Stripers

Things have changed a little on the lake. Fishing remains solid, the pattern is just changing. The down line bite has become weaker and the umbrella bite has improved. If you just want to catch fish pull the u-rig. The fish are tight to the bottom and mostly over a 20 to 30 ft bottom. The lighter u-rigs I feel are the better choice right now using chart. trailers. Depending on which rig you use, try to get the rig 16 to 18 ft deep. I am personally using the 4arm 2oz. rig with 9 half ounce jigs. A few fish are still on the free line early and have been good size. With the nice weather, more and more spots have pulled up shallow and are attacking the baits on the free lines. The u-rig is a mixed bag of small fish and some good fish mixed in. Below is a few pics from the last several days. The last pic was from this morning, the fish and the rod are headed to Texas. He plans on mounting the fish with the rod above it. Good luck on the pond,

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Lake Lanier Striper Tournament

The striper tour. went real well yesterday. There was a good number of fish caught in various places on the lake. The winners had two fish over 20 pds. I believe they had a 22 and 23 lber. The big fish of the tour. was a 27lber. I fished with some of my customers and we ended up in 5th place. Most of our fish came on free lines using large trout with stinger hooks. We did catch a few fish on the down line at various depths but the size was smaller. The best fishing continues to be from Flat Creek north up the Chestatee. I did hear of a 37 lber caught up the Chesatee I believe last week. If you want to catch a big striper the time is getting right. I always do well for size the next month.

striped bass

The striper fishing has really improved with the warming weather. Free lines continue to catch the most fish early with some very big fish showing up as well. In the middle of the day, the down line bite has improved as well. Trout have been the best bait all year but the last couple of days herring have begun to produce on the down line. The north end is producing more fish but some of the creeks on the south end are producing some nice fish. A few good fish are being caught on bucktails early working the banks. The birds have decided to show back up and are helping to find the fish.

stripers

Finally getting healthy enough to hit the lake. Been very sick once again. Worst winter I have ever had in regards to getting sick. From what I have seen the last couple of days a variety of things is catching a few fish. Umbrellas, free lines, and down lines. If I had to chose the best technique it would be the free line up in the back of the creeks. One of the customers of the store brought in a 26 lber this morning caught on a free lined big trout. I have not seen any huge concentrations of fish, mostly just work hard and pick up one here and one there. The water temp is still around 50 degrees. I expect some big fish will be caught this weekend in the tour. on big trout if the weather turns out good.

Nottely

Fishing appears to be good on every lake in Georgia. Hearing some really good reports about Lanier, Carters, Hartwell, and Nottely. Several different things are working on Lanier. The free line fishing in the mornings has picked up. Trout continue to be the best bait. Expect to see some of the largest fish of the year caught over the next month. Umbrellas are catching fish as well clipping points and humps. Now that the fish are tight to the points and humps be sure to pick up a Jerry Hester Umbrella rig retriever. You will neeed it. The downline bite with trout over the large schools of baitfish continues to be strong. All in all it is pretty good fishing. Personally, I went to Nottely yesterday and caught some decent fish. On Nottely, the fish are very deep. All of our fish came 65 ft deep over a 70 ft bottom. The bait is in the creeks just like Lanier. Fish just above the bottom in and around the bait using trout and herring. We fished two different creeks and fish were in both creeks.

Not much has changed on the stripers. Very early in the mornings, be sure to check the back of the creeks. There are a few fish up shallow early that are being caught on 1/4oz bucktails tipped with white flukes. Personally, I have been starting later to avoid the cold. All of my fish are coming on the downline. The fish have gotten a little shallower. Most of my fish are coming 28 to 35 ft deep instead of 45 ft deep. Some of the smaller creeks are loaded with bass. Yesterday with kids in the boat we spent an hour catching "spot" after "spot" on downlined smalltrout 34 ft deep over a 35 ft bottom. A friend of mine in a bass boat was fishing the same area and did fairly well on plastics fishing vertically. Some of these spots are over four pds. I did not get a chance to try a spoon. Later we picked up a few stripers as well. There appears to be a good bite for the stripers around 2:00 for the stripers. Several times this week I have done the best from 2:00 to 3:00. Caught another striper yesterday that had a blunt head almost like a dolphin. This makes about five that I have caught this year. Just curious if anyone else noticed these oddity. Before this year I have never caught one that looked this way in Lanier or anywhere else for that matter.

good fishing

Finally getting a little more time to do a better post. The holidays are always a blur. The fishing remains about the same. The downline continues to be the best producer of fish day in and day out. I was catching most of my fish down 45 ft deep over a 60 to 80 ft bottom. Today, the fish were shallower. We picked up all of our fish 28 ft deep or a little shallower over the same depth bottom. The best fishing continues to be up north halfway back in the creeks. Don't be afraid to check a little farther back in the creeks or in the back of some of the smaller coves very early in the morning. A 1/4oz. georgia jig tipped with a zoom white fat albert grub is dynamite this time of year for these shallow fish. Some very nice spots are shallow as well early. This is not to say the back of the creeks on the south end are not good. Trout continue to be the best bait. If the weather is harsh be sure to take some smaller trout. Some of the trout I have been using are only 4 inches long on the slower days like yesterday. Today, the fish were more aggressive and the larger trout were great. Be sure to use a larger hook on the larger trout. A 4/0 or 5/0 kahle or octopus is about right. Some big fish always show up this time of year so be ready especially around the full moons and new moons or a big weather change. If you have not been out on the water much, use the u-rigs to find the fish. Troll the channels of the creeks and try to keep the rig deep around 20 to 22 ft deep depending on your rig. The bait is deep and easy to see on the graph. The bait should be 8 to 10 ft thick in the better areas and the birds are still good starting points.

No new news with the stripers. The best bite continues to be the downline. The best depth is 45 ft deep over 60 to 80 ft of water halfway up in the creeks. Yesterday our bigger fish came on the larger trout but we did pick up some fish on herring as well. Find the bait and the fish will be there. Most of the bait is 45 to 60 ft deep. There is some fish being caught on the u-rig as well, but I have not been using it myself.