Lake Lanier Fishing Reports » Uncategorized

Crappie/Striper Report January 20, 2010

doug — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:50:37 +0000

Went to lake Hartwell Jan. 20 with customer Earl Moore. We always try to plan a trip to Hartwell on MLK week. We usually hammer the crappie there starting mid to late January and that day we did load em up. We lauched the boat around 10:00 am that morning and were loading back up on the trailer around 4:30 that afternoon. We ended up boating around 100 fish with around 50 of those weighing close to a pound each. The water temp. in January on Hartwell seems to be a little warmer than Lanier. Water temps on Lanier have been ranging from 38-42 degrees. That day on Hartwell the surface temp. was about 45 degrees. That is when crappie really start to turn on ,just a difference of 2 degrees gets em going. The photo in the top right corner of this page is the stringer we caught that day. Dont miss the boat. Book your crappie charter now. Crappie season for the big ones only last around 6 weeks.

Crappie/Striper Report January 19,2010

doug — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 02:16:47 +0000

Went out on a charter today for crappie. This was my first day on the lake since the snow blast. Water temps today ranged anywhere from 38.9 to 42 degrees which is extremely cold for Georgia resevoirs. We managed to catch around 37 good size crappie. All our fish hit tube jigs at depths ranging from 10 ft. as deep as 40 ft. Many of the fish we caught were hugging the bottom at 35-40 ft. Bites today were very hard to detect, most of the strikes were just pressure bites, no ticks just a slow pull down. Im heading out to Hartwell tomorrow on a crappie trip. Last January around this time we crappie fished on Hartwell and caught around 80 fish most of them real slabs. Will report back tomorrow when I return.

Striper Report January 8, 2010

doug — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:00:07 +0000

Went out yesterday on half day striper charter and braved the 30-40 mph gust as this arctic weather system moved in. We started fishing around noon and fished till about 4:30 boating 3 good stripers in the 10-12 pound range. That much wind made the trolling difficult as it would almost stall the boat out when going into the wind. Boat speed is critical when trolling for stripers with umbrella rigs and keeping the boat at 2.5-3 mph was tough in those conditions. We did see fish on the sonar but could’nt control boat to effectively fish the areas out in the open water. Stripers are still on the u-rigs and this action should kick back in as the weather stabalizes. Hope to be out later this week after the snow blast hits. Will report back soon.

Striper Report December 31, 2010

doug — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:25:06 +0000

Fished a half day charter new years eve, what a beautiful break in the weather, it was sunny with a air temp around 55 degrees. We hit the lake around noon and headed for the mid lake area in the Browns Bridge section of the lake. We boated 8 stripers on us rigs. Most of the fish were in the 7-9 pound range, no monsters just good solid fish. We also boated a few nice spots that hit our u-rigs. Water temp was 46 to 47 perfect for the umbella rig bite. Live bait action has been slow for stripers as usuall when water temps are this low. I will be out on a crappie charter Monday to check that action. It is time. I will let you know next week. Also I’m gonna head up to lake Hartwell to fish with good buddy and a great guide Preston Hardin. Preston say’s he has em stacked up and we are gonna try the u-rig on em. Will report back next week.

Striper Report December 27, 2010

doug — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:09:48 +0000

Have not fished since December 23 but had a few good fishing trips before the Christmas break. I had a charter on December 22 and 23 and was able to land 10-12 nice stripers on each trip. The fish on these days averaged between 5 to around 13 pounds, all of them hit umrella rigs trolled at 18- 20 ft. depths. The water temperature those day’s hovered around 48-49 degrees which is perfect for the umbrella bite. The most active times have been late afternoon from around 3:00 p.m. till dark which usually the case during the colder months. This u-rig action should continue on into January. Looks like we will have a slight warm up in the weather later this week which should trigger some activity. Crappie season is just around the corner. January is the month when big slabs start to bunch up. I will be out on charters later this week and will report back soon.

Striper Report December 10, 2010

doug — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:33:47 +0000

Fished a half day afternoon charter with Todd and Adam Thomas of South East Landscapes last Friday and got into some good umbrella action. We got out on the lake around 11:30 with not much action the first couple of hours. We were downlining trout with not much success. That afternoon from around 3:00 to dark we boated 12 good stripers up to around 12-13 pounds on umbrella rigs trolled around 50-60 ft. behind the boat. All our fish hit a 3 ounce 4 arm umbrella with Mack Farrs 3/4 ounce white with chartuese trailer curl tails on the back. This is u-rig time. When the water temp. is in the high 40′s to low 50′s the u-rig will trigger strikes when live bait is slow to produce. This umbrella action should continue for the next 4-5 weeks depending on how low the water temps drop. Will be out Friday and will report back soon.

Striper Report December 4, 2010

doug — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:21:12 +0000

Went out on half day charter with customer Sammy Risk. We headed north up in the Gainesville Marina area of the lake and got into the stripers around 3:00 in the afternoon. The creeks in this area of the lake are loaded with bait and stripers are right in there with them. We ended up getting into the fish around 3:00 on live trout fished down close to the bottom in 35-40 ft. of water. This time of year when water temps are down in the mid to lower 50′s you have to be patient. If your seeing bait fish on your sonar, you are more likely in the right spot. During the cooler months you will usually have that majic hour or so where the fish turn on but you have to wait them out. This majic hour usually occurs in the afternoon as the water temp. will reach its peak at this time of day. With the colder temps we have been starting our trips around 11:00 am to let things heat up a bit. Ive heard reports of umbrella action on the south end this weekend. Some anglers reported a good u rig bite early a.m. in the creeks on the south end. Also some crappie reports are coming in which is a little earlier than usual. We normally start crappie fishing in January. I will be out later this week and will report back soon.

Striper Report November 26, 2010

doug — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:34:19 +0000

Bigger fish are starting to show up on the north end of Lanier. For the past several weeks fishing has been really good although the size on the stripers has been quite small ranging from 2-5 pounds. We have also been catching good numbers of spotted bass mixed in with the stripers. Yesterday while out with customer Mike Kenzie we boated around 10 stripers with the 2 largest weighing 20 and 16 pounds. We also boated around 25 good size spots. All our fish hit small trout on downrods at 25 ft. depths. This time of year to locate stripers I focus on finding large concentrations of bait. Most of the time you wont see fish because of the bait balls being so thick the stripers can be down in the bait and unable to detect on your sonar. If you see the bait you are in the right place stop and put your lines out. Ive had some good luck jigging spoons also once I get the fish to feed on the live bait I have had good luck jigging a .6 ounce flexit spoon into the schools. December is a good month for big fish, dont miss out.

Striper Report November 11, 2010

doug — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:53:26 +0000

Fishing for stripers is still very good although the fish are running small right now but that will soon change. Yesterday we went out for a half day charter a boated around 20 stripers in the 3-5 pound range with a good number of spots mixed in. The largest striped we landed was around 12 pounds. We are starting to see some nice channel cats mixed in also. This time of year we sometimes get into areas where you may catch quite a few of the channels. Lanier is full of these fish in the 2-5 pound range and they are quite fun to catch not to mention good to eat. I ran into a customer at Oakwood bait and tackle that saw midday stripers schooling on the south end this week. He reported catching 3 fish out of the school using a zara spook but he said the stripers were moving fast and hard to keep up with. He said he saw the fish around 2;30 p.m. Will be out next week and will report back soon.

Stripers Report November 9, 2010

doug — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:06:04 +0000

Went back out on the lake yesterday after a week hunting trip to Virginia with my family. The day started off a little slow but around 11:30 a.m. the stripers started to turn it on. We ended up with about 15 stripers and 10-12 nice spotted bass. All the fish hit bluebacks on downrods at about 25 ft. The spots were mixed right in with the stripers. The north end of Lanier has been working best for me. Creeks on the north end will pack up with shad this time of year and the stripers will be following right behind. Most of the fish we boated yesterday were in the 2-5 pound range although we have been hooking a few fish in the 10-15 pound range. As the water temperatures fall down into the 50′s we will see more big fish show up north. December is usually a great month for big stripers on live trout. Ive caught some of my largest stripers from Lanier this time of year. The water temp yesterday was around 63, not far from prime time. Will be out this week and will report back soon.