Lake Blue Ridge Fishing Reports – September 2020

Blue Ridge: Level: 3 feet below full pool. Temp: 81 degrees. Clarity: 6 to 10 feet.

Bass: Guide Eric Welch reports, “Fishing has been fair, we’ve been having some crazy weather—cool nights, hot days and thunderstorms in the afternoon. This has kept the baitfish scattered and hanging around 15 feet and deeper. We are starting the morning out throwing topwater baits like  the Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr., Whopper Plopper or a Rebel Pop-R. After the first hour or so, I start throwing a Z-Man Ned rig with a TRD, 3.5-inch tube bait and a drop shot. I’m targeting main-body flats, points and docks that may have some brush around them. I’ve also been catching some fish on a Strike King 3.25-inch Rage Swimmer on a 1/8-oz. swimbait head. You can also use the same baits up the river on the deep rocky banks or areas where the river turns in and hits the bank. We should start seeing more topwater action next month. I’m hoping we have a cold winter. We’re needing a big shad kill in our north Georgia mountain lakes. We’ve not had a good one in about eight years, and our lakes seem to be starting to get out of balance.”

Walleye: Guide Eric Crowley reports, “Blue Ridge has been about one fish for us in the last month, and that’s the walleye. Targeting and catching these picky fish can be lots of fun right now with the fish schooled up in deeper water. Various trolling applications are putting fish in the boat early and late in the day. It’s totally a speed versus depth combination here versus lure selection. Anywhere from 2 to 3 mph is a good place to start working deep water with structure. If you’re looking to cast to them, big jerkbaits like Rapalas, ThunderSticks or Berkley Flicker Minnows fished early and late near rocky shoreline that’s holding bait nearby is the ticket. The midday bite has been best on vertical spoons. Select your favorite vertical presentation, and keep it in their face for a few minutes. If they won’t eat, go find different fish and come back, as they can turn on at any time. Big points or the edges of some flats or grasslines have been the best areas. The key is to keep fishing. Each walleye caught gives you a little bit more info to find the next one and the one after that. Spend some time experimenting, and you will see your catch rates steadily increase.”

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