Lake temperatures are in the lower 80s. The lake level is 1,055.81 feet. The recent rains have done very little to help. We are still down over 15 feet. The water is clear during the week and stained from the boat traffic on weekends. The surface temperature are in the low to mid 80’s, and the Chattahoochee River is clear.
The recent mild summer temperatures and the welcome rain have made the bass active this past week.
The topwater action has been off and on. Continue to keep a SPRO Dawg 100 or other topwater plug tied on, and make sure to hit a lot of areas to find the active fish.
On overcast days, I have had better luck with subsurface baits like a Fish Head Spin or a À-ounce white and silver Rooster Tail.
Try to position your boat in shallower water and cast these heavy lures out deep. Let the lure sink all the way to the bottom then reel them uphill close to the bottom all the way back to the boat.
You will get hung up from time to time, but this is the price to pay for catching more fish! Continue to target main lake humps and points with brush and timber close to deep water. Bass can be found in the creeks with deeper water too.
Spot tail minnows continue to almost guarantee success. You will need a small 3/16 mesh cast net to catch these small baitfish, and these nets can be hard to find. However, you can buy a quality net from Hammond’s Bait and Tackle.
Striper fishing remains consistently good, and the fish are settling into a consistent pattern. My Humminbird Electronics show the majority of stripers hanging around from 35- to 50-feet deep around 70 feet or deeper bottoms.
Down-lined blueback herring are the choice bait, and it’s very important to use fresh, lively bait. Some anglers are reporting that the stripers are “window shopping” or looking at the baits without taking them.
The main cause for this is week or dead bait. If your bait is lively then try dropping it close to the bottom then reel it slowly up through the school. This can trigger a bite from finicky fish. Trolling large SPRO jigs in the new Spearing Blue color has been fair out on the main lake river channels. Night fishing below Hydro Glow lights at the same depths as mentioned above has been fair.
Fish the deeper docks and bridges with brush at 15 to 20 feet. Use live crappie minnows, Micro Spoons tipped with small spot tail minnow or small crappie jigs on light two-to four-pound test. The lighter line will help you get these baits down deeper.
The morning bite of the trout remains by far your best action because of the summer float traffic. Fish a countdown Rapala or a small Rooster Tail on light line for consistent action or use live worms, corn or salmon eggs where permitted.