Lake Allatoona Fishing Report October 2012

Allatoona: Level: 6.6 feet below full pool. Temp: 79 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Matt Driver reports, “This month the shallow bite shifts into high gear. The best patterns are to start the day with the buzzbait. Fish the buzzbait parallel to bluff banks. Fish the bait where it bumps the rocks. Bass see it as an easy target and hit the bait going to the rocks. In combination with this pattern, I keep a Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog on my flipping stick and will work over blowdowns and trees in the same areas when you come to them. Throughout the rest of the day, run-and-gun points and creeks with soft jerkbaits, like the Big Bite Jerk Minnow, and swimbaits like the Spro BBZ Shad, Sebile Magic Swimmer 130 and a custom-herring-color swimbait by Randall Kirkpatrick. The key is to cover water, make long casts and mix up your retrieve. October is comparable with the month of April, just no spawn. Have fun, and be careful with low-water conditions.”

Linesides: Fair to good. Robert Eidson said on some days the topwater bite can be very good, but on others it is dead. When they do come up, 4 1/2- to 5-lb. hybrids are slamming pink flies fished behind popping corks. Robert has been using a fly called Floyd, which is made by eFlyz. Robert said he has been starting his days at Illinois Creek and looking for fish schooling on top between Kellogg and Clear creeks. Robert said he doesn’t know why, but it’s tough to get them to hit live bait right now. The topwater bite has been lasting until about 9:30, and then he’s been resorting to umbrella rigs. Right now, a 4-arm rig with nine 1/2-oz. bucktails is the ticket. Fish pink on overcast days and chartreuse when the sun is shining. The bite has been 110 feet behind the boat at 3 miles per hour. Trolling is producing a mixed bag of spots, stripers, hybrids and white bass. The evening white bass bite has been fantastic from Little River up to Fields Landing over the river channel. When they’re on top, they’re biting small flukes and Rooster Tails. When they’re not, they’re being caught on jigging spoons. Robert said that once the water temperature drops to 75 degrees, all of the bites should pick back up.