Lake Lanier Fishing Report July 2017

Lanier: Level: 6.1 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 80s. Clarity: Clear on the main lake and lightly stained in the backs of the creeks.

Stripers: Big Fish On Guide Service reports, “Striper fishing remains good. Summertime patterns are firing up. The thermocline is set up at 26 feet with the water temperature in the low 80s. Downrod herring fished 30 to 50 feet deep has been the most productive technique. We rig our downrods with 20-lb. main line, a 2-oz. slip weight, a bead and a barrel swivel. Then we tie on a 5- to 6-foot 12- or 15-lb. test fluorocarbon leader and a Gamakatsu No. 1 or 1/0 Octopus hook. The purpose of the bead is to protect the knot and the size of the hook depends of the size or the bait. The most critical factor in summertime downrod fishing is lively bait. Stripers love to chase their bait, so change your bait often. It is time to put your lead-core line and umbrella-rig rods in the boat and use them in the creek and river channels to get a reaction bite from those fish suspended in 25 to 35 feet of water. Deploy your lead core seven to eight colors out, with a Captain Mack’s 1-oz. bucktail jig and a pearl or chartreuse 4-inch shad body. Don’t forget to allow enough room to make a wide sweeping turn—your jig is a football field behind the boat. Increasing your speed to 5 or 6 mph will also keep your jig out of the trees when making a U-turn. If you want to fish while you are searching an area, the umbrella rig is always a good choice. When you find the stripers, you can pull your umbrella rigs up and put out baits, or continue to use you umbrella rigs to catch fish. We are setting our rigs at 150 feet behind the boat at 3 mph. Look for the fish to be at a depth of 25 to 70 feet deep over a bottom of 40 to 120 feet. There are fish in every creek from Browns Bridge to the dam. The lake is 6.5 feet below full pool, and the water is clear on the main lake and lightly stained in the back of the creeks. The water temperature is in the low 80s. Things are going to remain pretty much the same thru July and August, with the fish moving a bit farther out of the creeks and toward the main lake.”