Captain Macks' Lake Lanier Fishing Report

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Lake Lanier Fishing Report from Captain Mack

The first weekend of May might be a little on the soggy side, with warm temps and a light to
moderate south winds. Hmmm… sounds like pretty good fishing weather to me. The extended
forecast indicates lots of cloud cover through the week, and an increasing chance of rain late in
the week. The bite reminds pretty good for Bass and Stripers, although we are seeing some
changes with the warming water temps. The lake level dropped last week, .28 feet, to a level of
1071.23 that is .23 above full pool. We’ll call the core surface temp 72 degrees.

Remember to
be sure and tune into Capt Macks Epic Outdoors Radio each Saturday AM, 4 to 6 am. on WSB
750 Am. Yeah, it’s early, but I’ll be up with a pot of coffee and some Fig Newtons waiting to take
your hunting and fishing calls.

Striper Fishing

The bite is good, and the techniques are really the same as recent weeks. The fish are also
using the same types of structures and areas, with maybe a little more emphasis on the Herring
spawn. The fish are pretty catchable when you find them so stay in the move until you locate
them. Free lines and planers continue to account for good numbers of fish, but the down lines
are still producing and are perhaps a bigger part of the pattern than in the last few weeks. Keep
in mind the floating down lines, they are often a good technique at this point in the year. Herring
and Gizzard Shad are catching fish, with shiners also still being effective, the shiners mostly on
the free lines. Pulling the baits around shallow humps, reef poles, and points is a solid pattern,
best in the am, but effective all day.

Looking for the spawning bait fish remains a good strategy, find the bait fish spawns and the
Stripers will likely be nearby. Shad and Herring may spawn on almost any type of rock or hard
surface. Look around the ridge pilings, seawalls, rip rap or rocky banks. The fish that are around
the bait concentrations may be shallow, especially early. After the bait fish activity slows or
ceases, the Stripers may stay in the same area, just backing off into deeper water and relating
very loosely to the structure.

The pitch bite remains very, very good, perhaps one of our most prolific patterns each year. To
respond to a couple of questions; What exactly is pitching? It is just finding a likely structure that
is holding fish, securing the boat with spot lock shallow water anchors, and casting or “pitching’
a live bait, on Lanier general a Herring to the structure. Easy enough, but there are a couple of
pointers there will catch more fish. Firstly, once you pitch, lob may be a better description, to the
point, fish with your rod tip low. The reason being, many of the fish, especially the Stripers will
eat the bait and swim towards the boat, fast! Maybe faster than you can reel. If you rod tip is
high, you lose the benefit of being able to lift the rod on the bite which gives you the ability to
take up several feet of line, aka slack. Also, I prefer not to set the hook, but just start cranking
until you feel the weight of the fish, then lift the rod, keep reeling and that should get the hook
set. I prefer a circle hook over the octopus for the pitching technique

Bass Fishing

April Was a very good month, it’s early, so far it looks like May will continue that trend! The
patterns of the last few days are continuing, I think we can just add in a few post spawn patterns
that are emerging. Are the fish still spawning? I think so, however, I think there was a big group
of fish that spawned on that last full moon that be will be finishing up soon. I still think we will
have another group of spawning fish, maybe not as big as last month, so the shallow water
patterns will still have merit, we’ll just have some post spawn patterns to add variety.

With water
temps in the low 70’s we should have shallow fish anyway, regardless of the spawn.
You’ll still have the advantage of catching fish on many baits, the same baits that have been
effective in recent weeks will still be catching fish. The soft plastics, jerk baits, spinnerbaits,
swim baits (both soft plastics and hard baits)and top waters continue to produce. One footnote
on the spinnerbait bite I have discussed so much recently: as the fish leave the banks the
spinnerbaits will still have application. The technique is the same as mentioned in earlier
reports, just deeper. Fish the bait slowly enough that is following the slope of the bottom to get
the bait down into 5 to 12 feet. a heavier bait may also be a plus in getting into the appropriate
depth range. Banks with cover will still hold fish, it will most likely be that shallow offshore
structures will be more prolific. Target long flat points, shallow humps, deep stump flats and
shallow brush tops.

Keep an eye on the spawning Herring, find them and you find the fish. What to cast? Again, lots
of choices will get the bite. Sashimmy Shads and Lanier Baits Magic Swimmers, are a couple of
consistent producers. Soft plastics on the lead head, and top waters should all get the bite. The
same baits will have application for any schooling fish you see chasing bait, and that is
occurring frequently now!

Good Fishing!!
Capt Mack

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Captain Macks’ Lake Lanier Fishing Report