Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Report – November 2019

Blue Ridge: Level: 13 feet low. Temp: 64-65 degrees. Clarity: 7 feet.

Bass: Guide Eric Welch reports, “We’ve been catching some fish on topwater using a Whopper Plopper and a Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr. on main-lake points and flats. When this bite slows down, we’ve been catching fish around deep rocky banks, long points and any brush you can find, using a 3.5-inch tube in smoke color on a Z-man Ned rig in green pumpkin. We also have been catching fish on a Strike King 2.75 Rage Swimmer and a Fish Head Spin. You can also catch fish on a drop shot using a 4.5-inch Roboworm in morning dawn. These baits are going to continue working all month as the water temp drops.”

Walleye: Capt. Eric Crowley reports, “Next to spring, now is the best time of the year to target walleye. Trolling lures has been our best bite, with live-bait rigs following in a close second. Targeting main-lake points in 20 to 40 feet of water in the afternoon and focusing on the main river early morning has been our strategy. Longlining deep-diving crankbaits just off the bottom on rocky structure in the afternoon has produced better numbers, while live bait has accounted for bigger fish. Bright-colored artificial baits are key to get their attention. There’s good numbers of fish in the Star Creek area and around the bends in the main river, mostly on the inside corners with steep contour lines. Make sure you’re pulling baits into the fish and not from behind them. I like trolling from 2 to 3 mph and covering productive areas thoroughly, sometimes making six or seven passes over marked fish. If you’re not hanging up on the bottom, getting snagged and losing the occasional lure or live-bait rig, you’re not fishing close enough to the bottom. Live baits are minnows, herring and shad, and vary the sizes according to what the fish want that day, but you can never go wrong starting out with the largest live bait you can find.”