Lake Lanier Fishing Report June 2013

Lanier: Level: 2.0 feet above full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: Clear.

Largemouth: Good. Tournament angler Billy Boothe reports, “Due to the crazy weather we’ve had, there are still some shad and herring spawning. If you hit the right stretch early, you can load the boat. They will spawn around everything from flooded weed lines and boat docks to rock banks. The best thing to do is cover as much water early as possible until you find a concentration of bait. Then, work them hard until they pull out deep. I’ve had the best luck using a 1/2-oz. green-gizzard-shad Strike King finesse spinnerbait and a green-gizzard-shad Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr. With the amount of shallow cover, the majority of the largemouth will remain shallow all month. It can be easy to get confused when every creek and pocket looks great with the abundance of docks, weeds and saplings, but you can eliminate a lot of it right off the bat. Fish the areas with ditches, bottom composition changes, etc. that are now flooded, and it will dramatically cut down the time needed to locate better fish. Target the weed lines with your favorite soft-plastic flipping bait, such as a green-pumpkin Beaver or Brush Hog. Another technique that’s working is swimming a bluegill Strike King swim jig through the weeds.”

Spotted Bass: Good. Guide Ryan Coleman reports, “If you didn’t already know it, the lake is way up. The fishing has been good, but it is behind for this time of year, and the new water has scattered the fish out. The widespread topwater bite is just starting to rear its head and get going. I look for this to get wide open in the next few weeks. We have been doing very well on flukes worked over humps and points as well as catching a few on topwater with Zara Spooks, Sammys and big poppers. Most of the fish have completed the spawn, but there are a few big main-lake fish that will finish things up in June. The majority of the fish are still holding shallow on points and rocks but will start to make their way out deep as the water falls and warms up. I have been working a fluke or topwater from 10 to 20 feet of water over humps and points all over the lower end as there are some herring spawning around. It’s a very scattered spawn this year as the water is moving up and down a good bit. Bridge pilings have been producing with flukes and Fish Head Spins, but once again, it’s just a scattered bite. I have been catching some of the big females that have spawned out very shallow on humps and points with a lightweight SpotSticker jighead and worm combo as always this time of year. Some of the big fish just set up shallow and wait for something easy to creep on by. The 3/16-oz. SpotSticker worm combo. is perfect. Look for the schooling and offshore bite to really pick up as June rolls in. Topwater, football jigs and swimbaits should be the ticket as we get the water back down to a manageable level.”

Stripers: Guide Mike Maddalena reports, “Striper fishing is good. This is a great time to take kids fishing. There is plenty of action with spotted bass, catfish and stripers biting while pulling herring. The fish have been on points with deep water nearby and clay banks off the river channel. The primary technique remains freelines with herring 100 feet behind the boat and 50 feet behind your planner boards. Freelines with a single split-shot out-fished the unweighted lines this week. Add weight to a couple of your lines as the day progresses, and vary your speed form 0.5 mph to 1 mph. We are casting a Captain Mack’s bucktail jig with a small fluke to points and picking up a few spotted bass while we are pulling baits. The topwater bite continues to be slow. The umbrella rig is working. I use a 3-oz. umbrella with nine, 1-oz. jigs with shad bodies 90 to 120 feet back for deep-water trolling. I use a 1-oz. umbrella with 9, 1/2-oz. jigs 50 to 70 feet back for shallow-water applications. One day white-shad bodies are working better than chartreuse, and the next day chartreuse works better than white. I am starting each day with one white and one chartreuse rig and letting the stripers tell me which one they prefer. The fish are postspawn and moving. The key is to cover as much water as possible with a focus on points. The north end and mid lake is working better than the south end.”