Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – March 2009

Blue Ridge: Level: 14.1 feet below full pool. Temp: 46-49 degrees. Clarity: Clear on main lake; slight stain up the creeks and up the river.

Bass: It’s good and getting better, said guide Nathan Lewis. The smallmouths and spots are in between stages right right now, and you can catch them on the banks as well as deep. Nathan said to throw a Bill Norman crankbait or a Shad Rap on clay flats or rocky banks. If you can’t find a shallow bite, move deeper. The shallow bite should really pick up when water temps hit 50 degrees. For the deeper fish, move out onto the main-lake rocky points in 12 to 30 feet of water and fish a 1/4-oz. Doll Fly or bucktail. Nathan likes brown colors with a little orange. Smallies and spots will also take a 1/4-oz. tube jig in watermelon or pumpkinseed. A drop shot will catch these deep fish, as well. A Roboworm in Aaron’s Magic has been the hot worm for the drop shot. Rig your hook and worm about 18 inches up, then just throw it out and let it sit. “Sometimes if you try to move it, you just move it too much,” Nathan said. To target largemouths, Nathan said to go up the creeks and work a jig ’n pig around any wood cover you can find in the backs of the creeks. Watermelon and root beer are good colors to try.

Walleye: Slow during the day, but good to excellent on the moons. The walleye are pulling up to spawn, and Nathan said the full moon should be a great time to target them on the upriver rocky points and in the major creeks. He said to fish a Shad Rap or a Doll Fly. He likes brown for the Doll Fly, but when he’s after Walleye, he’ll trailer it with a chartreuse twist-tail grub.