Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – February 2007

Allatoona: Level: Down 16.5 feet below full pool. Temp: 44-47 degrees. Clarity: Stained to muddy except for clear water from Stamp Creek to the dam and up the Allatoona Creek arm to above Allatoona Pass.

Bass: Slow. The water is cold, muddy and the bass are deep. Cold weather this week is expected to result in a shad kill. Guide Mike Bucca said currently his best patterns for January have been the spoon bite or a Lucky Craft D-20 deep-diving crankbait. “The crankbait bite has been responsible for some of the bigger fish,” Mike said. “Concentrate your efforts around long points and pockets with brush on them. The magic depth has been brush topping out at 15 feet or so. The key has been to run your D-20 into the brush and slowly bring it over the brush. My favorite color D-20 crankbait is Fall Craw, but I suspect any color with chartreuse and white in it will work just as well. The spoon bite has been the better bite for numbers. I use a 1-oz. homemade spoon and alternate between chartreuse and white. Concentrate working main-lake points and bluff walls with the spoon. Just stair-step it down the points and bluffs, and be sure to keep a tight line at all times.” The cold water means the bass are lethargic, so the bites are subtle. In February, watch for the water levels to start rising and for the lake to get clearer due to less current in the lake. “If the main lake clears, the deep drop-shot and sonar bite will be strong in February. Concentrate around 30 to 50 feet, and use a heavier-than-normal drop-shot weight to reach those depths. I like a 1/2-oz. Quickdrop drop-shot sinker. Toward the later part of February our water temps should start to rise from the 40s to the low 50s. When this happens, your bigger fish will start to move up onto the shallower flats to feed and sun themselves. I like a Flat CB DR with any color with some chartreuse in them worked around main-lake points and flats with rocks on them. Just use a steady retrieve and a good 100 percent fluorocarbon line like Triple Fish in 12-lb. test for getting the best depth and ultimate sensitivity to feel those subtle bites,” Mike said.

Stripers: Good, but the key is clear water, according to guide Robert Eidson. He said big trout fished on planer boards and flatlines are producing, but you can also tempt linesides right now with small threadfin shad or bass minnows. “Another simple method that’s producing hybrids right now is trolling shiner-tipped crappie jigs,” Robert said. “Trolling umbrella rigs is one of the better bites,” he added. Robert said a shad kill should start soon. “When the shad kill starts, jigging spoons will work well. Go away from the trout and big baits. Also try a medium-sized shad fished under a cork, like you’re crappie fishing. Watch your fishfinder for big, big schools of bait that are near the top of the water column, 10 to 12 feet deep. You’ll see some shad on top that are dying,” Robert said.