Lake Lanier Fishing Report June 2014

Lanier: Level: 0.2 feet above full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: Mostly clear.

Spotted Bass: Guide Ryan Coleman reports, “A lot of the spotted bass have finished the spawn, but there are still some big main-lake fish that are yet to spawn. We always get a decent late spawn in May and early June, and this year will be no exception. The big main-lake fish are usually the last to go. I am starting to see some very big fish pull up on shallow rocks on the lower end of the lake and start to spawn. I have been having some great days out on Lanier fishing main-lake reef poles and shallow rock. There are a few fish out on brush, but the main group of fish are up shallow. I have been absolutely killing the big spots on windy days fishing offshore rock reef poles with a painted blade white Mini-Me spinnerbait. The wind is positioning the fish in 3 to 8 feet of water around these rocky areas, and they will kill a white-bladed spinnerbait. Make sure you have a trailer hook rigged on your spinnerbait. Never throw a blade in open water on Lanier without a trailer hook. I use a 2/0 most of the time, and you will catch half your fish on the trailer hook alone. When the wind dies, I am switching to a 3/16-oz. SpotSticker stand-up football jig rigged with a green-pumpkin or watermelon-seed Zoom Swamp Crawler. This rig should be on everyone’s deck for the entire month of June. Last year we had a fantastic shallow bite up on the reef poles with the jig head, and things are lining up for that to happen again this year. A white Super Fluke fished weightless is also doing very well on the reef poles. I am rigging mine on a 3/0 worm hook and 12-lb. fluorocarbon line. I am using a very slow twitching motion as I work the bait out over the rock. I had a customer catch a 5-lb. spotted bass May 20 on the fluke. As we roll into June, there will be some fish starting to gather up on the main-lake brush as usual. Topwater baits such as a Chug Bug, Vixen and Sammy are your tools of choice for this. Make sure you have some kind of swimbait or under-spin bait rigged for fishing the deeper fish on the brush. As we roll into late June, the drop shot will be coming on.”

Stripers: Guide Mike Maddalena reports, “The primary pattern continues to be the creek mouths and main-lake points. This pattern should hold for the entire month of June. The stripers are starting to move out into a little deeper water, still off the points, but we are catching more fish over a 30- to 50-foot bottom. A few fish are being caught with Red Fins and Chug Bugs, but that bite will not last much longer. Weighted freelines on planner boards out the back of the boat is working, but the downrod bite will continue to get stronger as the water continues to warm. The bait of choice continues to be herring. The summertime umbrella-rig bite should kick in any day. There are fish lake wide, but the north end of the lake has been the strongest.” Jody Pressley reports, “Top catch so far for us was a 31-lb. fish off the main river. It seems the 1- to 3-lb. schools of stripers are doing very well this year, and we’re looking forward to catching those fish in about five years when they reach around 20 pounds. Fluctuating temperatures this year seemed to really affect the night bite. We managed to catch some 20-lb. stripers around docks, and the middle teenage fish were abundant.” Guide Clay Cunningham reports, “The heat has arrived, and so has the summer downline bite. We will be using our electronics the next few months to find the schools of stripers out over deep water. Once you find the stripers, you will most likely get multiple fish on at one time. The good thing about this pattern is our numbers are the highest of the year since the schools of stripers are larger, and with the warmer water their metabolism is high so they need to eat. Blueback herring will be the bait of choice and can be found at all the local bait shops. Be sure to use a small hook, like the 2/0 Gamakatsu Nautilus Light Circle Hook. Using a small hook will greatly increase your number of bites. Also be sure to use fluorocarbon like the Berkley 100 percent fluorocarbon to increase your bites. Lanier gets more fishing pressure than about any lake in the nation. The fluorocarbon is less visible in the water than monofilament. The south end of the lake will most likely be the best fishing due to the deeper water. Also, the time of the day does not make much difference. You do not have to go out early during the week to catch these fish. Many times the best fishing is in the middle of the day.”