I am very glad I got to fish Lake Burton and Lake Lanier before this cold weather hit. Both are beautiful lakes and the changing leaves made them even prettier. And both have quality spotted and largemouth bass. I managed to catch some of both in both lakes.

On Tuesday I met Joe Thompson at Burton to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News December Map of the Month article. Joe is a recent graduate of Young Harris College where he was on the bass fishing team and has lived in the Lake Burton area all his life.

I met him at noon since I didn’t want to face a cold morning on the water or the terrible morning traffic going up I-285 and I-85. He already had several nice spotted bass in the live well. We fished until the sun went behind the mountains shortly after 5:00 and I landed five bass, one largemouth and four spots, while he landed about seven spots.

While showing me around the lake Joe pointed out Alabama football coach Nick Saban’s huge lake house, and told me country singer Alan Jackson also had a house on the lake. The houses around the lake are big and pretty, with many looking like castles sitting on the steep hills rising from the water. And the docks are big enough to be lake houses on many other lakes.

We caught fish mostly on jig head worms but Joe says he usually catches bigger bass on a Super Spin, an underspin grub type bait, and a jig and pig. He had a couple of spots just over three pounds and I had a spot and a largemouth about three pounds each, so I thought the ones we caught on jig head worms were pretty big.

Last Sunday 13 members and guests fished the Flint River Bass Club November tournament at Lanier. After fishing nine hours we brought in 24 keepers over the 14 inch minimum length, and they weighed about 49 pounds. All but three were spotted bass and there was one limit. Four people didn’t have a keeper.

John Smith won it big with five weighing 13.13 pounds. My four weighing 8.71 pounds was second, Brian Bennett had three at 6.32 for third and his 3.54 pound spot was big fish, and Travis Weatherly came in fourth with three at 5.20 pounds.

Niles Murray fished with me and we had a slow day. We got a couple of short bass on the first point we fished then went about an hour without a fish. On a hump Niles quickly caught two keepers and I got one. Niles caught his on a Carolina rig and mine hit a jig head worm.

After working that spot hard and trying a couple more like it in the area, I told Niles I wanted to run up the river. There were three points I wanted to try about five miles from where we were fishing. Early that morning only three boats had come down the river so I figured there was a tournament taking off from up there, but it must be a small one.

Just my luck, we got to the first point and a boat was sitting on it. My best point in that area also had someone fishing it, as did the third place I wanted to fish. We tried a couple of places but got no bites, so we headed back down the river.

Back on the hump where we had caught three that morning I quickly caught a nice spot. We fished all around it and another place nearby but got no more bites, so we ran back into the creek where we had to weigh in. With about 90 minutes left to fish we hit two points and got only a small throwback.

With about 30 minutes left I had pretty much given up, deciding the two I had were all I would get. Niles suggested we go up the creek and fish a series of small points so we took off. The second one we hit I landed a largemouth close to three pounds, then on the next one got a barely 14 inch long keeper.

I was surprised to come in second with only four fish, but three of them were pretty good fish. Several guys in the club fish Lanier a lot and know it well, so I expected them to have limits. Nobody had more than three keepers except John and I.

Lanier is a very pretty lake, too, with clear water and changing leaves, but the big yachts cruising on the lake make it rough fishing and riding after about 10:00 AM. It does have a lot of big spots, but fishing pressure makes them tough to catch.

Burton is another hour away from us, but it would be a much better trip if you want pretty scenery and big spots. And Burton is stocked with trout. We saw them in the water and dimpling the surface in a couple of places we fished. I was wishing for a light spinning rod, a #6 hook and a can of kernel corn.

Give Burton a try for bass or trout. And you will probably catch a chain pickerel. Joe landed three. There are even walleye in the lake so you have a chance at a lot of different kinds of fish.