Lake Oconee Fishing Report – December 2024

Oconee: Level: 0.1 feet below 435. Temp: 65 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Guide Nick Knapp, with Elite Guide Service, reports, “During the month of December, I look for the fish to be toward the backs of pockets with bait in them. December is a good month to target fish shallow around rocks. With the cooler water, the fish will be a little slower, so slow down the presentation. I like to slow-roll a 1/2-oz. white spinnerbait this time of year. Check the areas around 44 bridge and south to Old Salem. Look for bait on the shallow secondary points with rock. The largemouth won’t be far away. I also like a green-pumpkin jig with a junebug trailer. It seems to get the bigger bites this time of year. It’s wintertime—slow down and use bigger-profile baits for bigger bites.”

Stripers: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year. I’m not only talking about Christmas, but our striper fishing has taken off in a most epic way. The gulls are beginning to show up, the water temps have dropped, and the fish are coming out of hiding on Lake Oconee. December is the unofficial start of our fishing season. We can always be certain this month that you can find some hungry fish somewhere on the lake, and right now they are showing up and their normal hangouts. Starting at the Hayfields at Sugar Creek and going all the way down to the dam, keep a good eye out for birds sitting on the water. The gulls know more about where the baitfish are than most of our high-tech fish finders, so find the birds, find the bait and find the fish. I think the stripers like to hang out on humps this time of year, which makes catching the bait a lot easier for them. I’ll begin at the Hayfields, go south and check out the humps just before the Highway 44 bridge right in the middle of the lake. Then I start making my way south to the other side of 44, then to the mouth of Anchor’s Marina Cove, then Cuscowilla, The Bull Hole, Lick Creek, Great Waters, Flag Pole, Tornado Point, then the humps around Rock Island. Somewhere between all those places you will find the fish. And when you do, they are normally hungry. Use live bass shiners, shad, troll Mini Macs and Shad Raps, spoons… give them plenty of opportunities to tell you what they want to eat. The great thing about this time of year is you don’t have to get up before the sun comes up to get a bite. These fish seem to be active most all day long, and the bite can stretch well into the afternoon. If we get a cloudy, wet and drizzling day, make sure you are on the water. I have seen some of the most epic topwater action on those nasty days that only a duck hunter could appreciate.”

Lake Oconee Page: Lake Record Fish, Archived Features, Fishing Reports & News