Is there an art to fishing Lay Lake? Probably not, luck more than likely. In order to fish Lay, you must have have patience of a saint and be flexible enough to change with the conditions. I believe one of the things that has made Lay become one of the favorite spots to fish are the size of the fish caught. This is attributed to the stocking program that Mark's does at the tournament every year. You'll never fish any other tournament that puts more back in the lake that what's taken out.

Several techniques can be used on Lay to catch fish, all according to the area you are fishing and your choice of lures. The two basic methods are power fishing (flipping, pitching, swimming) and finesse fishing. I personally enjoy both methods with Finesse being my "go to" method when you want to catch numbers of fish not necessarily quality. The Davis shaky head and sizmic shaker worms are a combination that's hard to beat. Some of the best places on Lay Lake to finesse fish are around the narrows on the lower end of the lake. The spotted bass like the rock bluffs and the water current that is present around the narrows. During the hot summertime boat docks seem to be where fish live.

The spring creek area offers a lot of different water depths as well as different type of boat docks. Just remember, not all boat docks are the same. For some unknown reason some docks hold fish and some don't. I prefer the small isolated docks, the kind that most fishermen just pass by. Another key element on dock fishing in the summertime is the shade of the sun. I compare bass to people. In the hot sun I am looking for the coolest shade. Bass will do the same thing. One of the biggest mistakes fishermen make when dock fishing is when you catch a fish off a dock what part of the dock did the fish come from. Was it the outside poles, inside poles, left side of the outside poles, right side of the outside poles, etc. The point here is to pay attention to the position of the fish, because 99% of the time when you are fishing a row of boat docks the fish will positioned the same on each dock.

The most popular method of mastering Lay Lake is the mighty flipping stick. If you are into catching big fish this is definitely the way to go. The only drawback in flipping and swimming is don't expect to catch a lot of fish. If you can get six to ten bites a day that's a good day. But your chances of catching a six pounder are a lot better flipping than finesse fishing. I like to use the sizmic sassy toad with a 3/0 or 4/0 must ad wide gap hook. The only problem is what patch of grass do you fish. Just ride up and down Lay and look at all those miles and miles of grass, they all look the same. Flipping or swimming the grass is a lot like fishing boat docks, not all docks hold fish, the same is true for grass. The key is to find that little something different about one patch of grass versus another patch. When you catch a fish out of the grass, make a mental note of what that grass looked like. Was it thick and matted over or thin and green, next to deep water, or on a point in the back of a pocket, etc.?

On a fishing trip to Lay Lake in October the grass was starting to die off. After about 3 hours of not getting a bite, it finally happened. I got a bite. It was a 3-1/2 lb. largemouth. To make a long story short, we caught six fish that day. The key was very small patches of matted over brown grass about two feet in diameter or smaller. On you next trip to Lay Lake what's it going to be, finesse fishing for quantity, flipping for quality. Either way a day on the water fishing beats any day at work.