How To Catch Suspended Bass

Lake Sinclair bass caught on a jig head worm

If you ask most bass fishermen how to catch suspended bass, don’t be surprised if the response is: “you can’t.” Suspended bass present fishermen with one of the most difficult problems to solve and many just give up and go look for easier fish to catch. But there are ways to get them to bite and tactics that will help you land fish that others give up on.

Bass suspend away from structure and cover for a variety of reasons. One of the most common is when lakes stratify, forming a thermocline between hot upper oxygenated layers of water and cooler, deeper layers with little oxygen. Bass can’t live in the cooler waters so they get as close to it as they can, suspending over deep water at the level where they can still find enough oxygen.

Suspended bass will often be found holding off points and humps at the most comfortable depth to them. They will be over a deeper channel but not far from the rise in the bottom where it meets the depth they are holding. That allows them to run in and feed, then move back out over deeper water.

Some lakes present a special situation where standing timber under the water rises many feet off the bottom. Bass will often use these trees as cover, relating to the trunks and limbs while holding well off the bottom of the lake.

The best way to find suspended bass where you fish is to ride the lake and watch a depth finder carefully. Follow channels and ditches while watching for fish holding between the bottom and the surface. Riding back and forth over a point or hump, not turning your boat until well past the drop of the bottom contour, will show you schools of bass suspended near them. And moving slowly over standing timber will reveal bass suspended in it if your depth finder is a good one.

Depth control of your bait is critical to catching suspended bass. They are holding at a set depth and will not move far up or down to take a bait. So finding the bass and knowing what level they are holding is just the first step. You must then find a way to put your bait at the level where they will see it.

A crankbait is a good way to catch suspended bass but you must make it work at the dept the bass are holding. There is an old tried and true method of doing this that has fallen out of favor. Trolling it a great way to get your crankbait down to a set depth and keep it there while covering a lot of water, but it is against the rules in bass tournaments so many bass fishermen have abandoned it, but it still works.

Most lure companies have designed a variety of crankbaits that run down to a set depth. For example, a Bandit Series 400 will run 12 to 16 feet deep and a Series 700 will run 14 to 18 feet deep. A Bomber Fat Free Shad will run 14 to 18 feet deep while a Fat Free Fingerling will run eight to 10 feet deep.

The depth varies depending on factors like trolling speed, line size and amount of line out, so you need to experiment to find out the exact combination to produce the exact depth you want. Mark a set depth on a point then troll over it varying line size, length of line out and trolling speed until your bait just ticks the bottom at the depth you want it to run, then troll through schools of bass at that depth.

You can do the same thing if you are limiting yourself to casting, but line size and the distance you cast are even more important. And boat position becomes critical. When you cast a crankbait like the Bomber or Bandit it will dive to its maximum depth as you start your retrieve then rise when it gets near the boat.

Since your crankbait will stay a the desired depth for only a short distance when casting, you must locate the schools of bass then position your boat near them so you can cast past them and work the bait back, keeping it at the critical depth as long a as possible.

Some newer baits on the market make casting and controlling your depth easier. Both the Swarming Hornet and the Fish Head Spin are lead-head baits with a small spinner under the head. When you attach a Roboworm E-Z Shad or other shad looking plastic bait, it imitates a baitfish.

Tie on one of these baits and vary the weight of the lure and the line size to match the conditions like wind, water clarity and depth you want to fish. Smaller diameter line helps keep the bait at the depth you want to fish and you can get by with lighter line since the bass are away from cover.

Position your boat near the school of suspended bass and make a long cast past it. Feed line to the bait as it falls so it drops straight down and count it down. Figure one second per foot of drop, but to be more exact cast to a known depth and count it down to make sure your are accurate.

When the Fish Head Spin or Swarming Hornet reaches the correct depth, slowly reel the lure along. A slow, steady retrieve keeps the spinner turning and keeps the bait at the optimum depth. You can cover much more water at the best depth with one of these lures than with a crankbait since the lure drops straight down to the correct depth then stays at that depth all the way back to the boat.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to control the exact depth you want to fish is by using a drop shot rig. A drop shot rig is one where the lead is tied to the very end of your line and a hook tied on up the line. Special hooks and sinkers are designed for drop shotting and make it a more efficient way to fish, but you can use any sinker and hook as long as the hook is very sharp.

Gamakatsu hooks are known to be super sharp and they make a Drop Shot/Split Shot hook that comes in a variety of sizes and you can choose red or black hooks. These hooks are relatively small and are perfect for nose hooking small plastic bait like a Slider Worm, Roboworm or Gulp Minnow Grub.

A soft, straight worm like the Slider or Roboworm is the usual choice for drop shotting, but experiment with other shapes of baits, too. Some days the bass might like a fat Gulp Grub with a quivering curly tail over a thin straight worm.

Choose one of the plastic baits that match the size of the baitfish the bass are eating, and use a color based on water color. Clear water is usually best for drop shotting so line choice is critical, too. Fluorocarbon line is the standard for drop shotting and Sunline is invisible in the water and holds up well. The lack of stretch of fluorocarbons like Sunline also help with hooking fish on light line.

You can drop shot at any depth you find the fish holding. If they are three feet off the bottom, tie your hook three feet up the line. If they are 15 feet off the bottom, tie your hook 15 feet up the line.

This may sound strange but, since the sinker is at the end of the line, when you hook a bass and reel it in, there is nothing to get in the way of landing it. You may have a lot of line trailing the bass but you can land the fish without reeling it all in.

Get your boat right on top of the school of bass and hold over them watching your depthfinder. Let the sinker on your drop shot rig hit the bottom and you know your bait will be at the exact depth you tied it above the sinker. Twitch your rod tip, making the worm or grub dance right in front of the bass’s mouth.

Drop shotting is the best way to catch bass suspended in timber, too. For these bass, tie a hook a few inches to a foot above a sinker and get right on top of the fish. A good depth finder will allow you to watch your bait as it falls and you can stop it right in front of the bass and shake it. You are usually targeting a single bass in timber rather than a school. A drop shot rig moves the sinker away from the bait while still giving ou exact depth control.

Don’t let suspended bass ruin your day. Try these techniques to land them when others are just shaking their heads.

How To Fish Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair

I caught this bass after a bad cold front

How to fish Lakes Oconee and Sinclair In Winter

Along its 170 mile course the Oconee River passes through some beautiful country, from its hilly beginnings north of Athens to the flatlands where is joins the Ocmulgee River near Lumber City. But to bass fishermen none of the river is it prettier than the 45 miles contained in Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair.

Oconee and Sinclair offer some of the best bass fishing in Georgia, especially in the winter. Although the lakes are back to back with the Oconee dam separating the two, and have many similarities, they are different in many ways. Those differences and similarities are important to the bass fishing on each.

Lake Oconee is the newer of the two and its 19,050 acres of water was dammed in 1979. It has 374 miles of shoreline covered with golf courses, expensive houses and docks. There are areas of huge boulders in parts of the lake and natural rock is common. Shallow sandy coves and clay points are found throughout the lake as are big areas of standing timber.

Lake Sinclair is smaller and older than Oconee, with 14,750 acres of water. It has more long creeks so it has slightly more shoreline with 417 miles. Although work on the dam was started in 1929 the Great Depression and World War II stopped it and it was not completed until 1953. There are many sandy coves and shallow creeks with extensive grassbeds, but no standing timber. Some natural rock is in the lake but you won’t find the big boulders common at Oconee. Like Oconee, it is lined with docks.

Lake Sinclair has always had a 12 inch size limit on bass but at Oconee there is a slot limit from 11 to 14 inches, meaning you can keep bass over or under that length. That was done to try to keep down the population of small bass since Oconee is not a fertile lake, but fishermen seldom keep the smaller bass so the slot limit may not be very effective. Both lakes have a ten bass daily possession limit.

Water clarity is similar on both lakes and ranges from very muddy to slightly stained. The upper Oconee River at Oconee is most likely to be muddy while Little River on Sinclair stays heavily stained year round. The clearest water on Sinclair will usually be in Island and Rocky Creeks near the dam and Richland Creek on Oconee is usually the clearest. Sinclair also has a steam power plant that warms areas of the lake, keeping winter temperatures well above those at Oconee in some sections.

At the Oconee Dam the power generators were specially designed to work as pumps, too. During the day water runs through them from Lake Oconee into Lake Sinclair, producing electricity. At night some of the generators are reversed, pumping water from Sinclair back into Oconee. This pump-back operation creates unusual current patterns on both lakes and affects the bass fishing.

When power is being generated at the Oconee dam current runs downstream through Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair. But when water is being pumped back the current flows upstream in both lakes. This current positions bass in different ways on structure and cover.

The pump-back operation does keep both lakes at a fairly stable water level. Oconee will drop a foot or two during the day and Sinclair will rise the same amount, then Sinclair will drop a foot or two at night while Oconee rises. But the water does not show the drastic drops found on other Georgia lakes in the winter, with both lakes staying within a couple of feet of full pool most of the time.

According to the Georgia Bass Chapter Federation Creel Census Report, in 2007 Sinclair had 81 tournaments and Oconee 73, the second and third highest totals of any Georgia lake. A lot of tournaments are held on the two lakes because fishing is good on them. On Sinclair 2.91 bass per man hour of tournament fishing were weighed in, the highest in the state. At Oconee it was 1.88, not real high but tournaments have an effective 14 inch size limit that lowers the numbers weighed in.

For tournament winning weights Oconee and Sinclair had identical 9.83 pounds, tied for fourth highest in the state. So bass fishermen catch a lot of bass in tournaments on both lakes. The numbers are good and success rates reflect this, meaning you should catch a good number of bass on either lake this winter.

The Georgia DNR says Sinclair has a lot of small bass in it, no surprise to anyone fishing it, and the good 2006 and 2007 year class bass should dominate this winter. Since over 90 percent of bass caught at Sinclair are usually released the numbers should stay high and the size increase with time.

At Oconee the bass population is stable but the DNR is concerned that the numbers of small bass will hurt the lake. Unless bass fishermen start keeping the small bass under the 11 inch slot limit the quality will suffer. That may be reflected in the fact the average big bass in tournaments at Oconee was only 3.68 pounds, compared to 4.20 pounds at Sinclair.

There are a lot of ways to catch bass on both lakes right now. You can follow the same patterns on each or specialize on patterns that work best on one lake or the other.

Fishing docks is a good winter pattern on both lakes. Find a dock near deep water and flip a jig and pig or curly tail worm to the pilings and brush around it and you should get bit. On both lakes pay attention to the current. Strong currents are not as good in the winter but a slight current moving water under docks helps. The bass will hold behind post and brush, facing into the current waiting on food. Position your boat downstream of the current, no matter which way it is flowing, and flip upstream, working your bait back in a natural action.

Crankbaits also work well around docks in both lakes. A #5 or #7 Shadrap run by dock pilings will draw strikes from winter bass. Natural colors like shad or black and silver are good. Just like with the jig and pig, fish with the current. Run your crankbait at a slow, steady retrieve, going slower in colder water.

On Oconee the docks from Long Shoals Ramp up to the Highway 44 Bridge are good. Stay on main lake areas where the docks are deeper and concentrate on outside posts and brush this time of year. Work your jig and pig or worm slowly in the cold water, dropping it to the bottom and jiggling it in one spot by a post.

At Sinclair the docks in Beaverdam Creek are good since the warm discharge from the steam plant keeps the water warmer. There is almost always some current here, too. The discharge from the steam plant moves water even when there is no current from the dams. Also try the docks from Beaverdam Creek to the dam. If the water is muddy go into Rocky and Island Creeks and flip docks in clearer water.

Riprap is excellent on both lakes in the winter. A spinnerbait slow rolled just over the rocks, ticking them as it eases along, it a good choice. Fish it with the current. Crankbaits are also good. Use different sizes to reach different depths. For five-foot deep rocks cast a #5 Shadrap but go to a #8 Shadrap for rocks down to ten feet. Fish all sizes with the current, reel them down to the desired depths then crank them in slowly.

At Sinclair there is almost always current around the rocks at the Highway 441 Bridges and the one in Beaverdam Creek has the added advantage of warmer water. Also check out the riprap around the steam plant outflow in that creek. The riprap at Crooked Creek can be good and riprap around houses and docks on points on the main lake often holds fish, especially if the sun is warming it.

On Oconee the bridges in Lick Creek area always good as is the Highway 44 Bridge over the river. You can catch fish on the I-20 riprap up the river, too. Many of the houses on the main lake have riprap protecting their shoreline. Riprap in front of a seawall that drops into deep water is best. Current is the key and the bass bite much better when some water is moving across the rocks.

Both Oconee and Sinclair have a lot of long points and humps on the main lake that are good places to jig a spoon in cold water. Bass stack up in deep water and hold there all winter long A shallow point or hump with a good drop on it is an ideal place to find a school of bass. Most are near creek and river channels.

Jigging a spoon works best in clearer water. You can locate schools of baitfish with bass under them with a good depthfinder then get right on top of the school and drop a spoon. Mark them with a buoy to you can stay on them. Drop the spoon down to the bottom, pop it up about two feet and let fall back on a tight line. Vary the height you pop it up and the speed of the pop until you find what the bass want.

In both lakes hard bottoms are best. Sand, clay or rock hold more fish so look for these type bottoms no the humps and points. Sometimes bass want cover like a brush pile, stumps or rocks but usually they will be on slick bottoms this time of year on these points and humps.

On Oconee the humps and points from the dam up to the mouth of Richland Creek are good. You can also find fish on up Richland Creek and up the Oconee River if the water is clear but the best spots in the River will be from Lick Creek downstream and in Richland Creek from Sandy Creek downstream. Look for the bass to be holding in 18 to 22 feet of water most days.

At Sinclair the long points and humps from the mouth of Little River to the dam are good and there are some excellent points in both Rocky and Island Creeks. If the main lake is heavily stained concentrate your efforts in the creeks. Bass tend to hold a little deeper in those areas at Sinclair so look for them 18 to 25 feet deep.

Even on the coldest days some bass will be shallow in both lakes. If the sun is shining it will warm the backs of coves and pockets and bass will feed in them. Find a short cove with a good channel running into it, with shallow flats in the back, and the bass will be there looking for something to eat. Crankbaits and spinnerbaits are good bets to catch them.

On Sinclair look for shallow flat pockets on the west side of the lake around Nancy Creek to the dam. Some grass in them helps. Throw a Rat-L-Trap or #5 Shadrap up very shallow and work it back just fast enough to bump the bottom. Also slow roll a spinnerbait along the bottom. Hard sand or clay bottoms are best.

On Oconee there are good pockets from the mouth of Lick Creek to the dam. A pocket that gets sun most of the day is better and grassbeds helps, although there is not a lot of it on Oconee. Although the grass will be dead baitfish still feed on it and they attract bass. A spinnerbait worked along the bottom is an excellent bait for these bass.

Sinclair has a lot more grass than Oconee and the pattern of fishing grass is better there. Most of the coves and creeks from Crooked Creek to the dam on the Oconee River have some grass beds in them. Fish a spinnerbait around them and let the bass tell you if they are holding in the grass or on the edge. Once you establish this pattern you can find similar places in most coves.

Standing timber can be a place to catch winter bass at Oconee but Sinclair does not have it. The timber that runs for a long way on both sides of the point between the Oconee River and Richland Creek as well as the patches of timber in Double Branches are good. You are more likely to have current on the main lake timber on the point than in the patches in the creek.

There are several ways to fish the timber. Bass sometimes suspend in the branches and you can catch them on a crankbait or spinnerbait fished through them. Make fairly short cast with either bait and get them down to about ten feet deep. Bounce them through the limbs and off the trunks of the trees. Vary the depth until you catch a bass then concentrate on that depth.

Also pay attention to which tree the bass hits. Is it on the outside edge of the patch of timber or on the inside edge. Or is it in the middle of the patch. If on the edges concentrate on them but if inside the timber fish every tree.

You may also be able to tell what kind of tree it is and whether it has underwater branches. An old cedar tree will have more branches than most others. If you are hitting a lot of branches when you catch a bass try to find trees that have a lot of them to fish.

If the fish don’t want a bait moving through the trees, try dropping a jig and pig down the trunk. A light jig and pig with a twin curly tail trailer will fall slowly and draw a bite. Fish it on heavy line and set the hook hard if you see a twitch or jump in your line as your bait falls. If it stops falling before getting to the bottom be ready to set the hook, a bass probably has it.

Don’t pass up jigging a spoon along the creek channels and ditches in the timber, too. Bass will often hold right on the bottom on the lip of the ditch by the tree. The best way to get to them is to drop a spoon down and jig it vertically.

Start at the back of the pockets of timber in Double Branches where the channel enters the trees and work deeper, or work the outside of the trees along the channel in Richland Creek. Any change in the bottom, like two ditches coming together, a big rock or a hump, will help hold bass. When you find the best depth concentrate on it.

Spend some time on Lake Oconee or Sinclair this winter. Even if you are cold, the bass will make it worth your time.

What Are Some Good Baits For Fall Bass Fishing?

Allatoona bass caught on a crank bait

Top Bats For Fooling Fall Pattern Bass

Die hard bass fishermen love the fall. We would much rather be on the water trying to fool a bass than perched in a tree waiting on something with horns to wander by or sitting in front of the TV watching guys play with a ball. Fortunately, many of our less fanatical bass fishing brethren like those other sports so we don’t have to share the honey holes with as many other fishermen. Add in the lack of pleasure boats, jet skis and skiers and fall fishing is almost heaven.

Bass activity also makes fall a fantastic time to fish for them. The cooling waters spur a feeding spree as the bass fatten up for the coming months. They like a high protein diet so shad and crayfish are their favorite prey this time of year.

Several other factors make this a good time of year to chase bass. The water is settled and clearer than during much of the year so you don’t have to worry as much about changing conditions. Lake levels are generally dropping so you can easily spot cover and structure on the exposed shoreline that shows you were to fish. The weather is not miserably hot or cold above the water, so you can fish in comfort. And you can simplify your tackle and areas of the lake you cover.

Starting in October but at its peak in November three baits really shine for bass fishing. You can have a crankbait, spinnerbait and jig and pig tied on and leave all the other rods and lures in the rod locker. These three baits will allow you to cover the water the fish are in and catch them now.

A crankbait is a good choice to fish fast and look for feeding bass. Choose a one-quarter to three-eights ounce bait in browns to match crayfish in clear water. If the water is a little stained pick the same size baits but some chartreuse helps. An orange belly is best for either one.

A white spinnerbait with two silver willowleaf blades works well in the fall. One quarter to half ounce baits with matching size blades look like shad and can be fished from top to bottom. Add a split tail white trailer for bulk and a little more action and bass will eat it. Change to a gold willowleaf and silver Colorado blades and use a skirt with some chartreuse as well as white if you find any stained water.

In clear water a brown jig and pig is an excellent choice. One with a brown skirt with a few strands of orange imitates a crayfish. A one eight ounce bait is good when working heavy cover like rocks and brush since it won’t get hung as badly. Don’t downsize the skirt and trailer size, just use a lighter head.

Got to a three eights ounce jig for more open cover where you are less likely to get hung. Try a blue and black combination jig and pig for water with some stain in it. With either bait, use a straight tail chunk type pig when you want a faster moving bait but hook on a twin curly tail grub to slow the fall and for more action in the bait when hopping it off the bottom.

Bass tend to move into creeks looking for food as the water cools. Shad will migrate into creeks and bass follow them. Pick a few smaller creeks on your favorite lake, start working at the first main lake point and work back into the creek until you find the fish. Until you locate them work all the cover and structure as you come to it.

Once you locate the area the fish are in you can go to other creeks and start fishing the same area and cover in them. If you find fish on secondary points half way back into one creek you are likely to find them in the same places in other creeks. Try to pattern the fish and you can then fish many areas without spending time in unproductive water.

Crayfish like rocks and hard mud bottoms so look for places that have them. Riprap and natural rock banks hold crayfish. They like to hide in the rocks and bass will be looking for them. Crayfish dig tunnels in hard mud bottoms and hibernate there so work any such places you can find; the crayfish are likely to be concentrated on them right now.

As shad move into the creeks they cross points and creek channel drops and bass will wait to ambush them there. A point or bar running out across deeper water is a good place to find them as is a creek swing where the lip runs across the creek. Always be watching for ambush points, a place where the bottom rises up from deeper water where bass can wait on the shad.

A crankbait is a good choice to start with since you can cover a lot of water quickly. Fish it on ten pound monofilament line and use a rod with some give to it. The mono and somewhat limber rod will help you hook the bass without pulling the lure away from them or tearing it out of their mouth. Check to make sure the hooks are sharp on the crankbait before your first cast, even on brand new baits.

Choose a crankbait that runs six to ten feet deep and make long casts and bump the cover. To keep it in the strike zone keep your boat in close to the bank and make parallel casts, angling the cast slightly to cover the water six to ten feet deep where the bait works best.

For a crankbait to be most effective it needs to be bumping the cover. Crank it down on a hard mud point and make it bounce along, kicking up puffs of mud like a moving crayfish. Pause every few feet then twitch your rod tip, making it dart forward like a startled mudbug. That will often trigger a reaction strike from a reluctant bass. Fish it the same way on rocks.

When fishing blowdowns, brush or stumps make your bait bump into it then pause so it floats up a little, then reel again. A crankbait with a large bill on its nose will bounce off wood cover and not get hung as much as one with a down facing bill further back on the body of the bait.

If you see baitfish dimpling the water pick up your spinnerbait and make a long cast. Reel it back fast so it “wakes” the surface like a fleeing baitfish. You need a well tuned balanced bait that will not roll at high speeds for this to be effective. You can use 12 to 14 pound monofilament line and a stiffer rod since the single hook on a spinnerbait will not tear out as easily.

If the bass don’t slam the fast moving bait, slow it down in steps. Try a retrieve that brings the bait back a few inches under the surface. Keep slowing it down until you are slow-rolling it, moving it with the blades turning but bumping the bottom. On all the retrieves stop the bait every few feet to make the skirt flare and draw a reaction strike.

Fish the spinnerbait over and across all drops where bass might ambush shad. You can also work it through blowdowns and over brushpiles where bass might be holding. In brush and blowdowns let it bump the limb then fall a few inches as it clears the limb. This falling action will draw strikes.

A jig and pig is one of the most versatile baits this time of year. Once you find the areas the bass are holding and the type cover they like, work a jig and pig for some of the bigger bass. Although any size bass will eat a jig and pig they are known for catching quality fish. Match line size to the cover and size of the jig you are fishing and use a rod with some backbone.

A light jig and pig is good worked slowly on rocks and through wood cover, imitating a feeding crayfish. Crawl it along slowly on the bottom, pausing every few inches like a feeding crayfish. When you bump a rock or limb stop it and jiggle it, then move it over the cover, letting it fall as it comes past it.

Hopping a jig and pig is very effective. Work the bait along the bottom but every few inches jump it six to 12 inches off the bottom like a startled crayfish. Let it fall back and sit still a few seconds, then move it forward again to the next hop.

The only thing you can do wrong this time of year is sitting at home. The weather and fish are cooperative; all it takes is you getting on the water to catch them.

How and Where To Catch Stripers, Hybrids and White Bass Near Atlanta

I caught this Lanier striper on a jerk bait

There are some sleek, swift fish swimming in waters near Atlanta that will stretch your string like no other freshwater fish. Stripers, white bass and hybrids fight harder than other fish you can hook in Allatoona and Lanier and this time of year is a great time to catch them.

White bass, stripers and hybrids are all closely related and are in the Morone family of fish. They are true bass, unlike black bass that are actually in the sunfish family. White bass are a freshwater species, stripers are a saltwater fish that spawns in fresh water and hybrids are a man-made cross between the two.

White bass are not native to Georgia waters but have been stocked here since Allatoona and Lanier filled. They can reproduce naturally in both lakes so they are no longer stocked. The average size is about a pound but they get much bigger. The world record white bass weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was caught in Virginia in 1989. They fight hard on light tackle and are good to eat.

Striped bass run up Georgia rivers to spawn from both the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. They can live in freshwater year-round and have been stocked in many of our lakes, including Lanier and Allatoona. They can not reproduce naturally in either lake so all stripers in them are stocked fish. Lanier and Allatoona get two to three stripers per acre each year.

Stripers get big. The record land-locked striped bass weighted 67 pounds, 8 ounces and was caught in California in 1992. They are extremely hard fighters and will test your tackle with long, strong runs.

Hybrids are a cross between a white bass and a striped bass. At Georgia fish hatcheries eggs are taken from stripes and mixed with sperm from white bass. The fry are grown to a few inches long then released into our lakes, usually in larger numbers that the stripers. They can not reproduce naturally. Hybrids are not stocked in Lanier.

The daily limit on white bass, stripers and hybrids at both Allatoona and Lanier is 15 fish in any combination. Only two of the 15 may be longer than 22 inches. There is no minimum size limit and the upper limit was set to protect bigger stripers.

White bass are the easiest of the three species to catch and stripers are the most difficult. Although hybrids are sterile and can’t reproduce, and stripers don’t have enough moving water in Allatoona or Lanier to spawn successfully, all three species make spawning runs up the rivers and creeks and this is an excellent time to catch them.

Lanier and Allatoona are similar in some ways and tactics for catching linesides will work on both, but there are some differences, too. Try the following to catch these fish now.

Allatoona

Lake Allatoona is an 11,860 acre Corps of Engineers lake on the Etowah River about 30 miles north of Atlanta. It gets heavy boat traffic but spring is a good time to fish it. Since it has all three species of linesides you can concentrate on one or try for all three during a fishing trip.

White bass are plentiful and can be caught in a variety of ways. Although the population suffered from the low water levels in the past few years they seem to be making a strong come-back. Spawning runs up both the Etowah and Little River arms of the lake should be good this year.

In March and April the whites make runs up the rivers feeding the lake and the fishing is fast. Early in the spring try trolling small jigs and spinners around points where the rivers start to narrow down. Troll at different speeds and depths, using a variety of colors to see what the fish want.

As the water warms move further up the rivers. White bass often go as far up the rivers as they can so you can find them stacked up in deeper holes. Cast small jigs like Hal Flies, spinners like Rooster Tails and small crankbaits and work them with the current. Try to cast to shallow water and work back to deeper water. Vary your speed to make the lures work different depths.

Use light tackle. It is easier to throw the small jigs and spinners that white bass prefer and they will give you a better fight. Keep your drag set light so if you happen to hook a hybrid or stripers you can let it run and play it, giving you a chance to land a big fish on light line.

Stripers will also move into the rivers in the spring and you can catch them in similar places. Use bigger baits for bigger fish, switching to a bucktail or curly tail grub three or four inches long for trolling or casting. An even better bet for stripers is live bait. Catch some shad in a cast net and slow troll them along point drops and outside bends in the river.

When trolling always watch your depthfinder. You will often see balls of baitfish that will let you know you are in the right areas, and you can spot the bigger fish hanging under them. Seeing the stripers under the baitfish lets you know they are there and also tells you how deep to fish.

The low water levels over the past few years have reduced the numbers of bigger stripers but increased stocking means there are more three to five pound fish available. The Georgia DNR has been stocking stripers at a 2.5 fish per acre rate to bring the numbers up and these fish will grow and produce bigger fish each year.

The same tactics that catch stripers will work for hybrids and they will take big baits like the stripers. Another good area to look for all three species is near the dam. For some reason these fish will stack up near the dam in the spring. It seems they move toward the current there. Hybrids are especially attracted to deep points just above the dam where they can be caught on live bait or jigs dropped down to them.

An effective way to catch hybrids is to tie a 3/0 hook 18 inches below a swivel. Above the swivel have a one ounce sinker on your line. Hook on a live shad or big shiner and drop the bait straight down. Slow troll the baits, moving so slowly the line stays straight down, along river channels and long main lake points. Put several rods out in rod holders and cover different depths. When you hit a school of hybrids the action will keep you hopping from rod to rod.

Increased stocking of hybrids has brought the numbers of them up and the DNR says Allatoona should be one of the best hybrid lakes in the state now. Most fish will be two to three pounds this year but there are also good numbers of five to eight pound fish you can catch.

One of the most exciting ways to catch Allatoona hybrids, stripers and white bass is to fish the “jumps” when the fish are chasing baitfish on top. You can often follow gulls as they wheel and dive to pick up injured bait from the surface. On calm days you can ride and watch for splashes as the linesides tear into bait on the surface.

Keep different size jigs and spoons rigged. When you spot a school on top you won’t know which species it is until you catch some and you want to throw smaller baits to the white bass. Sometimes a hybrid or striper will prefer a smaller bait, too.

Start out with a big spoon, jig or topwater since you can cast it further and stay will back from the school. Work in to it and try smaller baits as you get close, especially if you are not getting hits on the bigger baits. Don’t get right in the middle of the school since that will put them down. Try to see which way the school is moving and stay out from them keeping up as they move along.

Warmer weather means it is more comfortable to fish at night this time of year. Tie up under a bridge or anchor on a main lake point near the river channel, hang a lantern over the side and drop live bait down to different depths. As the fish move up the rivers on the spawning run and then back down them you can catch a lot of fish when a school moves by.

Bridges are good because they form a “squeeze” point to force the fish into a smaller area. Long points on narrow sections of the lake do the same. Watch your deptfinder for the depth the fish are at but try baits at different depths until the fish tell you what they want.

Lanier

Lake Lanier is a 38,000 acre Corps of Engineers lake on the Chattahoochee River about 40 miles north-east of Atlanta. Boat traffic makes it almost unfishable on the main lake on weekends and it gets worse as the weather warms. You can still catch stripers and white bass there if you can put up with the crowds.

The white bass run up the Chattahoochee River is almost legendary at Lanier but low water has hurt it during the past few years and the presence of blueback herring has devastated it. The fish have less successful spawns when the lake is very low and the ones that do spawn have most of their eggs eaten by blueback herring.

The state record 5 pound, 1 ounce white bass was caught in Lake Lanier in 1971 so it can produce some big white bass. . Light tackle is the way to go to take advantage of these hard fighting but smaller fish. Unfortunately, with the numbers of bluebacks that are very efficient at eating white bass eggs, the downward spiral in the white bass population is likely to get worse.

Head up the river until it gets very shallow. For years anglers ran up above the Lula Bridge but now you will find shallows far from it. Work deeper holes near shallow bars and points with small baits for white bass running up the river. Keep moving until you find fish. Watch for any activity in the water that tells you fish are present.

If you fish often enough you can find the schools of white bass and follow them as they move up the river then back down. Or if you find a productive point up the river you can stick with it and rely on new schools of fish coming up and restocking the area. A small boat helps get to places that are inaccessible by bigger boats but hold large numbers of fish.

Lanier is known for its big stripers and 30 pound plus fish are caught every year. The DNR says there is an abundance of two to 10 pound stripers and a good supply of 10 to 15 pound fish in the lake. The introduction of blueback herring has made this baitfish the choice of stripers and striper fishermen. You can buy live bluebacks or net them yourself.

Slow troll or drift a seven inch blueback on a tight line below a sinker and swivel and use a 3/0 hook. Locate the schools of stripers under balls of baitfish and drop your bait down just below the school of bait. Make it look like an injured herring that is separated from the school and an easy target.

Look for the stripers above Brown’s Bridge this time of year. They will make a spawning run up the river and then back toward the main lake in the spring. You can drift live bait or troll big plugs and bucktails for them over main lake points near the channel to find the schools of fish.

Fishing the jumps at Lanier will often produce big stripers. Watch for birds and surface activity and cast to fish, staying well back from the activity. A jerk bait or bucktail will work but try a double bait rig, too. Tie a small bait like a front runner or small topwater plug on your main line then run a three foot leader to a big plug like a Zara Spook.

Working the double bait rig looks like a fish chasing a smaller fish and will drive the stripers crazy. You can sometimes get a double hook-up, too. A popping cork with a fly behind it also casts a long way and works well. For added excitement add two flies on separate leaders behind the cork. If you hook one fish you will often see others chasing it trying to get the bait from it. With a trailing fly on the double bait rig a second fish will often hit. You may be able to land two at the time.

Sometimes white bass are schooling alone or with the stripers and the smaller bait is more likely to catch them. Also, when the schooling activity stops on the surface you can often catch more fish by easing around watching your depthfinder in the area where the fish were on top.

The stripers and whites will often go down and hold in the tops of standing timber or on nearby points. When you spot them on your depthfinder get over them and drop a live bait or bucktail down to them. If they are suspended count your bait down to the depth they are holding and fish it there. If the fish are near the bottom drop your bait down and hop it in one place.

If the fish don’t hit, try downsizing your bait. Sometimes a big striper will eat a 1/8 ounce jig after ignoring a bucktail or big spoon when they are not real active. They always have a hard time ignoring a live herring no matter what mood they are in.

Night fishing under all the bridges on the Chattahoochee can be very good this time of year, too. The bridges often look like a small city from a distance with all the lights under them so arrive early to get a good spot.

Tie up, put your lantern and baits over the side and relax until a school of fish give you all the action you can handle. Good rod holders are a must and a reel with a clicker on it will allow you time to get to the rod and get it out of the holder before setting the hook. A big striper can hook itself and put so much pressure on the rod it is hard to get out of the holder.

Give both Lanier and Allatoona a try this spring for linesides or concentrate on one lake and learn its secrets. You can catch them a lot of different ways and the fishing is good day and night for several weeks on both lakes.

Bass Fishing Middle Size Lakes In Georgia

I can catch a bass!

Fishing for Bass In Middle-Sized Georgia Lakes

Choices, choices. Fishermen in the central part of Georgia might have a hard time deciding where to go fishing this summer. From big lakes to farm ponds and from rivers to middle sized lakes we have many choices. Pick one of the mid-sized lakes in this part of the state and you will find willing bass. You may also find calm waters and relatively peaceful fishing.

In middle Georgia High Falls, Juliette and Tobesofkee offer excellent fishing but two of them have special motor restrictions you must follow. Those restrictions translate into calmer fishing but make it more difficult to cover water if you are used to zooming around in a fast bass boat.

Head to middle Georgia this month and fish one of these lakes. Each has differing cover, structure and age classes of bass so you can pick what you like best. Or fish all three for a variety of fishing experiences.

High Falls

High Falls is about two miles east of I-75 north of Forsyth. It is an old Georgia Power lake of 650 acres and all of it is a state park. The lake is closed from sundown to sunrise to boats and has very restricted bank access. Motors are limited to 10 horsepower or less but boats with bigger motors may be used if the motor is not cranked. State size and creel limits apply to the largemouth bass in the lake.

Located on the Towaliga River, High Falls is a very fertile lake and the largemouths grow big. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division the numbers of bass in the lake has been increasing over the past several years and half of the keeper bass are over 15 inches long. High Falls ranks near the top of Georgia lakes for numbers of 15 to 25 inch bass

Ted Will, Regional Supervisor for the DNR WRD West Central Georgia Fisheries Management Division says the healthy population of largemouth coupled with the relatively low fishing pressure means you should catch good numbers of nice bass. There are many big bass in the lake so your chance of catching a quality fish is good at High Falls, too.

High Falls is shallow and most channels have filled in with silt over the years, making the bottom bowl shaped. It is full of stumps and other wood cover and that type cover is the key. Docks and brushpiles add to the amount of wood and there is a good bit of grass in the water by summertime.

Glen Jones and Tracy Parks live in the Griffin area near the lake and were childhood friends. They got back together a few years ago and fish the lake a lot with each other and with friends and family. Both have caught seven pound plus bass from High Falls. They have also fished some of the Jon boat tournament trails tournaments on the lake.

Worms are Glen’s and Tracy’s favorite baits and they fish both Texas and Carolina rigs. When fishing together they vary what each is using until the bass show them what they want. Glen likes big worms and will usually start with a Zoom Old Monster or a Chompers 10 inch worm. Tracy will rig a smaller worm like a Zoom U-Tail on his Texas rig. For Carolina rigs Glen will start with a Zoom Mag 2 and Tracy will usually start with a Zoom Trick worm.

Fish worms through and around any wood cover you can find. Most docks are on posts and have brush piles around them. Stump beds are common in many areas of the lake and you will see blowdowns on banks all around the lake. All hold bass.

Topwater baits are also good and Tracy likes a white buzz bait with Glen following up with a Chug Bug or Pop-R. Spinnerbaits and Rattle Traps will catch fish, too. All these baits are fished along grass edges and over shallow grass to draw strikes.

You can put in using the ramp at the park at the dam and work up from it. The left bank going up is lined with docks while the right bank is open. The state park campground is on the right side. Above it there are some areas with stumps and grass beds to fish. With a small motor it will take a good while to get to the area where Buck Creek, Watkins Bottom and Brushy Creek split into arms off the river.

If you put in on Buck Creek at the ramp there you will be closer to more shallow fishing. Buck Creek is full of stumps and docks not far above the ramp and bridge. Just downstream of the bridge Brushy Creek enters on the left and has good fishing around wood and grass. Out and across the Towaliga River is Watkins bottom that is similar.

One good summertime pattern is to go up the Towaliga River as far as you can. Where the lake narrows down to just river channel you will find some good flats with grass to fish and up in the channel you can flip to blowdowns and overhanging brush to catch some big largemouth. Many tournaments are won on that pattern. Just make sure you leave plenty of time to be back at the ramp and off the lake by sundown.

Juliette

Lake Juliette is a 3600 acre Georgia Power lake about 15 miles east of I-75 and Forsyth. It provides water for coal fired Plant Scherer and has little inflow from Rum Creek so the water stays very clear. Juliette is filled each spring by pumping water from the nearby Ocmulgee River. Since the water is so clear grass grows all over the lake and down to surprising depths.

Standing timber was left when the lake was built. On the lower lake it was topped out well below the surface in most areas but the upper lake is filled with stumps right at the high water line. You must follow the channel in that area.

Motors are limited to 25 horsepower on Juliette but you can put in boats with bigger motors if you don’t crank them. The lake is too big to effectively fish with just a trolling motor, though. Much of the best summer fishing is out in open water and you can fish at night but you must be very careful due to the standing timber.

Ted Will and the WRD say the lake is infertile and populations of largemouth are lower than most middle Georgia lakes. Due to the slow growth rate there is no size limit on bass on the lake so you can keep ten bass any size. The lake is on a Wildlife Management Area but you need only a Georgia fishing license, no WMA stamp is required to fish here.

Baitfish in the lake include big gizzard shad and blueback herring. The bluebacks complete with bass fry for food and even eat them and the size of the herring and gizzard shad means it is tough for a small bass to grow to a size big enough to eat them. This may create long term problems for the lake but right now there are more than enough bass fry and small bass in the lake.

Although populations of bass are low there are good numbers of quality bass in the lake. About one-fourth of the bass are 15 inch long or longer and average bass caught weigh about a pound and a half. Monster bass weighing 12 to 16 pounds have been caught from the lake and it is not unusual for a tournament limit of five bass to weigh 20 pounds at the monthly tournaments on the lake.

The timber and the grass combine to offer lots of cover for bass and they are key to catching them. Grass lines form in deep water and standing timber with the grass just improves the fishing. The blueback herring in the lake mean bass are oriented to the surface during the summer.

Chad Hitt grew up in Forsyth and he and his father fish together in the monthly tournament at Juliette. They have been consistent in their catches and last year through nine months they had a 3.2 pound average for the fish they weighed in. Their best five-fish limit in a tournament weighed 17.66 pounds and their biggest bass was a 6.11 pounder. Chad’s best bass from Juliette is a 7.75 pound fish.

Bass at Juliette hold fairly deep, from 10 to 18 feet in the summer and fall, according to Chad. They hold in the grass and wood cover and will come up and eat a bait worked over them or through the cover. Topwater and worms both work well now.

Chad will start out with a topwater plug like a Pop-R or Rico and fish the grass line around the bank. There is often a visible grass line where the hydrilla grows up to the surface then drops off. There will be grass deeper than the line but the bass often hold near it. Fish at an angle working your popper close to this drop.

If the bass don’t want the topwater bait or after the sun gets high Chad will switch to a Texas rigged Zoom Mag 2 worm with a fairly light lead to fish through the grass. He works it slowly moving it through the grass where the bass are holding. If the bottom is clean with little grass Chad will switch to a jig head Trick worm and fish it on the bottom.

You can put in near the dam to fish the open lower end of the lake. There are many good pockets and small creeks with grass and timber in them, and the humps and shallows on the main lake are covered with grass beds. The open water in this area can get rough in a hurry when the wind gets up so be careful in small boats.

The upper end of the lake has a ramp and it is right in the standing timber. Follow the channel in this area because most of the trees have rotted off right at the high water mark. If the lake is down a little you can see many of them but if it is full it is very dangerous.

In this area fish the points and creek channels in the timber. You will see an old road bed crossing the lake between the ramp and the power plant and both ends of it can be good, too. There will usually be grass on these spots mixed in with the wood and you will need to fish it slowly and carefully to cover the places a bass will hold. Use heavy tackle so you can get them out of the wood when you hook a fish.

Tobesofkee

Lake Tobesofkee is a 1750 acre lake owned by Bibb County and located a couple of miles west of I-75 in Macon. It is ringed with houses and there are several parks open to the public on the lake. The lake gets very crowded in the summer with pleasure boaters and skiers since there are no motor restrictions.

The lake has a good bit of rock and grass cover in it and there are many brushpiles built by fishermen. The docks around the lake also add to the type of cover the bass like. State size and creel limits apply and you must have a Georgia fishing license. Access to the lake is expensive at the county operated parks.

Will says there are lots of keeper size bass in the lake and fishing has been improving for the past several years. Good spawns two and three years ago mean large numbers of those year class bass are reaching keeper size and better now. You should be able to catch a lot of 12 to 14 inch bass at Tobesofkee this summer.

Local pot tournaments move to night fishing this time of year because of the crowds during the day and the fishing is better in the dark. Weekdays are not too bad but you can hardly fish the lower lake on a pretty weekend summer day. The upper lake offers some protected shallows with grassbeds and brush that holds fish but that area is better late or early in the day as well as at night, too.

Ricky Randall has lived in the Macon area all his life and has fished Tobesofkee often. He fished with two local bass clubs and now he and his dad fish mostly pot tournaments. They often get a check at the weekly tournaments on Tobesofkee.

A few years ago Ricky and his dad had their best catch ever on the lake, seven keepers that weighed 30 pounds on a day they just went to the lake to check it out since the water was low. They have weighed in a six bass limit at just over 21 pounds in a tournament there.

Weedbeds and riprap are good places to catch bass on Tobesofkee and Ricky fishes them with a variety of baits. He will parallel the rocks with a small crankbait like a #5 or #7 Shadrap then go back along it with Trick worms and a jig and pig. The grass beds are water willow and they are fished with Trick worms, topwater and a jig and pig.

A lot of bass at Tobesofkee will hold around 14 to 15 feet deep on structure and cover out on the lake. Ricky will look for schools of shad and expects bass to be on the closest brushpile or channel drop. A big plug like a Mann’s 20 Plus, Norman DD22N or Fat Free Shad will catch them when cranked down to the depth they are holding.

You can put in near the dam at the big county park and fish all over this small lake if you have a bass boat. The creeks that go back under Mosley Dickson Road on your right as you go up the lake all have good riprap to fish as does the bridge up the river on Lower Thomaston Road. Those creeks and the structure near the mouths of them hold fish this time of year, too.

The lake will narrow down then open back up above the bridge on Lower Thomaston Road. This big area has several small feeder creeks with grass lining them and are good places to fish. They are more protected than the lower lake but skidoos and skiers still make it difficult to fish even here in the summer.

Try these mid-size lakes in the middle of Georgia for different kinds of bass fishing this summer. Explore them to find honey holes that will pay off in numbers of bass as well as some big fish, especially on High Falls. All of them will provide good fishing and you can find peace and quiet on two of them if that is what you are looking for while bass fishing.

Alabama Rig Inventor Andy Poss

The Alabama Rig and its inventor Andy Poss

Man Behind the Controversial Alabama Rig

By Brad Wiegmann
from The Fishing Wire

  Every angler has an opinion on the Alabama Rig. Even bass tournament trails are divided on sanctioning it for use during tournaments. For or against it, the Alabama Rig has changed the fishing industry, bass tournaments and one man’s life forever. 
Andy Poss, lure designer and inventor of the Alabama Rig, couldn’t have fathomed the controversy that his lure would create. Professional bass anglers are taking sides either steadfast for or adamantly against it. The debate rages on every fishing website with the naysayers claiming it will be the doom of bass fishing while other anglers point out there is no legitimate argument that it harms bass populations.

For Poss, the Alabama Rig was a lure that he had designed to catch fish like stripers, smallmouth, largemouth and other gamefish once they start feeding on shad. It was so effective that Poss once won 19 of 21 bass tournaments he entered. “Most anglers were bringing in 15 pound stringers and we would have around 28 pound stringers. We hardly ever had less than 25 pounds,” recalled Poss.

All the controversy seems strange to Poss over the Alabama Rig. “When I was 14 or so my Dad, Houston, a well-known lure designer and builder, would drop me off to go fishing in the morning at city lake and pick me back up in the afternoon. Everything about fishing was uncomplicated back then,” said Poss.

Later, Poss would make a living diving for mussels on the Tennessee River. During this time, he learned about rivers and how fish related to structure, cover and bait fish. He would use this knowledge to design and build the Alabama Rig.

Life for Poss all changed in August of 2009 when he built the first Alabama Rig–although he didn’t sell the first one until July of 2011 for $25. “I filed for a Patent on December 12, 2010 and officially filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 12, 2011. We met with Mann’s Bait Company in November of 2011 and signed a three year OEM Licensee and Trademark agreement on December 4, 2011,” recalled Poss.

Also influenced by the Alabama Rig phenomena, Seeker Rods began producing the technique specific official Alabama Rig rod with input from Poss and professional bass angler Paul Elias on the rod design.

Before signing the contract with Mann’s Bait Company, Poss and his wife Tammy did everything when it came to producing the rigs–building, taking orders and shipping. It consumed their lives and over took the house. “The house was the command center where we would build them, take the orders and package them for shipping,” explained Tammy.

Family members and friends pitched in to help out. At the peak of the selling frenzy, Poss had ten people bending wires and even that wasn’t enough to meet the demand.

Demand for the Alabama Rig brought about unbelievable prices on EBay and soon other lure builders were capitalizing on Poss’s invention.

“I saw some being sold on EBay from $99 to $600 at one point Sunday night after Paul Elias won the FLW Tour Tournament on Lake Guntersville in Alabama,” noted Poss. Through it all, Poss never changed the cost of the Alabama Rig, keeping it at $25, and built in the USA.

“We never jacked the price up to take advantage of anglers like others did during that time. We even went up to a Kentucky Lake Everstart tournament and sold them to anglers at $25 insuring that they weren’t going to be taken advantage of by tackle stores selling them at a high price,” acknowledged Poss.

Once the Alabama Rig took off, Poss put his fulltime job as a pipe fitter on hold. A union worker with all the benefits it was one of the biggest decisions he would ever make.

Now Andy and Tammy are waiting for a decision from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the Patent they applied for back in 2010. “It’s really taken a toll on me, my family and friends. Really it’s just the uncertainty of it all that has me concerned,” Poss continued, “everyone assumes that if you designed a lure that created such a demand you would be rich or would get rich, but that’s not the reality of it.” Copycats and knock-offs in the fishing industry siphoned substantial potential and future income from Poss.

Knowing what Poss knows today, he would approach it differently next time. “If I had to do it all over again, I would build 250,000 of them along with a line of jig heads, soft plastic swimbaits, hats, shirts and other items we could sell,” insisted Poss.

Poss noted that the boost in sales directly related to terminal tackle like snaps, jig heads, swimbait hooks and swivels was just the jolt the fishing industry needed. Sales of terminal tackle was rivaled only by soft plastic lures that anglers were rigging the Alabama Rigs which require multiple swimbaits or spinnerbait blades to rig.

If Poss is issued a patent, the next phase of his life will be extremely challenging, but that’s another matter all together. Right now all Poss can do is pray and wonder while waiting for the patent outcome.

For more commentary and fishing tips, visit Brad Wiegmann’s website, http://www.bradwiegmann.com

Early Spring Striped Bass Fishing

You can catch early sprain striped bass

Conquer cold water early spring striped bass fishing with this easy technique 

from The Fishing Wire

It’s been a long winter followed by an unseasonably cold spring that has been keeping water temperatures down. These cooler temperatures have many eager striped bass fishermen suffering from a case of dampened enthusiasm. Instead of lamenting the cool days of spring, try breaking out of the doldrums with some clams.

Striped bass, like all fish, are affected by the temperature of the water that surrounds them. Cold temperatures keep a striper’s metabolic rate low. They move slower, burn fewer calories and therefore they don’t need to eat as much. They tend to gravitate toward foraging rather than actively hunting live prey, and their shortened feeding forays are very tide-dependent. When foraging, they show a preference for food sources that require less effort to digest, what veteran striper fishermen often call “soft baits.” The number one soft bait you can offer stripers in cold water, and one that will continue to produce even as water temperatures rise, is clams. A nice hunk of fresh-shucked clam on a circle hook fished on the bottom in a prime tidal area will catch early stripers – and lots of them.

Northeast striper authority, Gary Caputi, has years of experience fishing inside waters for early season stripers. Here’s what he had to say.

“Depending on weather and how fast the water temperature starts to rise, clams can produce as early as March in some areas and still be going strong well into May. This gives you almost a three-month window when clams are a top producing bait,” said Caputi. “Early season fishing starts with smaller, non-migratory bass, the ones that winter over in the waters near where they were spawned in the Mid-Atlantic. That means the estuaries surrounding the Delaware and Hudson Rivers are all prime
locations for this technique.

“In the case of the Delaware Bay, clams can produce both striped bass and bonus black drum, which move into the bay system each spring and feed on the shallow flats adjacent to channel edges. The technique is not difficult, but you will need a chum pot, which in this case is a weighted wire mesh container that gets filled with crushed clams and dropped to the bottom under your boat to attract stripers to your baited hooks. Use a good supply of clams, either whole surf clams or fresh shucked in containers, but avoid frozen as they simply do not put out that strong scent that really gets a striper’s attention,” advised Caputi.

The fun part of this type of fishing, according to Caputi, is that the angler can use very light tackle and still enjoy the fight of these smaller, but very feisty stripers. Light spinning rods or baitcasting gear is all it takes. Rigging up to fish with clams is simple.

Slip your running line through a sinker slide, also called a fishfinder rig, and then tie on a small barrel swivel to prevent the hook from sliding all the way back to the sinker. Next tie a three-foot leader of 20-or 30-pound fluorocarbon leader material to the swivel, and snell a 7/0 light-wire circle hook onto the other end. Add a one- or two-ounce bank sinker to the sinker slide, and you’re done.

“Next you have to pick some good places to fish and determine the tides for each,” Caputi said. “Tides are very important as the bass will use them as feeding windows, and they will feed most heavily on the outgoing tide when warmer water will be spilling out of the shallows.

“Just a degree or two increase in temperature is all it takes to spark a strong feeding reaction. Pick places in relatively shallow water adjacent to channels, and anchor the boat so it is still well up on the flats with the current flowing under the boat toward the deeper water. Once you’re anchored, fill the chum pot with crushed clams, shells and all. You can do this by crushing a few clams in a bucket with a piece of wood. I keep an old baseball bat handy for this purpose, but a short length of 2×4 works fine, too.”

After the chum pot is on the bottom with the line tied to a spring line cleat, it’s time to bait up. Grab a good hunk of clam, preferably with some of the belly attached, and thread it onto the circle hook. Then cast it a short distance behind the boat so that bass attracted by the chum pot will find your hook-bait first. Twenty feet back is a good distance and an easy cast for anyone. Then just settle in and wait as the tide brings the scent of your chum and baits over the channel edge. Remember, if they smell it they will come.

“You can keep a couple of rods in the rod holders in the back of the boat or hold them, but be sure to pay attention to them at all times,” said Caputi. “The bites will come in several ways. The easiest to see is when a bass grabs the bait and moves away from the boat. All you have to do is let the line come tight and lift the rod. The circle hook will do the rest.

But when one picks up the clam and keeps swimming towards the boat, the strike is harder to detect. You might see the line between the rod tip and the water go slack for just a moment or the rod tip might twitch. Pick it up and start reeling to come tight to the fish, and keep reeling until the rod tip dips and the hook wraps around the fish’s jaw. Remember, when fishing circle hooks never jerk the rod tip to set the hook. Circle hooks will hook bass around the mouth opening and not in the gills or stomach if they swallow the bait. That makes live release of short fish, or the ones you don’t keep, easier on you and the fish. A release today represents a fish you might catch another time when it is bigger.”

So if the water stays cold, break out the clams and get in on some great early season striper fishing. And be sure to bring the kids because this is fishing everyone can enjoy!

How and Where To Catch Middle Georgia Catfish

Most People Call Bullheads Catfish

Angling For Middle Georgia Cats

What could be better this time of year than kicking back under a shade tree with a rod or two set out for catfish? The bigger lakes are churned with pleasure boats and the sun is hot, but you can go to smaller waters and have a ball catching cats. And it is hard to find a better meal than fried catfish.

If you live in the mid-Eastern part of Georgia you have some great catfish waters near you. From Public Fishing Areas to rivers to state parks, you won’t have to drive far to catch a mess of cats. You can fish from the bank or from a boat and enjoy the peace and quiet while filling up the stringer.

The following waters are all good for cats and at least one should be close to you. Pick one and learn more about it by fishing it often or try them all for a nice variety in your catfishing.

McDuffie PFA

McDuffie PFA is a few miles from Highway 278 east of Thomson. There are signs from the highway to the 570 acre site and it is open from sunrise to sunset each day.
With a few exceptions, a Georgia fishing license as well as a Wildlife Management Stamp is required to fish there.

Campsites are available for tents and RVs and they have ADA sites, too. There are restrooms and bath houses and some of the ponds have picnic tables and grills. You can use the covered picnic pavilion. You may not fish from sundown to sunrise even if camping there.

You can choose from seven different ponds to catch catfish and they vary in size from five to 37 acres. The ponds are fertilized and each fall harvestable size channel cats are stocked in some of them. The fishing is good year round for channel cats since this stocking raises the numbers in the pond and are not all caught quickly.

All the ponds have boat ramps and most are easily accessible from the bank all the way around the water. Boats are restricted to electric motors only but can have a gas motor attached as long as you don’t crank it. Your boat must be registered if it has any kind of motor on it. The ponds are small enough to cover them by paddling a small boat.

You are allowed to use two poles per person but no live minnows are allowed as bait. You may keep five channel cats per day and you are unlikely to catch any other species from these ponds. Watch for closed ponds and any special restrictions posted on a specific pond.

Most cat fishermen target eating size channel cats but some big fish are in all the ponds. Early and late in the day offers the best time to catch catfish and it is much more comfortable to fish when the hot summer sun is not beaming down.

To catch your limit of cats from the bank, pick a spot near the dam where you can reach deeper water. Bait a #4 Eagle Claw 100 hook or other short-shanked heavy wire offset hook with liver, earthworms or blood bait and fish it on the bottom. Use a small split shot to take it down but don’t use more weight than necessary to cast it out and keep it on the bottom. Eight pound test line will get more bites and give you a better fight than heavier line.

Since you can use two rods have a second rod with heavier line and a bigger hook. Bait it up with a big chunk of gizzard or cut bait and fish it for bigger cats. The tougher, bigger bait won’t be eaten off or swallowed by smaller cats.

Hugh Gillis PFA

Hugh Gillis PFA is ten miles east of East Dublin on Keens Crossing Road off US Highway 80. The area is open from sunrise to sunset and you will need both a Georgia fishing license and, in most cases, a WMA stamp to fish here. If you buy a one day fishing license or have a honorary license, either senior or disability, or a Sportsman’s or Lifetime licensee you don’t have to have a WMA stamp to fish any state PFA.

There are restrooms and picnic tables available on the site and some are ADA accessible. The 109 acre lake has a concrete boat ramp and a fishing pier you can use. You can use any outboard motor here but you must stay at idle speed only.

As on all PFAs you are limited to two poles in use at any one time so you can try for eating size cats with one and bigger cats with the other. Fishing from the pier is often good and about half of the bank is accessible around the lake. There are channels, coves and points to fish but you need a boat to fish most of them.

Some standing timber was left when the lake was built and many brush piles have been added. Cats often hold around this wood cover but sometimes are hard to land. They get tangled up if you wait too long to set the hook and reel them in, but fishing around the wood is often productive. A boat gives you better access to this kind of cover.

Since cats often bite slowly, a good method is to stick a rod holder or forked stick in the bank, put out your two rods and sit back and watch them. You can clamp a rod holder on the side of your boat, too. Bait up with liver, earthworms, stinkbait or cut fish and use bait appropriate for the size of the fish you want to catch. Watch your line for bites and be ready to reel in the fish when it hits. Don’t let it pull your rod in the water.

In the summertime deeper water is usually better for cats so fishing near the dam is best. Look behind the dam to find the channel and fish around it above the dam for the deepest water. You can also locate channels from a boat with a depthfinder. Cats often hold near the old channel. Early in the morning or late in the afternoon is best since you can not fish at night.

Evans County PFA

Evans County PFA is off US Highway 280 east of Claxton on Old Sunbury Road and is open from sunrise to sunset each day. It has the same license requirements as other PFAs and the area consists of three ponds. You can pick from an 84 acre lake, a 30 acre lake or an 8 acre lake to fish.

The lakes have concrete boat ramps and fishing piers and there are restrooms and picnic tables available. Primitive camping is offered on the area and some of the facilities are ADA accessible.

The ponds are managed for good fishing and they contain brown bullheads as well as channel cats. There is good bank access available on the lakes and the fishing piers get you out over deeper water, but a boat will let you cover more of the lakes.

Each year there are two kids fishing events at the PFA and the eight acre lake is stocked with 2,500 eating size channel cats for each one. Fishing is real good after the events when the lake is opened back up to the public. There is a five fish limit on channel cats but there is no limit on bullheads.

Dana Dixon is a fisheries technician at the Evans County PFA and he says chicken liver and shrimp are the best baits for both kinds of cats. He also said there are some big cats in the lakes. One has never been drained so it has the potential of a real big cat. The eight acre lake has not been drained in about 15 years so it could have some big ones, too.

Oconee River

Rivers offer a different kind of fishing for cats and more variety in species. In the Oconee River you can catch flatheads, channel cat and blue cat and some grow to huge sizes. The lower Oconee, from the Sinclair dam downstream to the junction with the Ocmulgee River where they form the Altamaha River is an excellent catfish river.

Access to the river in this section is very limited. The only state boat ramp is way down stream in Laurens County at Shady Field but it is a long run up the river to fish this section. The only bridge over this section of the river is the Highway 57 Bridge near Toomsboro. You can put a small boat in there and float down or motor upstream.

This section of the river is in the upper coastal plain and you will find undercut sand banks and bluffs, lots of fallen trees and a sand or silt bottom. The river gets wider and deeper when you get downstream of Dublin. The area between the Sinclair dam and Dublin offers good cat fishing for all three species. The DNR reports good numbers of 2 to 4 pound channel cats and some big flatheads sighted while doing population studies.

Flatheads grow very big and usually are caught out of the deeper holes in the river. Big live bream are the best bait for them. Blues and channel cat will hit live bream but cut bait, liver, shrimp and earthworms are best for channel cats.

A lot of big catfish are caught on limb lines and trotlines set in the river but you can catch them on a rod and reel, too. You need a boat to get to the best fishing on the river since shore access is limited. Find a sandbar on the upstream side or the inside bend of a deep hole and put out several rods in holders. Hard bottoms are best and an eddy in the current offers a resting and feeding spot for the biggest cats.

Use a big hook and heavy sinker to take it to the bottom and hold it in one place. Hook the bream so it will stay alive and move around. Watch your pole carefully for bites. For channel cats use smaller hooks but you will need a heavy sinker to keep your bait on the bottom in the current.

All three species of cats feed better at night so set up camp, build a fire, put on lots of bug repellant and spend the night. If fishing from a boat make sure you are anchored securely and keep a light on in case other boats are running the river. If you are going to fish all night fishing from the bank is much more comfortable.

Ogeechee River

The Ogeechee River is one of our most pristine rivers and has no dams on it. Rivers with dams upstream have regulated flows and predictable rises and falls. The Ogeechee does not and fishing can vary a lot depending on river level.

There are no flatheads in the Ogeechee and anglers should help keep it that way. If you happen to catch one, kill it. There is no limit on flatheads anywhere in Georgia since they are an invasive species and harm local populations of fish, especially redbreast. Never transport flatheads to this river.

There are good populations of white cats and bullheads in the river and they seem to concentrate where there is swift water and lots of cover. You will find many trees in the water, some all the way across the river, and breaks in the current hold cats. There are also good numbers of channel cats. Cut bait, shrimp and earthworms are all good for these three kinds of cats. Live minnows, shiner or small bream, also catch white and channel cats.

DNR boat ramps at Highways 88, 1 and 78 offer access to the river and you can also put a small boat in at several other bridges. A small jon boat, canoe or kayak is best for fishing this small river. There is also bank access around most of the bridges where you can fish.

Savannah River

The Savannah River from Augusta to Savannah is a big river with big catfish. Although the most common catfish in the river are white cats, some monster blues and flatheads live here. This is the best place to target a trophy cat in the area. There are many five-pound plus blues in the Savannah.

Cats in the Savannah are most likely to be in deep holes with strong current during the day but they will move out of them at night to feed in more shallow water. Fish live bream or cutbait on shallow flats and sandbars near deep holes at night. During the day set up above the holes and fish big live bait on the bottom. Outside bends in the river are best.

If the bank is undercut you can hook some of the biggest cats in the area by drifting a live bluegill under the bank. Use just enough lead to keep it down and control it. Hooking them is one thing. Getting them out from the heavy cover under those banks is difficult. Use heavy tackle and line.

Access to the river is good with several DNR boat ramps from Augusta to Savannah. You can fish from the bank around them, too. Bigger river boats and even bass boats can be used on this river but smaller jon boats will work fine.

Hamburg State Park

Hamburg State Park is the sleeper catfish hole in this area. Although the state park website does not mention catfishing, channel cats are stocked into the 225 acre lake for kids fishing events and it is managed for good fishing. The lake is full of stumps and is well known for crappie and bass, but catfish are common and grow big.

The state park is located just south of Jewell and Highway 16. Signs from I-20 at the Highway 80 exit point the way. Camping is available and there are docks to fish from in the campground. There are boat ramps and fishing piers, and bank access is good, too.

Kay Clark, clerk at the park, said there are pictures of several big channel cats on the wall there. A 16 pounder was caught from a dock in the campground last July and others have been caught all during the year.

According to Kay, shrimp is the best bait for the cats at Hamburg and there is a bait machine there that dispenses shrimp and other bait. Reserve a campsite or go for the day. Fish shrimp, earthworms or cut bait on the bottom from the bank or a boat and you will catch some channel cats.

You have many options for catfish this summer. You can fish from boats, piers or the bank and use a wide variety of baits to catch several species of cats. Pick what you like best, grab your tackle and go fishing.

How and Why To Fish Riprap Banks In May

Riprap banks hold bass

Don’t Overlook Riprap Banks for Bass In May

By Lawrence Taylor

from The Fishing Wire

Bass anglers often fly wide open right past one of the best locations on almost any lake, and it’s so easy to see that even non-fishermen know where to find it. It’s riprap, those rocks and chunks of concrete stacked along shore to prevent erosion, and there are a bunch of reasons bass love it.

Riprap creates a great spawning site for shad during the late spring, and produces the algae these baitfish feed on during summer and fall. Other forage such as crawfish and aquatic insects also makes their homes in the rocks. Just the food factor alone makes riprap a productive bass fishing hotspot.

“What’s neat about riprap is that bass use it multiple times throughout the year,” said Alabama guide and tournament angler Jimmy Mason. “I start fishing riprap in winter and catch bass off of it throughout the year with the exception of the hottest summer days.”

Mason guides anglers on Guntersville and Wilson Lakes, and said that he may spend less time fishing riprap on his home lakes than when fishing a tournament on a less familiar body of water. That’s because each stretch of riprap features only a few hotspots, and once these sweet spots are located they can be quickly fished.

Mason is currently leading the Points Race in the Weekend Series North Alabama Division, and placed 4th and 2nd respectively in the first two tournaments of the year. The tournaments were held on his home lakes of Guntersville and Wheeler, and he mined riprap areas in both tournaments. He weighed in a limit of almost 29 pounds at the Wheeler event and logged a bass weighing 8.94 pounds at Guntersville.

“At the Guntersville tournament I started on what is probably the least productive riprap bridge area, but I didn’t have the competition there like the other stretches of riprap,” he said. “I caught all of my fish on a Flash Mob Jr. with Mud Minnows, and in the next tournament (at Wheeler), three of the five bass I weighed came on the same thing.”

Mason knew the riprap areas like his own back yard at these tournaments. When fishing an unfamiliar stretch, however, he first idles along the entire length and checks it out with his electronics to identify potential sweet spots. He pays special attention to areas with a steeper grade than the rest, as well as larger-than-average boulders, points, corners and other “different” structure.

Mason says that bass pull away from the edges of riprap and start schooling and holding in deeper water when water temperatures rise above 70 degrees, but come back in fall as the temps hit 75 and falling.

“Once the bass spawn and the shad spawn is over, I become much more deep-water oriented,” he said.

The shad spawn is a key time to focus on riprap. All of the cracks and crevices in the structure make for a perfect spawning areas for the baitfish. Because shad spawn in the early morning, he’s sure to make riprap his first stop. When the sun hits the water the spawn is pretty much done for the day, so he’s quick to move to other areas or pull off the bank to deeper water.

Three lures excel during the shad spawn on riprap banks. Mason says that a wacky rigged 5-inch YUM Dinger in Watermelon Red or Bream is a key bait. Not only does it allow him to thoroughly fish an area slowly, but the rig’s attitude in the water keeps it from slipping into the rocks and snagging. He selects the Watermelon Red color if the water is clear, and Bream if there’s some stain to it.

He also throws a ½-ounce Booyah Blade double willow leaf spinnerbait in Snow White or White Chartreuse, again selecting color patterns depending on water clarity, Snow White in clear water and White Chartreuse in stained. He says he knows when he’s in the right areas when he feels the shad hitting the bait on the retrieve, or sees shad following the bait to the boat.

“You’ve fooled those shad into believing your spinnerbait blades are other shad and they’re trying to spawn with them,” he said. “When you see that, you’re fixin’ to get into them.”

His final lure for this time of year is an XCalibur Xcs100 square lip crankbait. Later he adds a small topwater popper like the Zell Pop to his arsenal. Then, when fall kicks in and brings cooler waters, he may throw a shaky head with a 6- or 4-inch Mighty Worm.

“In wintertime, it’s the 4 ½-inch Suspending Rattlin’ Rogue in Foxy Shad or Foxy Momma, depending on water color,” he said, “or a 5/16-ounce Bed Bug with the smallest size Craw Papi as a trailer.”

At times, all other lures take a backseat to the Flash Mob Jr. Mason throws the rig from fall until the fish are ready to get on beds in the springtime. He rigs it with YUM Mud Minnows or the new 2 ½-inch Money Minnows.

Of note: Mason says that in the Tennessee River impoundments he fishes most, riprap comes into play during the actual spawn. Many marinas and bays are protected by stretches of riprap, and bass find the calm waters on the inside of these bays perfect for building nests.

“In our area when you’re fishing for bedded fish you can’t see them,” he said. “Those areas protected by riprap are high-percentage areas for bedded bass.”

Mason’s lure selection for these bedded bass is the same 5-inch YUM Dinger he throws for post-spawn fish on riprap.

How To Catch Bass In May At Lake Wedowee

Nice spot and largemouth from Wedowee

Catching May Bass at Wedowee

May is an amazing month for bass fishermen. Many big bass are hungry after the spawn and feed heavily. Some are still on the beds early in the month so you can sight fish if you like that. And males are guarding fry, making them aggressive and easy to catch. This is a good month for catching lots of bass as well as landing one big enough to brag about. You would be hard pressed to find a better May lake than Wedowee.

May bass fishing on Lake Wedowee is a pleasant surprise to many who have not tried it. Limited access keeps big tournaments off the lake so it is not real crowded. The lake is full of good sized spots that are very aggressive. And you can catch some big largemouth if you target them.

Dammed in 1983, Wedowee is the newest Alabama Power Lake and is officially known as R.L.Harris Reservoir. It is on the Tallapoosa River and covers just less than 11,000 acres on it and the Little Tallapoosa River and has 270 miles of shoreline.

The steep, rocky banks and clear water favor spotted bass and they are the predominate species on the lake. Wedowee is not a real fertile lake so the Alabama DNR set a slot limit, requiring the release of all bass between 13 and 16 inches long to give that group of bass a chance to grow. Spots became so common that they are no longer included in the slot and fishermen are encouraged to keep spots to eat. You are also encouraged to keep largemouth under the 13 inch limit to give more food for the bigger bass.

In the 2008 Bass Angler Information Team (BAIT) survey, Wedowee ranked first in angler success in club tournaments. That means club anglers caught more bass per fisherman on Wedowee than any other lake in Alabama. It ranked third in bass per angler day and a surprising fourth in the amount of time it took to catch a bass weighing over five pound. So, you will catch a lot of bass and have an excellent chance at landing a five pound plus fish.

Due to all those factors, Wedowee was ranked as the best lake in Alabama for bass fishermen in 2008, and it seems to be getting better and better. Plan a trip in May to take advantage of some excellent bass fishing.

Eric Morris loves bass fishing. Right now Eric is service manager of All Pro Auto Group in LaGrange. A few years ago he, his father and brother bought and now operate Wedowee Marina on Highway 431 right at the bridge on the Little Tallapoosa River. They are taking on Legend Bass Boats this year and Eric is on the Legend Pro Staff. He is also sponsored by Falcon Rods. He visits a wide variety of lakes and fishes more than 40 tournaments a year but Wedowee is his favorite lake.

Although he never fished a tournament until he was 25 years old, the first one his father took him to got him hooked to the point of addiction. He loved it and now fishes tournaments every chance he gets. He has fished with a couple of bass clubs and now competes with the Harrelson Hawg Hunters bass club in Georgia, where he won the point standings two years. He also fishes every pot and charity tournament he can enter on Wedowee.

Eric has won four straight January club tournaments on the lake, but May is his favorite time to fish Wedowee. He loves topwater fishing and it is excellent this month, and he catches some big fish on Spooks and Zell Pops all month long. And he can catch numbers of bass on a variety of baits.

We fished Wedowee on a rainy day the second week of April and some bass were already on the beds. There should be a big wave of bass moving onto beds in late April around the full moon on the 28^th, and some will bed even after that. So, for the next few weeks, you can catch bedding bass, a few pre spawn fish, and a lot of hungry post spawn bass.

An 8.5 pound largemouth is Eric’s best from Wedowee, and he has landed a 4.45 pound spot there. His best tournament catch on Wedowee was five bass weighing 21.36 pounds and, surprisingly, included three largemouth and two spots. And that weigh gave him third place in the tournament. It often takes well over 20 pounds to win on Wedowee.

Largemouth are Eric’s target in tournaments since they get bigger and weigh more, but he may fish all day for five or six bites to win. For fun catching lots of bass, Eric will go after spots, especially when taking kids and inexperienced fishermen out. He separates the methods and areas of the lake to catch each although you can catch some bass of each species on either pattern.

For largemouth, Eric says fish the upper stretches of either the Tallapoosa or Little Tallapoosa Rivers. There is a higher percentage of largemouth to spots up the rivers so you are more likely to catch them. And Eric uses baits that bigger largemouth eat, like a full size Spook.

In late April and early May Eric will fish back in the pockets, looking for fish around the bedding areas. Any small pocket is likely to hold bedding bass on Wedowee since there are not many creeks for them to go to. Work every inch of the bank with your Foxy Shad or chrome and blue Spook or a ghost pattern Zell Pop with a feather trailer since there is a lot of underwater wood you can’t see that will hold fish. Make repeated casts to wood you can see.

As the water warms and it gets later in May, Eric will work more toward the outer banks of the pockets and the main points at their mouths. Post spawn bass will migrate out of the backs of the pockets and feed as they work their way out to the main channel.

Early mornings are best for topwater baits but Eric will fish them any time there is low light. If the day is overcast he will throw a Spook or popper all day long. On sunny days, anytime there is a patch of shade on the water he will work it with the topwater baits, too.

A spinnerbait is another good bait for big largemouth, especially during the shad spawn. Watch for shad on the rocky banks early in the morning and throw a double willow leaf bladed white spinnerbait right on the bank. If there is no activity, slow roll it from the bank back to the boat. Eric says he will reel four or five turns of his reel handle then stop the bait and start it moving again with a twitch of the bait to give it more action.

If the bite is slow and the largemouth sluggish, Eric will pull out a green pumpkin Senko and work it weightless around all wood cover in the pockets. A big Senko works best and he lets if fall slowly by any cover he spots.

Watch your line carefully for any twitches as a bass inhales the bait, and tighten up your line very slowly before moving it. If you feel weight, set the hook. Bass will often take the Senko and not move, and the first thing you feel when you move it is them spitting it out!

The main lake below the Highway 48 Bridge is the area to fish for spotted bass. The water is clear, most banks are rocky and it is ideal spot habitat. A wide variety of baits will catch fish down the lake.

First thing in the morning a small topwater bait like the Zell Pop will draw strikes when cast close to rocky bluff banks. The strike will usually come within two feet of the rocks, so get in close and make parallel casts to the rocks, keeping your bait it the strike zone longer.

A jig head worm is Eric’s “go-to” bait and he uses it to catch, in his words, a “whole lotta numbers” of spots on the lower lake. He fishes a one-eight ounce jig head on eight pound fluorocarbon line and puts a green pumpkin or Bama Bug color Trick worm on it. He says the lower lake is full of rocky points that hold large numbers of spots.

The best points are flat points at the end of a bluff wall, where the vertical rocks change to a flatter, gravel and rock area. Eric will sit out in the channel with his boat in 20 feet of water, but near the end of the bluff, and cast up onto the flat point, working his bait from the shallows out and down the drop.

Cast your jig head right against the bank and make sure it goes to the bottom. Eric says too many fishermen keep their line tight and that makes the bait swing away from the edge of the rocks, and many start moving the worm before it hits bottom. Eric says he makes sure the jig is on the bottom then starts moving it “a half-inch” at a time, shaking his rod tip to make the tail of the worm dance.

Bass will often hit as the bait falls, so be ready as soon as your jig hits the water. And move the bait slowly. Some of these points drop off steeply and if you pull your bait too far it will drop right past the fish holding on the bottom.

Jig head worms are great baits to let a kid use to learn to catch bass. They will get a lot of bites on this bait fished on this pattern so they don’t lose interest, and they will catch some hard pulling fish.

If the wind is strong, making it difficult to fish a light jig head worm, Eric will throw a Carolina rig in the same areas. Fish the same worm or a green pumpkin lizard on a three-foot leader behind a heavy enough sinker to keep your bait near the bottom. He fishes Carolina rigs on 12 pound Segar Fluorocarbon line, his choice of brand of line for all his fishing.

Also ride the points on the lower lake and watch your depthfinder for brush piles. Eric says every point on the lake seems to have a man made brush pile. Look for them where you would make one and there is probably one there. Back off them and fish them with the jig head worm or a Carolina rigged worm. Brush from 15 to 20 feet deep will hold bass best, in Eric’s opinion.

By the middle of May night tournaments start on Wedowee and night time is a great time to catch fish there. Eric fishes as many of the night tournaments as he can, and enjoys the change from daytime fishing. He says by early June the lake will be on fire at night, with lots of bass feeding in the dark.

Dock lights attract bait and bass in the dark and Eric will fish any lights he can find with a small light colored crankbait. He tries to match the shad swimming around the lights and works the edges of the light first, then under them in the brighter light.

Spinnerbaits work well at night when fished on the down-lake points, too. Eric surprised me when he said he uses a white spinnerbait with silver blades in the dark. He does use a black or sapphire blue trailer on his white spinnerbait. Make long casts across the points and reel the bait back steadily to give the bass an easier target in the dark.

You can catch bass at night on the points and brush piles, too. Fish them like you do during the day, but fish even slower. When you hit brush or a rock, jiggle your bait in one place longer to let the bass find it in the dark.

Wedowee is a great lake for catching bass right now and will just bet better and better over the next several weeks. Give Eric’s patterns a try and see how he catches them. These tactics will work for you.

About Fishing

Welcome To About Fishing