Carters Lake Fishing Report – July 2009

Carters: Level: 1.1 feet above full pool. Temp: 83-84 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Danny Hall said the fish can be caught on their usual summertime pattern on ledges, humps and breaks. “Early and late you can catch them on a Pop-R,” said Danny. “If it’s cloudy, they may hit it all day.” The majority of Danny’s fish will come off a DD22 crankbait, a Carolina-rigged lizard and a shaky-head worm. For the DD22, Danny likes a chartreuse with blue back or a natural shad color. On the lizard, green pumpkin is his color of choice. He’ll fish both the 6- and 8-inch lizard from Zoom. On the shaky head, he likes a 1/8- to 1/4-oz. head dressed with a Zoom finesse worm in sand color. Look for the bite on the tops of these breaks and points in 15 to 20 feet of water. The patterns and colors work for day and night fishing. Danny said he usually fishes from Doll Mountain to the dam. However, Danny advises to watch the water if we get a lot of rain. “I’ll go up the river if we get some rain,” said Danny. He’s looking for color, a change in the very clear waters of Carters. “With no construction going on, now it takes a lot of rain to get some color in the water,” said Danny. “It certainly takes more than ever now.” On those days where there’s some color, Danny focuses from Ridgeway up and fishes the crankbait and soft plastics mentioned above.

Linesides: Good. “The fish are moving up on all the points and humps and are eating strong,” Robert Eidson said. “They eat a lot better when they’re pulling water. Camp Branch is probably the best bite, and the hump right in front of Woodring Ramp. Then go down to the DNR piles on the humps down by the dam. Those fish attractors are marked. They’re eating down-lined bream best right now. Stop by the bait store, and get a tube of crickets and catch some bream.”