Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – January 2024

Blue Ridge: Level: 17.4 feet low 1686. Temp: 52-54 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Eric Welch, of Welch’s Guide Service, reports, “Fishing has been good. We are almost at normal winter pool. It’s hard to beat a Ned rig on Blue Ridge this time of year. I also like throwing a 3.5-inch tube and a Strike King 3.25-inch Rage Swimmer swimbait. I will rig the Rage Swimmer on a 1/4-oz. swimbait head and cast it out, let it sink, then I will slowly roll it back. I’m marking a lot of bait around 12 to 30 feet deep. Most of the fish I’ve been catching is around the same depths. If you can find some fish bunched up, try throwing a Silver Buddy or a Flex-It spoon. Now that the water temp has got down, I will start throwing a Float-n-Fly, and there are a couple of different ways we fish it. One is with a small hand-tied 1/32-oz. hair fly with a 10- to 15-foot leader. We’ll fish it on rocky banks and points. The other way is with a 20- to 35-foot leader with a line through the float with a 1/32-oz. weighted hook and a Tiny Fluke. We’ll fish this from the mouths of pockets and fish our way in. It’s hard to beat a No. 5 Shad Rap or a Bandit 200 in a crawfish pattern on the rocky banks. Also a jerkbait and an A-rig catch good fish this time of year. Good luck.”

Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley, of Lake And Stream Guide Service reports, “Just because it’s cold doesn’t mean you can’t catch fish. In fact if you learn how fish act in the coldest times of the year, it can be a lot of fun. Vertical fishing is the name if the game for walleye. Spoons, jigs, minnows and soft plastics fished right in a fish’s face is the best way to draw a strike. It’s a reaction strike, but it’s a lot slower than in the fall. Short movements versus an aggressive presentation is the way to go. For locating fish, look for bait in an area and look for fish on the bottom just below it. The target zone is 40 to 60 feet deep. Position the boat to make the most vertical presentation you can with the wind, and work around the area 20 to 30 feet in each direction. Don’t spend too much time if you’re not getting bit. Be thorough and you will catch fish you never marked on the graph, as they are too close to the bottom. Light and weather conditions really affect the walleye. Look for cloudy, overcast or windy days to be best for numbers. Vary your colors for the weather conditions and you’re in business. We have been seeing lots of 20- to 22-inch fish with some bigger 24- to 25-inch fish mixed in.”

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