Lake temperatures are in the 70s. Lake Lanier is more than a foot above full pool at 1,072.2 feet. The main lake and creeks are stained and the Chattahoochee River is clear. Check generation schedules before heading out to the river at 770-945-1466.
Bass fishing is decent and there are a bunch of smaller fish midway on back in the creeks and rivers. These fish are mostly post-spawn and they will hit a little bit of everything. Our best numbers are coming by fishing docks with Squirrel Tail worms or fishing over the top of flooded bank growth with topwater plugs.
I have still had my best luck for bigger fish by using a SPRO Little John MD crankbait and McStick out on main lake banks that drop off deeply on the sides of the points.
Look for that main lake topwater action to really get going this week and for the next couple of months. The SPRODawg 100s and 125s will be the ticket for those magnum spots and also striped bass.
Dark-colored crankbaits and large Colorado Blade Spinner baits are producing good fish after dark.
Stripers: We had boats out on guide trips every day and many things are working on Lake Lanier. The topwater bite has been very good this week on bone Redfins and on the SproBBZ-1. Free-lined bluebacks are also working. On my boat, we have also done very well on down-lined bluebacks fished 20- to 25-feet deep over a 25- to 40-foot bottom, on and just off points and humps.
Most of these down-line fish have been five to 15 pounds, but the action has been great. Some of our boats have also done well on free-lined gizzard shad both up north and down south. I have fished mid-lake and south every day and caught stripers in every creek that we have visited. They are really bunching well in places.
Crappie are on their way back out into the deeper water and the easy fishing is starting to subside. The anglers who can figure out the deeper hot spots can load the boat.
I have been working with LanierMapped.com and they have videos of all of the lake when it was down and many of the spots they show are holding crappie and bass. Look for brush piles from 10- to 20-feet deep and down-line minnows or work crappie jigs around the cover.
Night fishing is picking up, and fishing under lights on the bridges should start working pretty well for the next month. Also target those lighted boat docks.
Trout fishing is very good in the mountain streams and also below the dam on the Chattahoochee River.
Most methods are working, so you should be able to pick your confidence lure to catch them. If I had to pick one lure to use for trout it would be a small 1/8- or 1/16-ounce Rooster Tail. Fish these inline spinners just fast enough to keep the blades spinning.
Bank fishing is also good but a lot of these fish are smaller. I received an e-mail from a gentleman named Carter and he says he and his daughter are catching bream and getting some bass to strike fishing with a small, yellow popper topwater fly and also with a small, black redtail wet fly.
Casting worms under a float around banks that have rock and clay should also produce plenty of bream. Make sure to use the lightest line and smallest hooks possible to help trick these fish. I often see people with a large hook and a snap swivel that struggle.
I believe if they would use a very small No. 6 or No. 8 pan fish hook tied directly to a light test line that their success rate would greatly increase. This smaller tackle allows the angler to cover up and hide the whole hook with a worm which works much better than if the fish can see all of the hardware.
Eric Aldrich is a part-time outdoors writer, bass fisherman and is sponsored by SPRO, Gamakatsu, Hammond’s Fishing and Boat Storage, Humminbird, Denali Custom Rod, Big Bite Baits and LanierMapped.com. Reports are based on personal experience and permission from a close network of friends. He would love to hear from his readers, so please e-mail him at esaldrich@yahoo.com or visit his website at aldrichfishing.com. Remember to take a kid fishing!