania — an Elite Qualifier who guides on Logan Martin — frames the lake as a two-pattern play where spotted bass fill the bag offshore and a kicker largemouth from a spawning pocket sets the tournament apart. The read applies anytime you're on Logan Martin in the spring: commit to one, keep the other as a fallback.
2024 · spring
Chad Gray
St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Logan Martin
In practice I caught spotted bass at 25 feet and then in backs of pockets in less than two feet of water. The postspawn bass are really all across the water column.
The pattern: Gray's practice read captures Logan Martin's postspawn chaos — spots will be in 25 feet and in 2 feet on the same day. Logan Martin fishing map work before the trip pays off because the productive water column is wide open in May; don't lock into one depth.
2024 · spring
B.A.S.S. / ADCNR Restock Alabama partnership
Inaugural Restock Alabama stocking at Lincoln's Landing
Parties from all around the state of Alabama joined at Lincoln's Landing on Logan Martin Lake today for the inaugural Restock Alabama event where 20,000 largemouth bass were stocked into the lake to increase numbers and size in the future.
The pattern: ADCNR stocked 20,000 largemouth into Logan Martin at Lincoln's Landing as the kickoff to the Restock Alabama program. Fish entering the population from 2024 are showing up as keepers — the upper lake near Lincoln's Landing is a priority area for post-stock largemouth patterns over the next few seasons.
1997 · summer
Dion Hibdon (historical — 1997 Classic winner)
Bassmaster Classic at Logan Martin Lake
Dion Hibdon won the 1997 Bassmaster Classic at Logan Martin Lake and he did so by using these two presentations: a finesse worm and shaky-head style pattern on the pressured Coosa fish.
The pattern: Hibdon's 1997 Classic win on Logan Martin is a case study in finesse on pressured Coosa water — when every angler in the field is grinding the same bank, a shaky-head finesse worm on light fluoro out-produces reaction baits. The pattern still holds on today's Logan Martin when the lake is locked down.
05 · Hire Local
Fishing Guides
Neutral listings — no paid placement.
Guntersville Guide Service (Lonnie Cochran)
Lake Guntersville, Chickamauga Lake, Smith Lake, Logan Martin Lake
Bassmaster Open at Logan Martin Lake — Day 1 takeoff
Source: YouTube, Bassmaster
Around the lake
Alabama Bass Trail TV — 2024-01 ABT 100 #1 Logan Martin Lake
Source: YouTube, Alabama Bass Trail TV
06 · Planning the Trip
Stay & Eat
Where to Stay on Logan Martin Lake
Lodging near the ramps. Some links below are affiliate partnerships (Booking.com, VRBO) — they cost you nothing extra and help keep the Atlas free. Full disclosure →
Vacation rentals on Logan Martin (VRBO)
airbnb · Pell City
Private-dock rentals from Pell City to Lincoln's Landing. Verify dock depth and launch access per property listing before booking for a tournament week.
Historic show cave in Childersburg — 30 minutes south of the Logan Martin Dam. Rain-day family option.
Around Logan Martin Lake
Fuel on the upper lake: the gas station at I-20 Exit 158 (Lincoln) runs 24 hours and is a two-minute drive from Lincoln's Landing. Pell City has full amenities on the lower lake — Lakeside Park is the central public access with a fishing pier and playground, and Top of the River serves catfish a hundred yards from the water. Poor House Branch Marina on the Choccolocco arm holds tackle, live bait, on-water gasoline, and slip access. Nearest ER is St. Vincent's St. Clair Hospital in Pell City. Race-week traffic on I-20 during Talladega Superspeedway events can add thirty minutes to the drive from Birmingham — check the NASCAR calendar before booking a tournament trip. Rain-day backup: DeSoto Caverns in Childersburg (thirty minutes south) or the Talladega short-course racing museum. Dinner after weigh-in on the lower lake is usually Top of the River for catfish or The Rail Public House downtown Pell City for casual burgers.
07 · Launch Day
On the Water
Boat ramps
concrete rampOpen
Lincoln's Landing
Lincoln
Parking
spots
Fee
Free
Host ramp for the 2024 St. Croix Bassmaster Open and site of the inaugural Restock Alabama 20,000-largemouth stocking. Off Magnolia Street on the upper lake. Paved parking, courtesy docks.
5-fish combined (largemouth/spotted/smallmouth) · 12-inch statewide minimum (no lake-specific slot)
Crappie
30 per day · 9-inch minimum
Striped/White Bass
15 per day combined temperate bass (striped + hybrid + white bass)
ADPH fish-consumption advisory for Logan Martin — PCB levels in some species are elevated due to historical Choccolocco Creek contamination. Check the current Alabama Department of Public Health advisory before consuming fish from Logan Martin.
Alabama fishing license required for all anglers 16 and older. Always verify current rules before your trip.
Two things — spotted bass and coves. Logan Martin is the Lake of a Thousand Coves, 15,263 acres of Coosa River water that hosted three Bassmaster Classics (1992, 1993, 1997) and the 2024 Bassmaster Open. The lake fishes shallow in the upper river and coves and deep on the widened lower lake between Riverside and the dam.
Late March through May for the pre-spawn and spawn in the upper lake and creek arms, then October for the shad migration and topwater schooling on the lower lake. Summer offers a deep-structure spotted bass bite, and winter is a slow drop-shot and jerkbait play on lower-lake rock.
Lincoln's Landing is the upper-lake tournament ramp — host of the 2024 Bassmaster Open — and Lakeside Park in Pell City is the central lower-lake option with a fishing pier and playground. The Logan Martin Dam Public Ramp near Vincent covers the dam and tailwater. All are public and free.
Yes. The Alabama Department of Public Health publishes a fish consumption advisory for Logan Martin because PCBs from historical Choccolocco Creek contamination persist in some species. Check the current ADPH advisory before eating fish from the lake — catch-and-release is not affected.
Yes. Logan Martin crappie fishing is strongest late March through April on the lower-lake brush piles, bridge pilings, and coves, then again from mid-October through winter on deeper brush. A 1/32-ounce jig on eight-pound test with minnows is the standard rig.
Fishing regulations, water conditions, and seasonal patterns change. Alabama Fishing Atlas provides informational content only. Verify all regulations with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources before fishing, keeping any fish, or launching watercraft. We are not liable for decisions made based on information published here. Full disclaimer →
Citation
Data sources
—Wikipedia — Logan Martin Lake (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Martin_Lake)
—Alabama Power Shorelines — Logan Martin Lake (https://apcshorelines.com/lakes/logan-martin-lake/)
—Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) — Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (https://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing)
—Bassmaster — Analyzing Logan Martin (https://www.bassmaster.com/opens/news/analyzing-logan-martin/)
—Bassmaster — Inaugural Restock Alabama event at Logan Martin (https://www.bassmaster.com/conservation-news/slideshow/inaugural-restock-alabama-event-at-logan-martin/)
—Bassmaster — 1997 Bassmaster Classic at Logan Martin Lake (B.A.S.S. Library archives) (https://www.bassmaster.com/bassmaster-b-a-s-s-library-archives-membership/video/video-1997-bassmaster-classic/)
—Wikipedia — Choccolocco Creek (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choccolocco_Creek) — context on the ADPH fish consumption advisory for Logan Martin
