Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – August 2008

Blue Ridge: Level: Down 6 feet below full pool. Temp: Mid 80s. Clarity: The main lake is clear.

Bass: The better fishing at Blue Ridge is early and late, said guide Nathan Lewis. “There are some fish breaking early, but they are usually out in the middle of the lake. If you see five or six fish breaking, they are probably smallmouths. If you see big schools, it is probably spots. They will hit anything that makes a little racket, like a Pop-R, a Sammy or a Chug Bug. The main thing is to get something to them. Sometimes I will cast a spoon because it will cast so far, and then I pump it back through the school.” “Blue Ridge is tough,” said tournament angler Heath Pack. He and his partner won a recent Wednesday-night tournament by targeting largemouths. They had a 4.4-lb. largemouth and three other keepers that weighed about 9 pounds. “The smallmouth fishing in the summer has gotten tougher on Blue Ridge,” said Heath. “The fish stay out in open water and just follow the bluebacks around. It has gotten a lot tougher as the bluebacks became established. You can still catch them at night on cover on the banks with something like a drop shot, but during the day it is tough.”

Walleye: Nathan said the walleye in Blue Ridge are suspending more than they used to, they are apparently holding on the thermocline, and that may be where the bait is, too. I am catching more trolling than I am fishing spoons deep,” he said. Nathan is trolling Tail Dancers, Shad Raps and jerkbaits to catch fish, but in most cases he is weighting the crankbait to get it down. “I will weight them down on a Carolina rig to get them down,” he said. “I am targeting the 15- to 30-foot range. The fish are running from about 2 pound to 5 pounds, with the bigger fish in the 30-foot range, and you have to weight the lures to get them that deep. I put the lines out about 80 to 100 feet and just put the engine into gear to troll.”