Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – August 2007

Level: Down 4.6 feet below full pool. Temp: 83 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Fair, and improving. “The schooling fish are up, but only come up for a few brief seconds,” said guide Mike Bucca. “The deep bite is still the most consistent.” Small baits are the key to the schooling bass. “Lucky Craft’s G Splash isn’t a bad choice, but the best thing I have found is a white Rooster Tail and a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 of all things, and that is even out-producing the ol’ reliable popping cork and doll-fly rig. When they go down, I am getting a few on the Fish Head Spin and on a Sea Striker Gotcha bait. The fish that I do get on the Fish Head and the Gotcha are quality 2-lb. and better fish. There is just a ton of suspended fish 25 feet down over a 50-foot bottom. It is very difficult to catch suspended spots 25 feet down with conventional lures.” Mike said to fan cast the ends of the main-lake points while keeping an eye on your sonar for the “spaghetti lines” that indicate fish. “I am also doing very well with a spoon as well as the drop shot with a Owner down-shot hook, 1/2-oz. Quickdrop sinker and a GYCB Shad Shape worm or Baby Sluggo on 6- to 8-lb. Triple Fish fluorocarbon line. Fish the spoon and the drop shot on the bluff walls, long points and around brush, and you will get bit. I am working it all the way out to 40 feet, and I am even getting a few in the 35-foot range. I’m working a 3/4-oz. homemade spoon in white. I’m just pumping it down the points, walls and vertically around brush.”

Linesides: Excellent. Guide Robert Eidson said the striper fishing is phenomenal right now. “It’s gone ballistic at the south end of the lake,” he said. Focus anywhere south of Clear Creek all the way to Allatoona Creek. Robert said he hasn’t seen fishing this good in years. He said the topwater bite is strong in the morning. “Sometimes we’re having a whole acre of fish surfacing at a time.” Robert said to begin the day with flatlines or freelines early. Robert likes a 1/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook on his live-bait lines. As the sun rises, Robert switches to downlines and umbrella rigs. He said to load the U-rigs with nine 1/2-oz. jigs. “You can use any color you want on the jigs as long as it’s chartreuse,” Robert joked. Run the U-rigs 130 feet behind the boat at 3.5 mph. This keeps the U-rigs around 18 1/2 feet deep and directly above the fish. The white-bass bite is excellent. The whites are mixed in with the hybrids and stripers, and anglers should throw a popping cork with a fly or a Fluke Jr. on the back. A white Rooster Tail will also work for the white bass.