Lake Oconee Fishing Report – April 2025

Oconee: Level: 0.3 feet below 435. Temp: 58-62 degrees. Clarity: The north and south end of the lake is clear, but it’s muddy mid lake on the Oconee side. Clear in Richland.

Bass: Guide Nick Knapp, with Elite Guide Service, reports, “April is a month when a lot of things happen on this lake. You have the spawn coming to an end and the shad spawn beginning. Look for any rocky backs with shad on them. I like throwing a 1/2-oz. Booyah spinnerbait and a pearl-white fluke on a 1/2-oz. jig head. Any of the bridges will have shad spawning on them. It’s a great time of year to catch some big ones on Lake Oconee. I really like the bridges in Lick Creek first thing in the morning for targeting fish this time of year. April is one of the best months, so get out there and catch some.”

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

Stripers & Crappie: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “April is the busiest month for fishing guides on Lake Oconee. After coming off March, which is our second busiest month of the year, we are pretty much running on fumes now… and loving every minute of it. With the Masters in Augusta and spring break falling in that month, the resort property rental homes and fishing guides are filling up full bore in April. Then add to all of that, April is the month when the biggest stripers of the year show up, it is a lot of fun for all. Pulling live bait at the south end of the lake is the easiest way to catch big fish. Go to Sugar Creek Marina and get you a couple to three-dozen big bass shiners. Float them behind your boat 100 yards out with no weight, and you will be surprised how easy it is. One April some time ago we had a TV fishing superstar come to Oconee to make an episode of his show. He called me on how to catch the linesides. I told him 10-lb., fluorocarbon, No. 4 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hook with 12-lb. line on his reel. He thanked me and did the very opposite of what I suggested for three days and never caught a fish. He called and said there are people catching them in kayaks, and I can’t get a bite. We met at Sugar Creek Marina, and I took him inside and put all the terminal tackle in his hand (he was using his main sponsor brand, of course), and he went back out that afternoon and caught 30. Hahaha. It really is that easy. If you’re looking for live bait, try throwing around the two bridges in Lick Creek. For some reason there are always threadfins there and a 3- to 4-inch one is perfect for this setup. If you’re looking for a trophy catch, take a 9-inch gizzard shad and a 6/0 hook and go pull that for a while. When he eats it, he will be big. Many anglers will troll Shad Raps, Mini Macks and even umbrella rigs during this time. The largest Oconee striper a customer has ever put in my boat came on a War Eagle jigging spoon, so go figure. I have found that when I use my Humminbird Mega Live, it makes the process so much easier to put bait in the net. Find them and throw over them. I throw a 16-foot diameter net, and you don’t want to be throwing that one all day. One last thing. We have been seeing something strange from our crappie over the past three or four years. They are spawning earlier and earlier, and it’s starting to make us wonder if this is a pattern that is changing how we target big fish. The fish that are brought to the scales in The Oconee Derby get smaller by the end of February, and we have caught them in December and January with eggs. If you have experienced the same thing, I would love to know about it. You can email me at [email protected] and share with me your experience. If you would like to see the fish sizes, go to www.oconeederby.com and look back at the weekly winners. We think something fishy might be going on. Good luck to everyone this month. See ya in May.”