Lake Lanier Fishing Report August 2011

Lanier: Level: 4.2 feet below full pool. Temp: 84 to 87 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Largemouths: Tough. Billy Boothe reports, “The largemouth bite is pretty slow, but you can still pick off a few fish from isolated cover. I’m throwing a red-shad Reaction Innovations Big Unit worm Texas rigged on a 1/4-oz. tungsten sinker around any brush up the lake in more than 10 feet of water. I’m only getting one or two fish off of each brushpile, so hit as many as you can during the day. The ledge bite is still there, but you really need some current to get the bass feeding. The best ledge days I’ve had have been the day after we’ve had showers when we’re getting some light water flow. The best ledge bait has been a citrus-shad Bandit 700 series fished extremely fast to get a reaction strike. If you’re after big fish, skip brushed-up docks with a green-pumpkin Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver. Those bites are few and far between, but the Beaver is the best bait for a big bite.”

Spotted Bass: Good. Ryan Coleman reports, “Fishing has been pretty good over the last few weeks with the rising water temps. We have been doing well on topwater, small swimbaits and drop-shot worms all over the south end. There are a lot of small threadfins all over the place on the lower end, and most of the spots are feeding on them. I have had to downsize my baits a little over the past week. I am using a Sammy 100 on top as well as a medium chug bug — natural colors as always. Ghost minnow and Tennessee shad have been best for us. My guys have also been slow-rolling a 5-inch soft swimbait rigged on a 1/2-oz. jighead over brush and humps for some bigger fish. We have been trying to get the bait in 15 to 20 feet of water and keeping a slow, steady retrieve. Of course the drop-shot bite has been good. We’re fishing a hand-poured worm in 25 to 30 feet of water around brush and off the edges of humps and points. The water is very clear on the south end right now, so I have downsized to 6-lb. fluorocarbon on most of my drop-shot rigs. I am rigging my baits on a No. 4 drop-shot hook and using a 1/4-oz. drop-shot weight. Look for this bite to be the main offering during August. It seems a switch is thrown at the beginning of every August, the topwater bite just shuts down, and most of the fish start feeding on the bottom. You may also catch a few big fish in August slow-rolling a 3/8-oz. Fish Head Spin over man-made brushpiles on the south end.” Billy Boothe reports, “The drop-shot bite is producing really well right now for numbers, with an occasional big fish mixed in. I’m targeting main-lake brushpiles in 20 to 30 feet of water fishing a bad shad/green Reaction Innovations Flirt worm. I’m picking some fish off the graph, but most of my bites have come dropping it right in the heart of the brush. If you don’t get bit after five or six drops, move on to the next brushpile. There’s also a hit-or-miss deep swimbait bite going on right now. Look for fish suspended over the top of submerged timber in the 20- to 30-foot range, and slow-roll a money-shot-green Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper through the branches and hang on. I’m only getting bit on one out of every five trees I fish, but it has produced several fish over 4-lbs. in the last week.”

Stripers: Very good. Shane Watson reports, “All of our boats did well this morning on downlined bluebacks fished 70 to 80 feet deep over a 90- to 110-foot bottom. Leadcore has also worked well this past week. Fish in the mouths of creeks and out on the main lake for best results. The fish are showing up well in all the prime summer locations and are easy to find on your graph. The biggest thing is to fish deep enough and carry a lot of bait. Run your graph on the 100-foot depth scale, as you will miss many deeper fish if you keep your graph on the 60-foot scale. Overall, the numbers have been great most mornings and afternoons on our boats.” Clay Cunningham reports, “Right now the fishing is as good as it gets on Lanier for the stripers. The stripers are out in the deep water and the deep timber. We continue to catch all of our fish on downlines using blueback herring. We are using long leaders with 12- and 15-lb. Pline fluorocarbon and 2/0 Mustad octopus hooks. We are staying with the heavier leaders more than in years past due to more big fish than normal showing up. The best bite has been in the middle of the day, and it should continue to be this way into September. Some fish are being caught on leadcore using 1-oz. Chipmunk jigs tipped with a chartreuse 6-inch trailer or 4-inch white shad body. Drop the leadcore back 7 to 9 colors depending on the day. If you want to get out and catch some stripers for the first time, now is the time.”