Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – February 2006

Allatoona: Level: Down 15 feet below full pool. Temps: 47 early, rising to 50 degrees on warmer afternoons. Clarity: Mostly stained.

Bass: January was tough because mild temperatures caused the bass to scatter, said guide Mike Bucca. He’s been concentrating on schools of bait on the main lake using a jigging spoon, a School Girl (underspin-type bait), a drop-shot rig with a GYCB Flat Tail worm, and a Staysee 90 jerkbait. “Locate the shad on your graph, and concentrate at that depth,” Mike said. “If the shad are on or near the bottom, I’m fishing the dropshot vertically. If the fish are suspended, I’m working the spoon and the underspin. If the shad are in the top 10 feet and I’m seeing birds working the shad, I’m using the Lucky Craft Staysee 90. If we get a cold spell, the drop shot is really working well on the bluff walls. You can cover quite a few depth ranges in one cast. If the weather conditions remain mild like they did in January, I would expect an early spawn this year.” February is usually a good time to catch largemouths on Allatoona as the lake rises. “The largemouths are cruising the shallow, newly flooded creeks in search of warmth and food,“ Mike said. He recommends a white Rat-L-Trap. “Since most of these creeks will be muddy, the baitfish and bream turn a whitish color in muddy water, and a white lure matches the hatch for that situation. I also like a white, heavy spinnerbait with a single Colorado blade. Just slow-roll the spinnerbaits on shallow flats for the big bite.”

Linesides: Good, especially pulling umbrella rigs in the mid-lake section from Clear Creek to Kellogg Creek, according to guide Robert Eidson. “U-rigs are best, but live bait is also producing — the big baits for bigger fish, either big gizzard shad, and we’re catching some on trout, too. If you’re going to pull live bait, it’s been either really big bait or really small threadfin, it just depends on their mood. Overall, the best bite is on U-rigs pulled over a 30- to 35-foot bottom, about 115 to 120 feet behind the boat.” Robert said you can also catch stripers and hybrids on the beaches by casting white bucktails tipped with flukes.