Carters Lake Fishing Report – November 2008

Carters: Level: 7.1 feet below full. Temp: Upper 60s. Clarity: Clear on the main lake. Light stain in the backs due to roll over.

Bass: “Now is the magic time on Carters,” said Buddy Callahan at Bart’s Bait & Tackle. “Throw topwater early, like a small Pop-R or the smaller Spook, and then work a pig ’n jig 25 to 35 feet deep in brush.” Try a 1/4- or 3/8-oz. jig in green pumpkin, but Buddy says black flake in the skirt has been working. Try a finesse worm in key lime pie. “This is the best time of year to catch a 5-lb. spot,” he said.

Stripers: “It’s on,” said Buddy. “November and December are prime for big stripers. Here at Bart’s we’re trying to keep several sizes of trout; the big ones are for cut bait. Fish humps at the dam with cutbait.” Live bait with balloons, planer boards and flatlines is working very well right now. Try running about 100 feet of line behind your planer boards. This allows the bait to get deep enough. Buddy likes nasty weather for striper fishing in the fall. Guide Robert Eidson said he was catching big hybrids that were still on a summer pattern 40 and 60 feet deep. “I don’t know what this last cold front will do, they may have come up, but if they’re not eating a flatline or planer board, check those manmade DNR structures on the humps down by the dam. Every one of them had monster hybrids on them, and they were deep.”