Lake Allatoona Fishing Report August 2012

Allatoona: Level: 3.1 feet below full pool. Temp: 89 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Fair. Matt Driver reports, “The dog days are here, and fish are still in that summer holding pattern. Fish are still deep, and the nighttime bite rules. I am fishing very little in daylight hours, only real early and late even, but night is the way to go. Deep cranking has been producing the good sacks of fish, with a few bags in the 12- to 14-lb. range. Largemouths and spots are holding on offshore cover and structure alike. Cover meaning brushpiles; structure meaning contour changes and big rocks. These areas take lots of time on the water scanning with electronics to find. Once you find these areas that are holding fish, several factors come into play. Position the boat downwind so you have better boat control and are not blown over the top of the fish. Long casts with a Spro Little John DD allows the bait to get to the desired depth and stay there longer. Use light 10-lb. Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon because mono has more stretch and floats, which decreases sensitivity. Stick with it. The numbers you catch are less with this technique than others, but it produces some big fish.”

Linesides: Fair to good. Robert Eidson said the August slowdown has begun, but there are still some fish to catch. He’s catching 12 to 20 fish in a morning right now. The water is hot, and bait is hard to keep alive, but fresh bait is key to getting bit. Change live threadfin out every 3 to 5 minutes. It’s all downlines right now, although Robert hopes the topwater bite that was going on in July returns. If you don’t have the proper setup to keep threadfins alive, shiners will work almost as well. The fish are within 1/2 mile on either side of the dam, at Iron Hill and at the railroad trestles up the Allatoona Creek arm. Robert said the magic depth, where the dissolved oxygen is best, is between 18 and 24 feet. You may mark the fish below that depth, but your bait will die if you drop it below about 24 feet. Fish will come up to feed.