Carters Lake Fishing Report July 2011

Carters: Level: 1.4 feet above full pool. Temp: Low to mid 80s. Clarity: Clear.

Spotted Bass: Slow during the day. Guide Louie Bartenfield said, “If you are planning a bass fishing trip to Carters, you should do it at night if possible. The night bite is good right now. During the evening hours I like to start with a jig-head finesse worm, and then I try a buzzbait or Pop-R right at dark. After it gets dark, move to crankbaits, worms and jigs fished around steep bluffs on the main lake and in the river or creeks. The steeper the slope the better. Try paralleling the bluff walls with a crankbait, and remember where you get bit, turn around and slow down with a Texas-rigged worm or jig. As we get further into summer, look for the spots to hold tighter to brushpiles 20 to 30 feet deep, but for now there are still a lot of fish on the bluffs 10 to 15 feet deep. Night fishing is great way to catch a really big spot, and there is no better time to night fish than summer.”

Linesides: Good. Eric Crowley said the bite has slowed a bit, but it was on fire last month. “Wow what a month June was — big fish, small fish, all kinds of fish. These fish were hungry, schooled up and ready to eat. Seems like the bite has slowed down in the past week or so,” Eric said. Look for linesides to stay schooled up this month. “The key this time of year is finding not just fish but feeding fish that want to eat. Lots of talk about big schools of fish, but they won’t eat. Well, they will eat. You just have to figure out first what they want to eat and second when they want to eat it. Alewives and big threadfins seemed to have caught the most fish this month, with the bream bite not far behind. Focus on areas with deep water next to humps, flats, drop-offs or anything that will make good hunting grounds. The mouths of Worley and Fisher creeks, the area out from the marina and the rocks near the dam are all good places to start in July.”