Carters Lake Fishing Report – September 2022

Carters: Level: 1.4 below 1074. Temp: 82 degrees. Clarity: 5 feet.

Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley, of Lake and Stream Guide Service, reports, “August and September walleye fishing on Carters is about big fish. Getting down deep and getting them in the net can be a trick, but the reward of flaky white fillets is worth the effort. It might not be a numbers game here, but the numbers on the scales don’t lie. We are seeing a good number of walleye heavier than 5 pounds come to the boat a few times a week. For this reason, we choose to target these bigger fish, which can sacrifice numbers, but the bigger fish totally make up for it. Here you have to contend with the pump-back schedule. If it’s on and running, look for the fish to be super deep. If they are generating or the dam is closed, the fish will pull up a bit and get on humps and ledges versus hanging in treetops. We are still fishing spoons, trolling crankbaits and fishing some live bait, depending on conditions. When looking for these bigger fish, a larger presentation is key. Big spoons or lures or even big live baits are getting the most attention. Presentation is more vital than location right now as the fish are scattered out over the entire lake. Move from spot to spot quickly, target fish on the sonar vertically, and you should see some nice eyes in the box this month.” 

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Stripers: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “The striper bite has been either really good or non-existent, depending on the schedule from the dam. We are either fishing big spoons and big live baits around schools of fish in the creek mouths and main-lake points when they are deep or pulling Captain Mack’s umbrella rigs and bucktails in the backs of the creeks early or when we are marking fish suspended over deeper water later in the day. The bigger fish are in the smaller schools of five to six fish, and the bigger schools seem to be the smaller fish in the 6- to 8-lb. class. Trolling, deep dropping or power reeling can all be used right now for striped fish from Worley Creek to Fisher Creek. The daily rain has the water above the big island pretty nasty right now.”