Lake Allatoona Fishing Report May 2016

Allatoona: Level: Full pool. Temp: 68 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Good. Tournament angler Matt Driver reports, “The month of May brings the end to the spawn and the beginning of a great topwater bite. As the waters rise into the 70s, you will see postspawn fish begin to move to areas where they can recover from this spawn, rest and feed. May is time to think shad. Shad begin to spawn and invoke a feeding frenzy for bass, white bass and hybrids. Shad will spawn on hard surfaces, like rock, and will end that ritual just after daybreak. The Spro Dawg, Little John crankbait, the McStick jerkbait and Big Bite Jerk Minnow are my go-to baits for active fish. There is also a good jig bite in blowdowns and shallow trees. Big females will move to these areas after coming off the bed. Bass will slowly be moving out toward summer areas and mid-depth brush. The fish can be targeted with jig-head worms, drop shots and finesse jigs. Watch your sonar for signs of bait and active fish.”

Linesides: Good. Guide Robert Eidson reports, “The fish are biting from one end of the lake to the other. The hybrids have started their spawn run up both the Etowah and Little rivers. 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 south-end bite going on right now 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 2-D 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. These 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 counting for at least 95 percent of our catch on both Lake Allatoona and Carters Lake.”