Jamie Horton can’t wait to get to the Alabama River for the 5^th Bassmaster Elite Series Tournament of the year Thursday-Sunday. He only lives about an hour away from the fishery in Centreville, Ala., and he has had great success on the river in the past.

On top of that, all reports are the fishing are biting like crazy.

And that would be welcome news for Horton who, admittedly, is not having a great year so far.

“I’m struggling right now, worse than I ever have in my life. But I am trying to stay positive going into that tournament next week,” he said while competing in the Elite tournament on West Point Lake.

Horton hopes his struggles end on water he is very familiar with.

“I fished it about 10 years ago and then did not fish it four about five years, and then three or four years ago I started fishing it again. I have had a fair amount of success down there,” he said.

In fact, he has won two B.A.S.S. tournaments on the Alabama River and finished in the top 10 in another. He won the Bassmaster Tour tournament, fished out of Montgomery, in late May 2003, and the Bassmaster Tiger 4 – Selma BO in September 2006. And he finished 7^th in the Bassmaster Series South Alabama BO in September 2003.

The Bassmaster Elite Series Alabama River Charge will be held out of Montgomery next week, which, said Horton, gives anglers a good 180 miles of fishable waters to spread out in.

“The Tallapoosa River comes out of Lake Martin, the Coosa River comes out of Lake Jordan and the Canal comes out of the new lake. All three run together to start the river about 30 miles above Montgomery,” he said. “So, we will be able to go up the Tallapoosa, the Coosa and the Canal. There is no limit. We can go all the way in the Canal to the dam. The Coosa and Tallapoosa are really shallow with rocks and shoals, so unless the water is high we won’t be able to go all the way to the dams on those two.”

Downriver, he noted, there is about a 50-mile run to Jones Bluff Dam.

“If we are able to lock through, from Jones Bluff there is another 80 miles or so to Millers Ferry Dam. There are also a few major creeks we can fish up and down the river.”

While all the recent rains across the southeast have caused flooding on many lake and muddied the water, it is a boon to the Elite anglers on the river, Horton said.

“We are hitting it at a good time. We’ve not had a lot of rain all at one time – it’s been spread out, so that has kept the river flowing good all year. There has been a lot of current this year and the fish have been biting good down there,” he said.

The increased current has really spiked the spotted bass bite, Horton said.

“There has been the best spotted bass fishing down there this year than I ever heard of. In February and March it took more to win with a stringer of spots that I had ever seen.”

The spotted bass population is at least equal to, if not bigger than the largemouth bass, Horton said. And spotted bass seem to have dominated weigh-ins recently.

“I am leaning towards spots being the majority of fish caught in the Elite Tournament. The fishery has big spots – 3-to-4-pounders, so you can win with spots on that water.”

Horton is anxious to get down on the river and catch some of those big spots in hopes of revitalizing his year on the Elite circuit.

Bassmaster Elite Series Alabama River Charge

May 9-12, 2013

Alabama River

Riverfront Park – Montgomery, AL

www.bassmaster.com