LAKE LANIER IS DOWN 5 FEET, THE CREEKS ARE SLIGHTLY STAINED AND THE MAIN LAKE IS CLEAR & 47 DEGREES

Black bass fishing is slow. The bass are still deep and we have seen the fish in 35 feet of water in the mid lake area in deep brush piles. Large jigs or spoons are the best and you can sit on to p of these locations and work the baits straight down. Run the boat back and forth over these points and be sure to have several marker buoys ready. If you have an Aqua Vu under water camera, add the ballast weight so the camera will be stationary. Set the boat up with the nose of the boat in to the wind. Some die hard anglers will cast crank baits even in the dead of winter. Up lake in Little River from markers #7 and #9 with any warming trend, use a DT6 and DT10 Rapala crank bait and mix up the colors all day. Usually crank bait anglers crank and reel fast. This is not the time to be fish fast with the water so cold. Cast these baits right on the clay banks exposed to the afternoon sun and bounce them slowly off the bottom. Add some Storm suspend strips to the bottoms of the bait s they suspend when the stop. Crank them 5 times and stop them for one turn. Rocks are also good areas to do this and the river bends with the larger rocks are the best areas. Can you say crawfish?

Spotted bass fishing has been slow. The fish that are being caught are coming off of points, main lake humps, and ditches of the last deep water going up in to coves. Areas where there are brush piles and bait in about 25 to 40 feet of water are good places to start. The spotted bass that are being caught are being caught on jigging with a small profile, and a slow flutter. Use the Flex-It or a small Silver Buddy/Cicada type bait, preferably in the ¼ and 1/2 ounce sizes in a white or silver color on a sunny day and a gold or solid white on a cloudier day. Lots of spots will start gathering in Young Deer Creek half way back and the bays off the ch ann el will be their home until the spawn and the full moons move in. On sunny days pick some of the deep rocky banks close by and out of the wind. Use a jerk bait in a silver and blue or an orange and copper color, and a Zoom finesse worm rigged on a 3/16 ounce Spot Sticker head in the green pumpkin and natural blue colors. Just do not get too close to the banks yet as the fish are still out deep at 30 feet or more. Try a larger trick worm especially with a warm up and just fish it just like a finesse worm. The spots are pretty slow on Lanier right now, so what ever you do try to slow down and focus on areas that will warm the quickest, such as rock and areas out of the wind with stagnant water. Right at the Little Hall ramp area, go into Two Mile in the narrows and look for the rocky points and banks back towards the “s” bends.

Stripers have been on one day then of for two and the lake being cold and the water rising so fast has the fish confused. It’s still a trolling bite and There are to ns of stripers on the main lake, just find them on the Lowrance in front of the dam. Flat Creek is the best creek and there are some stripers in the mouth of Balus creek also. Deep fish as well as shallow ones will take small baits or very large baits. Regular sized herring, trout and shiners will all work but the spots are eating these baits also. Use light line no more than 10 pound Bass Pro Shops fluorocarbon line on either a spinning or bait casting outfit and get two flat lines out 80 feet and then two down lines to 22 feet anywhere on the lake. Keep moving around as the fish are moving hourly. There are fish in Flat Creek all the way to the back. Deep fish as well as shallow ones will take small baits or very large baits. Regular sized herring have been all but ignored all week. There are some fish around Little Hall Park mid day and keep moving around as the fish are moving hourly.

Crappie fishing is poor. Trolling up the rivers will be best. Reports of only 5 to 7 fish a day is the norm.

WEST POINT LAKE IS DOWN 6.7 FEET & 51 DEGREES AND STAINED

Black bass and spotted bass have started to move up on the main lake points. The best lure is a 2-3 inch deep diving crank bait in shad color. The key to catching fish is to keep moving from point to point until you find a concentration of fish. Be prepared to cover a large area of the lake. The end of winter and beginning of spring are always great times to catch bass on Wes t Point . Check those creeks and pockets for water with some color to it. These areas will warm faster and hold more active fish. Also, shallow crank baits have been working well. The latest hot ticket has been the shallow running Thunder Shad. Another secret weapon is a Little Earl in pearl with some chartreuse in the bait. Try the crawfish Rapala DT10 also on 10 pound test line.

Hybrids are moving and biting in the mouths of Yellow Jacket Creek and Whitewater Creek-watch for the seagulls, a sure sign that the hybrids are feeding on shad. The best patterns are jigging spoons or casting sassy shad or buck tail jigs. Use pearl or chartreuse sassy shad and 1/2 oz white buck tails.

Crappie fishing is good right now in the mouth of Whitewater Creek and above the river bridge in Wehadkee. The trick to catching them is to slow troll a Hal-fly or crappie jig. SLO-O-O-O-W trolling is the key.

LAKE ALLATOONA IS DOWN 15.2 FEET, 44 DEGREES AND STAINED

Spotted bass fishing is fair: Best bet for spots is to find concentrations of active birds diving for dying threadfin on the surface. The more active and concentrated the birds are the more concentrated the spots will be. The threadfin that are dying off are in the 1 to 2 inch range so match the hatch with a 1 or 2 inch Hopkins silver spoon or a white Flex It in that 1 to 2 inch size and work the ch ann el drop under the birds and dying shad. This will take some advanced Lowrance electronics knowledge to find these concentrations of fish. Just look for the arches of fish under the shad relating to the ch ann el. Fish from Red Top to Clear Creek for the best water. Best areas to spoon are in the clearer water where two creek arms come to gether just off the main lake. The fish are hanging out in the 40 to 50 foot range. A drop shot in this situation would also be a viable choice. Rig it with a 1/4 ounce drop shot weight and a #6 Mosqui to drop shot hook and tip it with a double shot drop shot worm. On the sunny days try some rock banks or shallow flats on the North west side of the lake as this side tends to warm first from the sun's rays hitting this side of the lake first as the sun rises in the morning. Try a 1/4 ounce jig in brown color and a Staysee 90sp Lucky Craft jerk baits in American Shad color jerk it slowly once it gets down to the desired depth and pause it often to trigger the strike. For fishing the sunny flats slow roll a 3/4 ounce Mini Me spinnerbait with a single white willow leaf. The clear water around Allatoona Landing is not producing fish and there is not a lot of bait there. Fish from Red Top to Clear Creek for the best water. .

Striper fishing is good and the secret is find the clear water. When you find the clear water the big trout fish on planer boards and flat lines right at sun up to catch a monster striper. You can also get the stripers with small threadfin shad or bass minnows. Another simple method that’s producing hybrids is trolling shiner tipped crappie jigs. With the cold weather the water temperatures will start to drop fast. When this happens the shad kill should start This should start happening when the water temperature hits 44 degrees and stays there for about a week. When the shad kill starts go to the jigging spoon and stick with it. Try a medium sized shad fished under a cork and watch your Lowrance for big schools of bait that are near the top of the water column at 10 to 12 feet deep. There will be some dead shad on the surface. Trolling umbrella rigs and pick your favorite, is by far the best all round bite.

This report is available only by e mail from Southern Fishing Schools Inc for $60.00 for a six month subscription. Copyright 2007.