Lake Allatoona Fishing Report – November 2010

Allatoona: Level: 7 feet below full pool. Temp: 68-73 degrees. Clarity: Clear.
Bass: Good. Matt Driver reports, “Things are changing due to the lake beginning turnover. Fishing during this phenomenon slows for a couple of weeks, so I like to slow down. It also seems shallow fish are affected less. It should be over completely soon. Most bass are shallow or in the top of the water column. Baits like a buzzbait are almost impossible to beat, but for numbers right now the Spro McStick jerkbait is a fun way to load the boat. I am using a pretty quick retrieve with a short pause between jerks. Points and secondary points are great places to start, and wind is a big help. Shallow square-bill crankbaits with brown and chartreuse are great. I’m still using baits like the Big Bite Jerk Minnow weightless or on a 1/2-oz. Fish Head Spin ready for sudden action. The jig-head bite is great using a 1/8-oz. jig head tipped with a Big Bite 6-inch squirrel-tail worm or a green-pumpkin Yo Mama with the tail dipped chartreuse. Keep it in contact with the bottom, and hit all visible cover. We are also doing some fun fishing with the Red Rooster float-n-fly. Use a 5- to 8-foot leader on 6-lb. test with a white and copper-hair float-n-fly. This bait can be fished anywhere deep enough for the bait to suspend 1 or more feet off the bottom. This is a fun way to catch fish of all sizes.” Craig Miller of The Dugout reports, “In the morning, fish topwater on main-lake flats and points. Buzzbaits and Jackall SK Pop Grandes seem to be doing the job. Rat-L-Traps and small crankbaits are working well on these same flats and points in the afternoons. Any shad colors are working well. The jig bite is good on any visible wood cover. Cast a 1/4-oz. Oldham Jig in rootbeer tipped with a craw trailer.”

Linesides: Off the hook. Robert Eidson said it’s been the best early fall he can remember, and November is setting up perfectly for some great topwater schooling action. Right now, Robert is catching between 25 and 40 hybrids and stripers in the 2- to 5-lb. range per half-day trip on the edge of the river channel from Victoria Landing down to Illinois Creek. He’s catching them three ways. First, he’ll downline live threadfins or shiners 1/2 to one turn off the bottom in 28 to 36 feet. Second, there are some secondary schools of smaller fish up on the flats in 10 to 12 feet of water in the same area eating anything that runs about 10 feet deep. Robert said he’s been catching a mixed bag of hybrids, stripers and spots trolling Shad Raps and bucktails on the flats. Finally, the umbrella-rig bite is also good right over the river channel. Robert said some of the bigger fish are starting to make their way back from the river run, and there are reports of some big fish coming from the top end of the lake. When the water temp hits about 65 degrees, expect the topwater bite to explode.

Crappie: Good. “Fish any laydowns or trees with shiners on a 3-foot bobber, or cast black-and-chartreuse Big Bite Grubs,” said Craig.