Lake Lanier Fishing Report June 2012

Lanier: Level: 6 feet below full pool. Temp: High 70s. Clarity: Very clear.

Largemouths: Billy Boothe reports, “The deeper bite is heating up, and most of the fish have moved out to the points and ledges. I’m spending a lot of time watching my electronics looking for schools of bait holding on creek channels and river ledges. The best depth for me has been 15 to 25 feet with chunk rock or stumps. My bigger fish are coming on a blueback herring Rapala DT 16 fished very fast. For numbers, the Reaction Innovations Big Unit worm in junebug or watermelon red is working great on the drops as well as the brushpiles. The shallow bite is OK in the mornings running flats and points with a white 3/8-oz. War Eagle buzzbait. After the sun is up, you can catch some fish off the deeper docks by pitching a green-pumpkin Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver. The night bite is going good for those who want to avoid the heat and pleasure boaters. I’ve caught some good fish lately by fishing a 1/2-oz. black-and-blue War Eagle nighttime spinnerbait or black-emerald Reaction Innovations Big Unit worm around shallow points and brush.”

Spotted Bass: Pretty good. Ryan Coleman reports, “I would just call it steady, not great. Things will pick up in June as it does every year. Once we get some consistent weather, the fish will position on the offshore brush and be there for the duration of the summer. For now, there are fish still all over the place—some on brush, some schooling and some shallow. I have been having some great trips during the week, but the weekends are almost hopeless right now. The amount of fishing and boating pressure on Lake Lanier right now is just crazy. For the most part, I have been sticking with topwater baits thrown over main-lake brush. I like a Sammy, Zara Spook and Chug Bug but have also done well on bigger topwater baits on windy days. There are a good many fish out schooling in the mornings, and these fish will take about anything if you can get it on top of them. During the day, I have been having great success taking a 3/16- or 1/4-oz. SpotSticker stand-up football head and rigging it with a hand-poured worm or a green Zoom Finesse worm and working it very shallow on main-lake humps. The fish have been up in less than 15 feet of water at times and some even in the 10-foot range. My suspicion is that some of the fish are still spawning as most of these fish are holding around rocks up shallow. Just taking the jig head and working it very slowly up on the humps on spinning tackle with 8-lb. fluorocarbon has been a great way to catch some very big spotted bass as of late. I am not sure how long this pattern will hold out, but it is very good right now. As June rolls along, look for three main patterns to dominate: topwater over the brush, Fish Head Spins worked in the middle of the water column (10-20 feet) and drop-shot worms worked on the bottom along the brush. These three patterns usually dominate the summers at Lanier, and this year should be no different.”

Stripers: Guide Shane Watson reports, “Downlined bluebacks fished 20-25 feet deep over a 25- to 30-foot bottom has produced the most stripers on our boats this week. Still seeing some sporadic topwater on the stripers and spots early most days. Spooks and Spro Dawgs have been working on these surfacing fish. Freelines are still producing a few for the first hour of the morning. North and south have been about equal on the stripers. Fish on and just off points and humps, and you will get some bites. After the sun gets up high, we have caught some nice stripers out over a much deeper bottom dragging the downlines 25 feet deep.” Mike Maddalena reports, “You can still find a few fish catchable up shallow on points. These will eat a bucktail or Red Fin early. Pitching a herring on a spinning rod with 10-lb. test line will keep you busy catching spots and small stripers in the early morning hours. Once the sun comes up, go to the down rods and move to deeper water. The umbrella rig bite has picked up, but running-and-gunning points with downrods has been the most productive technique. There are fish lake wide in the mouths of the creeks and the river channel. I have been focusing on points from Gainesville Marina to Flat Creek, but there are fish being caught in Wahoo Creek, Little River and Six Mile Creek. As we move into June, expect the fish to remain in the same general locations (main-lake and creek-mouth points) but somewhat deeper in the water column. The fish will continue their migration south. WRD just released their first Temp/DO reports for June, and things up north are already warm with low DO.”