Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – November 2009

Allatoona: Level: 0.7 feet below full pool. Temp: Mid 60s. Clarity: Clear to stained.

Bass: Good. Mike Bucca reports, “Numbers are very good right now. It’s catching quality fish that’s tough. Lots of different baits are working, which is typical for fall. I usually end up with about a dozen rods on my front deck and change up quite a bit throughout the day. Almost any bait you can throw right now will catch fish. But my best ones are spoons, Lucky Craft Flat Mini DRs in parrot color, Lucky Craft Flat CB DRs in firetiger, and I will always have a big swimbait tied on for the kicker fish. I like an 8-inch Triple Trout and a 7-inch Bull Shad. The fish right now are scattered for the most part except for the deeper fish which are heavily concentrated. The spoon fish are in the creeks in the last deep holes in the backs of the creeks. If you have a Humminbird Side Imaging unit you can find these fish very easily with your graph and just set up over them with a spoon. I keep an eye on my graph, and if I see fish, I drop it down on their heads and start jigging my spoon. If I don’t see them on the graph, I will fan cast. Most of my spoon fish are anywhere from 20 to 40 feet deep. Solid chartreuse or solid white are my two mainstays. I vary my spoon size as that seems to be more important than color, and I am rotating between 1/2-oz. and 3/4-oz. spoons right now. I’m using 12- to 15-lb. Triple Fish fluorocarbon line. For the main-lake fish, I am working the rocky points. Just cast the crankbait up against the shoreline, and reel it in on a medium retrieve. The Lucky Craft Flat CB DR catches a little bit better quality than the Flat Mini DR. But, if you’re after numbers, always choose the smaller crankbait. I like to use 12-lb. Triple Fish fluorocarbon line. Fluorocarbon gives me a little bit of extra depth and extra sensitivity. For the swimbaits, it’s on the verge of getting hot. I am catching a few fish but nothing big yet. It will only get better as we progress into fall. Throw them in the clearest water you can find and around any kind of structure such as wood and main-lake and secondary points. All of the above baits will continue to work throughout most of the fall and into winter. With the recent cold fronts we’ve had, I would venture to guess we will have water in the 50s in November. To me, that’s all about the float-’n-fly fishing. If you want a trophy Allatoona spot, it’s one of the best ways to catch them in fall and winter. I use Georgia Tackle’s Lester Flies with a sickle-hook design, and I keep my colors simple, with spot candy and spot sushi and a few other colors in the mix. I would start my leader off in the 10-foot range and vary it from there. I am holding a free float-’n-fly seminar at Nature’s Tackle Box on Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. Call Nature’s Tackle Box for more details at (678) 567-1211 or visit <www.AllatoonaBass.com>. We will hold a raffle with all proceeds going toward a disable-veterans’ fishing dock for our local veterans and handicapped children. Matt Driver said the bass bite has been very good for him. He reports, “There were some great tournament stringers weighed in late in October in the 10- to 15-lb. range. That should continue this month. November is an excellent month despite the many cold fronts and very windy days. Use the pre-cold-front days to your advantage, and load the boat with the shad-gorging spots. The fish are on points and have been toward the backs of the creeks for a couple of weeks now. Baitfish are plentiful. Find the bait; find the fish. The pattern is not hard to establish this month. Fish windy points and wind-blown pockets and creeks with a crankbait like a Bandit 200 series, a DT 6 or a DT 10 in shad patterns. Be aggressive with cast and retrieval. Keep your bait moving, and do not waste time on dead water. Find active fish. Some nice fish have been caught on the Spro McStick in spooky shad or a blue Bandit. Fish are in transition and can be found 1 to 20 feet deep. Watch your electronics and for surface activity.”

Linesides: Good. Guide Robert Eidson was on the water this morning (Oct. 26), and he said the hybrids and some stripers are pulling up on the ends of the points and flats. “Right now the fish are staging up, and that makes the fishing easy. The flats at Kellogg, Gault’s Ferry and the Delta (above Little River) are all holding nice hybrids and some decent stripers,” Robert said. “Flatlines and planer boards are working early and late, and you can catch them trolling U-rigs from sunup to sundown. Clip the points. If you get a bite, keep crossing the point, flat or hump. I was expecting a bad November because of the water level going up and down so much, but it’s a good bite right now.”