Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – February 2007

Blue Ridge: Level: 17.4 feet below full pool. Temp: 48-50 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Fair for smallmouths — and walleye. Most bass fishing is on a spooning bite right now, said mountain-lake fishing guide Nathan Lewis. “The smallmouths are about 40 feet deep, but they should start moving up soon, and a Shad Rap bite will develop,” he said. Meanwhile, fish a spoon on deep ledges, stumps and turns in the river channel. Nathan prefers a 6/10-oz. Flex-it, or occasionally a 1/2- or 3/4-oz. silver Strata spoon. On bright, sunny days the silver spoon seems to work best; on overcast days the white or chartreuse spoon gets the nod. Nathan rigs his spooning rods with 10-lb. clear-blue line, or even yellow line. He then ties in a swivel and 18 inches of fluorocarbon line before tying on the spoon. “This allows you to see the line when you are jigging,” he said, “but hopefully, the fish can’t see the end of the line they are biting.” Nathan says he fishes the spoon on a semi-tight fall, and watches the bright line for any twitch. “The fish seem to like an erratic fall the best,” he said. The smallmouths he has been catching have been running in the 1 1/2- to 4-lb. range. The walleye have been hit-or-miss. They may have started out of the main body of the lake, heading up the rivers on their spawning run.