Coffeeville Lake is the third largest reservoir on Alabama’s Black Warrior-Tombigbee waterway and is the last impoundment before the Tombigbee River empties into the Gulf of Mexico. An artifact of revolutionary developments in shipping in the United States, Coffeeville Lake runs 97 miles (156 km) from Demopolis to the Coffeeville Lock and Dam, covering a surface area of 8,800 acres (35.6 km2).
Adjacent to the lake are numerous camping sites, including the Service Park Campground operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which houses amenities like electricity, showers, laundry facilities, and a boat ramp. 25,000 campers visit the lake annually. Several boat access points are located along the lake, and are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or private entities. The most sought-after sports fish at Coffeeville Lake is the largemouth bass, though crappie fishing is also popular.
Coffeeville Lake Fish Species
1) Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Did you know that fish make nests too? Bluegills are members of the sunfish family, the Centrarchidae, a unique group of fish that dig circular nests in the sandy and gravelly substrate at the bottom of the lake. After excavating the perfect nest to raise a family, males chase nearby females in an attempt to attract a mate for spawning. After eggs are laid, male fish continue to dutifully protect their nests and offspring. Bluegills spawn for 6 months each year, and millions of new fish are naturally added to Alabama’s population annually.
Bluegills are one of Coffeeville’s smaller sports fish, averaging only 6 – 10 inches (15.2 – 25.4 cm) long. They are robust for their size, and anglers love them because they fight furiously when hooked. The best choice of bait for bluegills is small live bait that can fit in their tiny mouths.
2) White crappie (Pomoxis annularis)
White crappies, also known as papermouths in Alabama, are laterally-compressed, humpbacked fish with massive dorsal and anal fins that are nearly equal to each other. Another sunfish, white crappies range from 12 – 20 inches (30 – 51 cm), with white-silver bodies, sometimes striped with gray vertical bars. The continuous dorsal fin has an anterior portion with 5 – 6 spines and a posterior section with 14 – 15 soft rays.
White crappies lie in the middle of Coffeeville Lake’s food chain, preying on smaller fish while also falling victim to largemouth bass. White crappies are unconventional in their feeding strategy. While most other fish either lie in wait for prey or continuously seek them, white crappies dart from area to area and visually scan the space for food for a brief period. If none is found, they move on to the next location and repeat the process. This method of locating prey is called saltatory or pause-travel searching. White crappies also exhibit dietary shifts throughout the year, consuming mainly threadfin and gizzard shad, but also eating a large portion of aquatic insects in the summer.
3) Black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)
Black crappies are the second of only two recognized species of crappies. As their name suggests, black crappies are overall darker than papermouths, with their backs and sides nearly entirely covered in irregular black dots, never sporting vertical bands. The clarity of pigmentation of both black and white crappies can vary depending on environmental conditions, so looking for these markings is not a reliable way to tell the two crappie species apart. The best way to differentiate the two is by examining the dorsal fins – black crappies have 7 – 8 dorsal spines, while papermouths only have 5 – 6. Black crappies are also deeper-bodied than whites, with a more round profile. Still, black and white crappies hybridize naturally, making identification even more difficult.
Crappies broadly prefer clear water, and the best place to find them in Coffeeville Lake is in bigger creeks in the lower section of the reservoir, such as Okatuppa, Turkey, and Tallawampa. Crappies are a beloved game fish because they are easy to clean, and they are the perfect size to fit in a frying pan (hence the nickname, panfish).
4) Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)
The channel catfish is an opportunistic generalist – meaning that it eats anything it thinks is food. To satisfy their immeasurable appetites, channel catfish have numerous adaptations that help them locate their next meal as quickly as possible. They have 4 pairs of whisker-like, sensory barbels located around the mouth for detecting stimuli that indicate the presence of food. Additionally, the catfish’s entire body is covered with taste buds that can sense taste and smell.
The channel catfish is arguably the most famous Ictalurid sports fish in the United States. Because catfish have such acute senses of taste and smell, anglers have the most success going after them with strong-smelling bait like cut pieces of cow liver, chicken liver, or fish.
Aside from its significance recreationally, the channel cat is also an invaluable economic contributor to the U.S. aquaculture industry. Channel catfish were the first fish species to ever be grown commercially in the U.S., with Alabama producing $99 million worth of catfish in 2020.
5) Flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris)
Flathead catfish are giant, brown-yellow fish with non-uniform black, brown, and sometimes white variegation along the entire body. Flatheads differ greatly from other North American catfishes in both morphology and behavior. Unlike other catfish, flatheads have square, un-forked tails and lower jaws that protrude into a characteristic underbite. They also feed almost exclusively on live prey, while other species make use of any form of sustenance they can find. Flatheads prey on the many sunfish in Coffeeville Lake, and if they’re desperate, they’ll even chow down on other catfish!
Though the genus name Pylodictis means “mud fish”, flathead catfish prefer deep, clear water. They occupy flowing currents with high oxygen levels and associate with dense vegetative cover. They make first-rate table fare, though they can be difficult to catch because of their tendency to hide and their solitary nature.
6) Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus)
Blue catfish are enormous fish with smooth, blue backs and sides that fade to white ventrally. Like channel cats, they have forked tails, though their anal fin has a straight margin. They are the largest members of the North American catfish family and can grow to over 100 pounds (45.4 kg), though fish in Alabama rarely exceed 10 pounds (4.5 kg).
Blue catfish migrate locally as water temperatures change throughout the year. During spawning, males and females collectively defend nests located in dark cavities formed by submerged wood and undercut lake banks. During a single spawning season, an average-size female can produce an astonishing 20,000 eggs! Though blue catfish are native to Alabama, their staggering reproductive rates and lack of natural predators have made them invasive in areas where they have been introduced.
Like channel catfish, blue catfish are a crucial species in American aquaculture and are extensively studied. The entire genome of the fish was recently mapped and published by Auburn University researchers to improve fish breeding strategies.
The best time to catch blue catfish in Coffeeville Lake is from May to June in the dam’s tailwaters. Anglers are only permitted to take one catfish over 34 inches (86.4 cm) per day.
7) Striped bass (Morone saxatilis)
Naturally an anadromous marine fish, striped bass were first recorded in freshwater lakes in the mid-twentieth century after they were unintentionally trapped by newly built dams during their spawning season. Though their migration pattern had been interrupted, striped bass thrived surprisingly well in freshwater systems, and were soon stocked in impoundments across the United States as sport fish.
After their introduction to Alabama waters, striped bass, also called stripers, quickly became an angler favorite because of their massive size. They are the largest of the temperate basses and average 20 – 24 inches (50.8 – 61 cm) long. When hooked, they leverage their sizeable bodies and weight to put up a terrific fight!
Still, stripers are affected by being transplanted into an atypical ecosystem. The reproductive success of striped bass in impounded lakes is significantly lower than that of their river and estuary-dwelling counterparts, as eggs will only survive if continuously kept afloat by swift currents, a difficult condition to satisfy in reservoirs.
8) Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
Though both largemouths and stripers share the moniker “bass”, the two species aren’t closely related. Largemouths are actually a species of sunfish and are taxonomically allied with bluegills. Largemouth bass are thick-bodied, olive-green fish with a wide, irregular dark green to black horizontal band running the length of the body. As their common name suggests, largemouths are characterized by their massive jaws, the upper of which extends beyond the posterior of the eye.
Of the black bass species (genus Micropterus), the largemouth bass is the most tolerant of cloudy water. They live in warm, shallow areas of Coffeeville Lake, where they conceal themselves in submerged foliage and await prey. Largemouths will hungrily attack a wide variety of animals, including other sunfish, shad, aquatic insects, gastropods, and amphibians.
Like bluegills, largemouth bass in Coffeeville can be found in Turkey and Okatuppa creeks, as well as in the Copper Salt creek. While largemouths make exciting catches, the 2022 Alabama Fish Consumption Advisory cautions against eating largemouths caught from the reservoir due to their mercury content.
9) Spotted bass (Micropterus punctulatus)
Spotted bass are easily confused with largemouth bass, as both species feature a distinct bar running anteroposteriorly along their bodies. However, spotted bass are smaller than largemouths, measuring only 12 to 17 inches (30 to 43 cm), whereas largemouths can grow up to 30 inches (76.2 cm) long. Spotted bass also have smaller mouths that line up with the rear margin of the eye but do not extend beyond it, and they have a rectangular tooth patch on the tongue that is absent in largemouths.
Spotted bass are not usually found together with other black bass species, as they prefer waters that are too turbid for smallmouth bass and too swift for largemouths, though they still associate with aquatic vegetation and submerged structures. Spotted bass spawn from April to May, when adhesive eggs are deposited by females. The number of eggs laid by a female varies tremendously depending on her size and age. Younger fish lay around only 3,000 eggs, while older fish lay as many as 30,000 eggs!
The Alabama Fish Consumption Advisory suggests limiting the intake of spotted bass harvested from Coffeeville Lake near the U.S. Route 80 and Alabama State Route 28 bridge to only two meals a month.
10) Freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens)
Freshwater drum or gaspergou are large, silver fish from the Sciaenidae family, and are the only members of this taxon that do not spend any portion of their lives in marine water. Their profiles are markedly asymmetrical, with a tall, anteriorly curved back contrasted by an acutely narrow tail peduncle. Additionally, the dorsal surface is extremely convex, while the lower margin of the fish’s body is completely flat. Their fins are white and sometimes stained with orange.
Freshwater drum are bottom feeders that suck up food using their downward-pointing heads and ventral, fleshy lips. They were once assumed to be molluscivores due to their pharyngeal teeth, which are usually present in fish that need to crack open the hard shells of gastropods and bivalves. While they do eat some mollusks (including the invasive zebra mussel), the diet of freshwater drum consists primarily of fish, aquatic insects, and crayfish.
Small, young freshwater drum occupy the reservoir’s backwaters, while bigger fish reside in the lake’s fast tailwaters. Freshwater drum are a beginner-friendly catch as they bite willingly, are prevalent year-round, and are easy to find. Though fun to catch, the value of drum as game fish is widely debated because of the surprising inconsistency in the flavor of meat between fish.
11) Green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus)
Green sunfish are among the smaller occupants of Coffeeville Lake, measuring only 4 – 8 inches (10.2 – 20.3 cm). Their bodies are dark green with light yellow undersides, with seven faded vertical stripes running down their sides. They have bright, turquoise waves radiating from the mouth and horizontal rows of iridescent aqua-blue dots running from the head to the tail. A round black spot decorates the operculum, and two similar markings are on the posterior base of the dorsal and anal fins.
Green sunfish are indiscriminate about their surroundings and live in many different habitat types. They spawn from May to July, when the margins of all fins, excluding the pectoral fins, become a bright yellow or orange. While sunfish usually make nests in colonies, green sunfish seem to have no preference and may nest in groups or alone. Males have a peculiar courtship ritual in which they make short grunts to attract females to their nests. Green sunfish readily hybridize with bluegills, creating an intermediate hybrid sunfish that is easier to catch than either parent species.
12) Common carp (Cyprinus carpio)
The common carp is a noteworthy fish with a long, complex ecological and economic history. It is one of the pioneering species of aquaculture, first reared in China around 6200 – 5700 BC. Since then, carp cultivation has flourished, and the fish has been transported internationally. Carp were introduced to the United States in 1877, and it is now one of the most widespread freshwater species in the world.
While the common carp is a valuable economic resource, it has also become uncontrollably invasive throughout the United States. They tolerate cloudy, eutrophic conditions and are detrimental to other sports fish species like bluegills, largemouth bass, and crappies. They are currently the thirtieth most invasive species in the world, though ironically, populations are threatened in their native range.
13) American eel (Anguilla rostrata)
The American eel is one of only nineteen living freshwater eel species in the world and is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction. Though once abundant in Alabama, American eel populations have declined over the years due to a culmination of factors that are unfavorable to their lifecycle. American eels are catadromous, meaning that they spend the majority of their lives in freshwater bodies before migrating to the sea to breed. However, the construction of dams has hindered their ability to migrate and spawn. Additionally, American eels are benthic and are more exposed to harmful materials like polychlorinated biphenyls and heavy metals that have settled at the bottom of the reservoir.
The American eel’s unusual spawning biology does little to help their population recover, as eels do not develop their reproductive systems until they begin to migrate to the sea. To make matters worse, these eels only reproduce once in their lifetimes and die after spawning! Anglers who catch American eels in Coffeeville Lake are encouraged by the Alabama Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries to contact the River and Stream Fisheries Program and provide information about the eel. They also encourage fishers to freeze specimens immediately and donate them to research.
14) Atlantic needlefish (Strongylura marina)
Atlantic needlefish are thin, long, cylindrical fish whose bodies aptly resemble a giant needle. They grow up to 2 feet (61 cm) long and have translucent, shiny bodies. Their extended jaws terminate at a point and are lined with sharp teeth. They spawn from late spring to summer, and eggs have unique filaments that help them attach to each other and other objects.
Atlantic needlefish form schools near the surface of open reservoir waters, where they swiftly grab shad and shrimp in their perilous jaws. While the hundreds of pointed teeth may be intimidating, they are far from the most dangerous feature of a needlefish. Visitors should be cautious when Atlantic needlefish are encountered up close, as they can propel themselves out of the water at 31 mph (50 km/hr), a speed fast enough to impale anglers and cause injury.
