Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – July 2024

Allatoona: Level: Full at 840. Temp: 80-85 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: If history serves, July starts the month when bass fishing gets consistent until September. Expect lots of recreational traffic, so get on the water at the crack of day. You can still find a topwater bite first thing. You’ll want to look on high spots with deep-water access nearby. After the first hour, swimbaits and jerkbaits can work in these areas until mid-morning. By this time of day, most of the fish will drop off into deeper water and focus on some sort of structure. Bait in these areas will certainly help. Drop shots with finesse worms will work here. If you find some shallow fish hanging on wood cover, small crankbaits, spinnerbaits and finesse plastics can work on those fish. You’ll have to find areas with lighter boat traffic to find any sort of shallow bite. If you find a deep creek away from the main lake, one where there is shallow cover near a drop, fish should be in there. You’ll find it a lot quieter, too.

Linesides: Guide Robert Eidson, of First Bite Guide Service, reports, “Very good! The live-bait bite is starting to fall off some because it’s hard to keep your shad alive, and the trolling bite is starting to pick up. We are catching very good numbers of stripers, hybrids and white bass on our morning trips right now. Some mornings we are catching 30 to 50 fish per boat. The numbers will start slowing down some because the dissolved oxygen is dropping fast. All of the fish seem to be within 1 mile of the dam. Concentrate your efforts from the mouth of Clear Creek to Clarks Creek. Once you find the fish, start the morning fishing live shad on downlines at 24 feet. This can be a good bite if you’re on feeding fish. Fresh baits are the key, so change your baits often. Once the live-bait bite slows down, switch to trolling umbrella rigs. I have been having most of my success pulling nine, 1/2-oz. white bucktails with chartreuse trailers about 110 feet behind the boat, which puts the rigs about 24 feet deep. Also, keep your topwater baits ready in case any schooling fish come up. They’ll hit a popping cork, fluke or Sammy, but I prefer the biggest white Rooster Tail I can find. The secret to getting bit is to fish with light line (8-lb. test) and to retrieve your bait as fast as you can crank it in. In these conditions, it’s important to get your fish back in the water quickly if you want to release it. Keep your camera ready because a quick release can mean the difference between a dead fish and one that swims away. I also suggest riding back over the area you just fished and keeping any floaters for dinner.”

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Crappie: Robert DeHaas, of Red Rooster Custom Baits and an OG from “Team Geezer,” reports, “The heat is on, the water is warmer, and boat traffic is in full swing. Don’t let the warm water and increased activity keep you off the lake. It just means that you will need to adjust your fishing times. The crappie are very active in the early morning hours from daylight until 11 a.m. and then again in late evening into the night. Spider rigging is the preferred method during this time of year. I use 12-foot poles in the front of the boat with small crappie minnows. The spider rig setup is a 1/4-oz. egg sinker, bead, barrel swivel, an 18- to 20-inch leader using 6-lb. test and a No. 4 to No. 2 gold aberdeen hook. Hook the crappie minnow under the chin, and then drop your minnow down just above the deep-water structure. In July, target brushpiles or structure at least 18 to 20 feet deep. The crappie will typically suspend in 10 to 14 feet of water above that deep-water structure. If you have forward-facing sonar (FFS) and prefer casting to crappie versus spider rigging, you can catch 10 to 20 crappie throwing to the brush or shooting deep-water docks in the early morning hours. GON has a great article about FFS in the June 2024 issue. When casting, the size of the jig is key in the summer, and you want to throw a small jig, like the Red Rooster Dagger, in natural colors, such as uv shad, watermelon ghost and mayfly. Don’t overlook bright colors, like lectric chicken or bluegrass, which can call up a hungry crappie from the depths. In summary, target brush/structure in the 14- to 25-foot depths during the summer months in the early morning and evening/night hours for best results. Don’t forget to be a conservationist and keep only the crappie you can use and release the rest to keep our crappie strong for generations to come. Every July 4, Americans celebrate Independence Day. We are blessed with immense freedom that many other countries can only dream of. Our national independence is a great blessing bestowed upon us by Almighty God. We hope everyone has a safe and Happy Fourth of July with their friends and family. Romans 8:1-2 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”