Lake Allatoona Fishing Report May 2015

Allatoona: Level: 1.8 feet above full pool. Temp: 68 degrees. Clarity: Light to heavy stain.

Bass: Great. Tournament angler Matt Driver reports, “Most bass are done with the spawn and are in the recovery stage in the first week or so of May. May is a month of topwater fun. Postspawn fish are chasing bait. Start off on main-lake points with rock at daybreak throwing a Spro Dawg and a Zara Super Spook. Walk the dog with a fast retrieve, and make sure the fish loads the rod before you set the hook. The swimbait bite is also good. I’m using a 6-inch HPH Gliding Gizzard and a 22nd Century Stubby Bluegill. Covering water is key. The Caroling-rig lizard bite is still a great way to load the boat in May as well. The hybrid are also schooling on top. Remember to watch for signs of the shad spawn after the next full moon. Bass and hybrid will be putting on the feed bag during this time.”

Linesides: Guide Robert Eidson reports, “Linesides fishing is good and will only get better as we enter into the month of May. The hybrids have started their spawn runs up both the Etowah and Little rivers. Most of the fish that are being caught are already spawned out. The river bite should stay decent into the middle of May. The main lake is also fishing well. The fish that are returning out of the rivers are starting to school up from the Little River bridge up to the Delta and from the S-turns to Kelloggs Creek. There is also a decent bite on the south end from Iron Hill to the bay out in front of 3rd Army. The fish on the main lake are up in the water column and are very hard to mark on 2D sonar. If you have a Lowrance with side scan, you can locate these fish by running your side scan setting on 60 feet on both sides. This has been working great for me on my Lowrance. If you don’t have side scan, the best way to find these fish is to put out a spread of planer boards and freelines and pull the banks and open water until you get bit. Planer boards and freelining live shad on the main lake has been our best bite and are accounting for at least 95 percent of our catch on both Lake Allatoona and Carters Lake. Small- to medium-sized gizzard shad and threadfins have been the ticket. Trolling has been decent but should get really good once the water temperature hits 70 degrees, and the lake starts to clear. Overall the bite on Allatoona is very good for almost the entire lake.”