Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Reports – July 2021

Blue Ridge: Level: Full. Temp: 80 degrees. Clarity: 8 feet.

Bass: Eric Crowley, of North Georgia Fishing Guides, reports, “The bass bite has been pretty good with lots of spotted bass and a few largemouth being caught on submerged structure. Anywhere rock meets wood has been holding the bigger fish. We only caught one smallmouth last month, not very encouraging, but there’s still hope as stocking efforts continue. I like fishing spoons vertical on super light line and covering lots of water. If you can put together a good pattern with depth and presentation, you can really put good numbers of fish in the boat.” Guide Eric Welch reports, “The bite is up and down. The fish are deep right now with all the boat traffic, which pushes the bait down, which keeps the fish down. Your best bite right now is the first four hours in the morning and then late in the evenings. I’m using my electronics to find fish, Humminbird Side and Down Imaging and Garmin LiveScope. With these two paired together, you can find fish, but it’s up to the angler to get them to bite. Most my fish are coming deep with a drop shot with a 4-inch Roboworm, 3/16-oz. shaky head with a Strike King 5-inch finesse worm and a Z-Man Ned rig. I’m targeting deep points, banks and brush. Look for shade lines once the sun gets up. You just have to mix it up on docks, deep banks and the steep banks in the river.”

Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “The walleye fishing on Blue Ridge has been great all season. The cicada hatch lasted for two solid weeks, making for some great days of fishing. The blueback herring spawn was scattered and really drawn out this year but also produced some quality walleye. The walleye bite has been solid with some nice fish coming in the boat. Big crankbaits digging the bottom is the go-to method. It’s not the cheapest way to fish, but it works great for locating fish on points. You want to run the points from deep water to the edges, and 30 to 40 feet is the target zone.”

Trout: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “The other species we target in the summer is trout. Rainbows from 16 to 22 inches lurk in the waters of this mountain lake and can be taken on a variety of artificials and live baits sized for them. It’s been a good early summer bite so far this year with several limits being caught. They like moving water but also reside in the upper parts of the river.”