Lake Lanier Fishing Report March 2012

Lanier: Level: 7.5 feet below full pool. Temp: Low to mid 50s. Clarity: Mostly clear except shoreline stain from waves.

Spotted Bass: Excellent. Ryan Coleman reports, “The lake level has come up nicely with the recent rains, and the surface temperatures are holding in the mid 50s here at the beginning of March. This is about a 5-degree increase over our normal temperature at this time of the year. With the lake still being down and there being so many red clay banks exposed, the recent winds are staining up the shallow areas of the lake. The day of the big winds and the day after, the shorelines around these red-clay banks are very stained for Lanier. Fortunately, it only takes a day or two to clear up, but keep that in mind as you travel here. Fishing has been excellent with lots and lots of big spotted bass being caught. I have had six spotted bass over 5 pounds on my boat just this past week. There are a lot of big spotted bass up shallow in the pockets eating jerkbaits, jigs and worms rigged on jig heads. I have been having my best luck on the Megabass Vision 110 and Pointer 100 jerkbaits. Work these on 10-lb. fluorocarbon. I have also been doing extremely well on a Yamamoto 5-inch Double Hula grub rigged on a 1/4-oz. jig head and a Zoom Finesse worm rigged on a 3/16-oz. SpotSticker Pro-Series jig head around docks in the 10- to 15-foot depths. If you’re looking for some big fish, there are some big magnums roaming around the main lake that can be caught working jerkbaits and jigs around the main-lake points and summer brush. You won’t get as many bites doing this, but if you get a little wind out there, big ones will be there.”

Stripers: Good. Guide Shane Watson reports, “Down the lake, freelined bluebacks and gizzard shad fished up shallow from the middle to the rear of creeks have produced well at times. Up north, we’ve done well on downlined trout and on Capt. Mack’s 4-arm U-rigs. I’ve seen a few groups of fish boiling on top, and we have caught these surfacing fish on white bucktails. It really has depended on what we are seeing every morning as to the pattern we’ve been using. Some days the fish have been up shallow, and the blow-ups on the freelines have been amazing. At times the fish have been much too deep for freelines, and we’ve had to troll or catch them on downlines 40 to 60 feet deep. You just have to be flexible in these transitional months. Have a game plan, but be willing to change everything and make drastic moves if your chosen pattern is not working. We’ve caught and released many big spots the last couple of days on downlines 40 to 60 feet deep while striper fishing over a slick bottom. Our crappie guide is doing well on jigs around deeper docks. Looks like an early spring for us. I look forward to more fish moving up shallow as surface temps continue to rise.”