Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – May 2021

Allatoona: Level: Full pool. Temp: 69 degrees. Clarity: Stained.

Bass: Tournament angler Matt Driver reports, “Fishing is great. The month of May brings the end to the bass spawn and the beginning of a topwater smash fest! May means the shad spawn and postspawn fishing begins. Bass have moved to areas where they can recover from this spawn, rest and feed. Nothing changes, it’s like clockwork. May is time to think shad. Shad have already started spawning, and the bass are feeding like crazy. The white bass and hybrid join in, as well. Shad spawn on hard surfaces like rock and even debris floating in the water. The best baits this month are shad-imitation baits, like the Picasso Suijin tipped with a fluke.  Also fish a jerkbait, like a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 or the 100. Also, topwater is on fire. Any walking bait will do, but I prefer a Zara Spook, Spro Hydro-Pop and a Pop-R. The bass can be targeted with jig-head worms, drop shots and finesse jigs. Watch your sonar for signs of bait and active fish. The new forward-facing sonar is going to change the way we approach fish in the future. Check it out. The best areas to catch fish right now are Cooper’s Branch, Illinois Creek and the mouth of Little River. The best shad spawn times are on the full moon.”

Linesides: Guide Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service reports, “Fishing is good and will only get better as we enter into the month of May. The hybrids have started their spawn runs up both the Etowah and Little rivers. Most of the fish that are being caught are already spawned out. The river bite should stay decent into the middle of May. The main lake is also fishing well. The fish that are returning out of the rivers are starting to school up from the Little River bridge up to the Delta and from the S-turns to Kelloggs Creek. There is also a decent south end bite going on right now from Iron Hill to the bay out in front of 3rd Army. The fish on the main lake are up in the water column and are very hard to mark on 2D sonar. If you have a Lowrance with side scan, you can locate these fish by running your side scan setting on 60 feet on both sides. These have been working great for me on my Lowrance 12. If you don’t have side scan, the best way to find these fish is to put out a spread of planer boards and freelines and pull the banks and open water until you get bit. Planer boards and freelining live shad on the main lake have been our best bite. For at least 95% of our catch on both Lake Allatoona and Carters Lake, small to middle-size gizzard shad and threadfins have been the ticket. Trolling has been decent but should get really good once the water temperature hits 70 degrees and the lake starts to clear. Overall the bite on Allatoona is very good for almost the entire lake. Spring is and an awesome time to be on the water.”