Posts by Brad Bailey
You Can’t Turn Your Back On Hartwell Linesides
Lineside fishing guide Greg Beck snatched the rod from the rod holder and reared back to set the hook, but the fish was already gone. Before he could replace the rod, another planer board shuddered on the surface, then surged backwards, signaling a hit on the trailing blueback herring. Greg hurriedly set down the first…
Read MoreA Boatload Of Bream At Lake Horton
The shellcracker on the end of Mike’s line was a blur of flashing gold and orange as it cut crisp “Z”s and spiraling “S”s through the clear water of Lake Horton. The ultralight rod bounced and whipped as the flashy-colored fish finally came splashing up to the boat and over the side — just as…
Read MoreFloating Worm Time on Bartletts Ferry
We started fishing at 7:10 a.m. By 7:15, Jim was reeling in our first bass of the day — a 1-lb. spotted bass that hit a spinnerbait churning past a dock. At 3:15 p.m. Jim boated our 30th bass of the day, another 1-lb. spot that gulped up a Carolina-rigged worm. Throw in three striped…
Read MoreCarters Lake Planer-Board Winter Stripers
At mid-morning on November 16, Buddy Callihan and I motored halfway back into Worley Creek at the upper end of Carters Lake. As Buddy lowered the trolling motor into the water a striper surged on the surface — twice, chasing shad. “That is what we want to see,” said Buddy, as he set about rigging…
Read MoreThe Lake Russell Reef Marker Staycee Scenario For Magnum Spots
It is time to take Staysee fishing. At Lake Russell. On main-lake points and humps south of the Hwy 72 bridge. According to bass fisherman Brandon Davis of Athens, that’s the formula for some great spotted-bass fishing in April. On March 18, Brandon and I were on the lake to test the theory. We put…
Read MoreLake Lanier Summertime Stripers On Downlines With Shane Watson
One of the best sounds of fishing is the sound of line being ripped off a reel by a heavy, hard-fighting fish. It’s a sound that you can expect to hear on a striped-bass fishing trip to Lake Lanier this time of year. When summer weather sets in, the stripers at Lanier stack up in…
Read MoreThe Late Show For Lake Burton Bass
The Zara Spook on Johnny’s line zig-zagged back toward the boat in a tight “V” pattern across the barely-rippled surface of Lake Burton. The water swirled behind the bait once, then twice from something unseen shadowing the lure. Then, when the bait was just 15 feet from the boat, the fish trailing it rushed, this…
Read MorePecan Grove Crow Shoot
He is Georgia’s best-known crow hunter: Jerry Tomlin of Milledgeville has been hunting crows for more than 20 years. He has been guiding hunters for crows for about 13 years. You may have seen him at a Buckarama in his “Crow Roost” booth selling crow-hunting gear. He has been featured on nine television hunting shows,…
Read MoreFast-As-You-Can Fishing For Hartwell Stripers
By my watch, we started fishing at 8:49 p.m. Darkness was settling in over Lake Hartwell, but some fast-paced fish-catching under the lights was about to begin. Hartwell fishing guide Wayne White had pulled up on a “pull through” as he calls it, a narrow area, or funnel area that concentrates both bait and hybrids…
Read MoreMinnow-Rigs, Pop-Eye Jigs Catch Lake Russell March Slabs
Jerry Craft is a crappie-fishing fanatic. He doesn’t hunt deer much anymore; he doesn’t fish for bass; what he likes best is catching crappie at Lake Russell. In March when the crappie are on the move, coming up from deep structure out on the main lake and moving into the creeks ahead of the spawn,…
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