Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – April 2022

Blue Ridge: Level: 9.5 feet below full pool. Temp: 55-60 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Guide Eric Welch reports, “The bite has been good. We just had Daylight Savings Time, so our days are getting longer, the water levels are rising along with the water temps. This means the baitfish are getting more active and the bass are feeding up before the spawn. We also just had full moon and this is going to trigger some of the first-stage spawners to move up in shallow flats and pockets to start looking for a spawning area. On sunny days, I’ve been seeing a lot of baitfish being chased around by bass. I’ve been targeting these fish with a jerkbait and a 3.5-inch swimbait on a 3/16-oz. swimbait head. You can also pick some of these fish on an A-rig. Just throw it in the direction of the fish that just jumped. I’ve also been throwing squarebill and shallow-running crankbaits in a bream pattern around long shallow points and pockets. I like throwing a bigger swimbait and a glide bait around these pockets looking for some of the bigger fish. Fishing should really turn on the next couple of weeks. Good luck.”

Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “March couldn’t have been any better. Good weather and great fishing was an amazing change from last year’s constant rain. We have had some flat-out awesome nights on the lake this past month, and this month should only be better with the warmer weather. The walleye are moving back out to the main-lake areas where they can ambush the baitfish that are getting ready to spawn. Giant schools of bait up shallow makes for an easy meal, especially after sunset when the walleye have the advantage. Daytime tactics include vertical fishing spoons or trolling crankbaits on the main-lake points. At night, we are targeting fish chasing the bait up shallow with a squarebill crankbait. We are seeing a good increase in the average size of the fish at about 21 to 22 inches, which is up slightly from last spring.

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