Went to Lake Hartwell today to fish for crappie. We usually catch some nice fish there this time of year. When we launched the boat the water temps were in the high 40’s which is fine for crappie. This time of year the sunshine is the key to making the fish turn on which we did’nt have Saturday. The air temp got no warmer than around 38 degrees with cloud cover all day. We did manage to catch around 60 crappie with a few pushing 2 pounds. Lake Hartwell has some huge white crappie which I have never seen here on Lake Lanier. The white crappie out of Hartwell are some real whoppers. Small jigs on 4 lb. test produced all our fish. No minnows. To cold to stick your hand in a minnow bucket. Check out the photos on my photo gallery.
Went out today with Jon Whimpy from J.W. Trucks on crappie fishing trip. We got out on the lake around 10:30 and crappie fished until around 3:30. Crappie bit well when we first got on the lake but slowed down that afternoon. Probably was due to the front coming in. The temperature dropped quite a bit and barometer shot up. We ended up with around 50 good slabs. Later in the afternoon we chased stripers for a while with urigs. Saw lots of fish mixed in bait schools in the backs of the creeks but only hooked up on two stripers. The urig action should continue to be the way to hook up on stripers now as the water temps have dropped in the low 50’s. Will be out tomorrow and will report backs soon.
We boated around 50 nice fish on chartuese and shad colored jigs. Later in the day the front came through and slowed them down a bit. We got the urigs out for the stripers and trolled for a few hours. We had two good fish hit our urigs but came unhooked before we got em to the boat. Saw lots of stripers in the creeks where we located good bait schools. I think we hit the stripers a little late also. The front slowed them down a little also. Talked to one buddy on the lake that said he caught a few casting alabama rigs.
Striper fishing has been good this week but patterns have changed a bit. I was on the lake last Thursday and saw tons of stripers feeding on small threadfins. Birds diving, fish busting but very hard to catch. I was in huge schools of stripers but the downroding with trout produced 2 fish out of that area. I saw a couple of fisherman catch a few on planner boards but the fish were keyed in on the small bait and very finicky. The next day I got out my urigs and smacked em pretty good. We caught 8 stripers on the urigs and lost several others. The urig fish were fairly nice fish in the 8-14 pound range. We had one double hook up with two 8 pounders. I think urig time has started. When water temps get down into the low 50’s that is usually the time to get urigs out and start trolling. I will be out Monday and will report back soon.
Went out today with customer Chris Davis from Whitecap Construction.It was a beautiful December day today. We finally got a nice break in the weather. The air temps got uo to around 58 which warmed the water up to around 55. We launched the boat at Balus creek around noon and headed south. We saw lots of bird working schools of stripers. We did’t have much action till around 3:00 p.m. During winter months stripers tend to feed best in the afternoon when water temps creek uo a degree or two. We ended up with 5 fat stripers with the largest around 17 pounds. We had several other good fish break us off in the timber, All our fish hit live medium trout around 30-35 ft. deep. One of my customers was jigging a 1/2 ounce flexit spoon and caught lots of spotted bass while we had out baits out. He also got some nice yellow pearch mixed in with the stripers. Striper fishing should get even better this week as we get on the back side of this full moon. I will be back on the lake tomorrow and will report back soon
Went out today with Chris Davis from Whitecap Construction. We finally got a break in the weather. Very nice day. Air temps got up to around 58 which warmed water temps up to around 55. We saw lots of birds working feeding stripers. We got on the water around noon. Did’nt have much action till around 3:oo p.m. This time of year stripers tend to feed in the afternoon when water temps creep up a degree or two. We ended up with 5 good stripers up to around 17 pounds. We caught em all on downrods with medium trout. One of my customers was jiggimg a flexit spoon while we had the bait out and caught lots of spotted bass.He also caught some nice yellow pearch mixed in with the spots. Striper action should get even better as we get on the back side of this full moon. I will be back out on the lake tomorrow and report back soon
Striper fished this afternoon. Boated 6 good stripers in the 10-15 pound range. Still downroding live trout 25-40 ft. deep. Fished the south end of the lake back in the creeks. Lots of bait in these areas. Heading out to crappie fish today. Will report back soon.
I got out on the water yesterday afternoon for a few hours to scout some new areas for crappie. In ended up with around 35 fish with the largest around 2 pounds which is huge for Lanier. All the crappie hit jigs dead on the bottom in 28-32 ft. of water. I pulled in on some feeding loons and seagulls around 4:00 and the graph lit up with stripers. I boated 7 fish on live trout on a downrod at 30 ft. All those stripers were good fat winter fish in the 8-15 pound range. We are heading out on the water this afternoon and will report back soon.
December action on Lanier has been good. Water temps have got down to the mid 50’s making the fish a little for predictable. I was out last week and caught stripers in the creeks on the South end of the Lake. Guy’s are catching stripers North also. Seems that good schools are North and South. Keep a lookout for the feeding seagulls and loons. These birds will point out the areas stripers are holding in. Seems like late afternoon bite is best using live trout on downrods at 30-40 foot depths. I had a couple of very good days last week on the spotted bass jigging spoons at 30-40 ft. also caught some good ones dropshotting in same areas. We had around 35 nice spotted bass last Monday and landed one spot that weighed 5lb 7oz. Crappie fishing has been good with jigs around 10 to 20 ft. I will probably head down to Hartwell later in the week. My buddy Captain Preston Harden is catching fish throwing bucktails into schooling hybrids and stripers. Got to go now Im heading out on Lanier this afternoon to chase the stripers . Should be a good afternoon with the overcast. drizzle and no wind. Don’t miss out on the December action. I’ve caught some of my largest stripers this month. Good luck!!!
Crappie are still on fire. We have been averaging around 80-100 fish a day with some whoppers. The crappie are bigger than I have ever seen on Lanier this year. We have had some in the pound and half range. Still getting them on jigs fished at 5-20 ft. depths. This action should continue on for another month or so.
Stripers are hitting live bluebacks and gizzards on flatlines and planner boards. These few warm days should really bring em up on a shallow water bite. Look for the stripers to be in the main lake creeks. Lots of bait in the backs of the creeks as bluebacks get ready to spawn.
Went striper fishing with some guys from Carl Black in Kennesaw last week. We boated 9 stripers all downroding bluebacks in the creeks at 25-40 ft. depths. Most of the fish were in the 10 – 12 pound range but had 2 that weighed around 17 pounds each. We also caught a couple of stripers around 80 ft. deep out on the main lake. Never have seen fish that deep this time of year. Also caught a walleye around 5 pounds that day on a downrod blueback.
Crappie fishing has still been excellent. Some big crapppies are showing up this year. Check out the photos on the photo page. I willl be out later this week and will report back soon.
