Carters Lake Fishing Report November 2011

Carters: Level: 5.3 feet below full pool. Temp: 67 degrees. Clarity: Clear; 5 to 8 feet visibility.

Bass: Good. Louie Bartenfield reports, “The bite here is slowly improving. Things are finally picking up. My guys have been catching good spotted bass early in the morning on 1/4-oz. white buzzbaits and Spro McStick 110s. After the first couple of hours, we’ve been switching to football jigs and drop shots to finish the day. We’ve been averaging 12 to 15 spots in a full day’s trip. If you get a good windy day, don’t forget a crankbait or spinnerbait on the windiest shore you can find.”

Linesides: November means some of the bigger stripers will be moving back into the creeks. Troll trout way out behind the boat on either flatlines or planer boards, fishing 50 to 75 feet back so they aren’t spooked in the clear water. To find them, look for bait in the backs of the creeks, and the fish should be nearby. Also, try pitching gizzards or large threadfins at the banks where there is timber or visible shad. There should also be some fish out deeper. Try the fish attractors down around the dam with downlined threadfins or gizzard shad, or see if you can mark fish on main-lake humps and then either troll or downline live shad to them.