Lake Burton Fishing Report – July 2007

Burton: Level: 0.2 over full pool. Temp: 80-82 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Slow. Gary Kilby said the fish are deep, sluggish and hard to catch. According to Gary, a Saturday night pot tournament June 23 was won with 9 pounds. Most of the fishing is after dark to escape the daytime heat and the boating traffic, and shaking a worm in deep brush is the best you can do to catch fish. Gary said he hadn’t heard of any topwater activity recently.

Brown Trout: The trout in Burton are still using a fairly wide swath of the water column, according to WRD Fisheries Biologist Anthony Rabern. “The water quality is good right now, and the fish might be anywhere from 20 to 40 feet deep,” he said. “As the water temperature rises, that band of suitable water will become narrower and will sink. As we progress into summer, the trout will get squeezed into a more narrow range.” In early July, Anthony said trolling blueback imitations in the 20- to 25-foot range should be about right, and you should find fish more concentrated in the lower half of the lake and the first half of the creeks. As the water temperature rises and the thermocline sets up, the fish will gradually move deeper and closer to the dam. Depth control is key to catching trout and for the deep-water trout fishermen pulling lures at Burton that means downriggers. “We are seeing more and more people show up with downriggers on their boats,” said Anthony. “It makes a big difference to keep your bait at the same depth as the trout.”