Lake Lanier Fishing Report – November 2023

Lanier: Level: 6.5 feet below 1071. Temp: High 60s. Clarity: Turnover is still happening on the lake, so water clarity is clear where it is finished to weak coffee colored where it is still going on.

Bass: Guide Jimbo Mathley with Jimbo’s Lake Lanier Spotted Bass Guide Service reports, “While the outside elements are not always favorable, the months of November and December on Lake Lanier can offer anglers some of the best fishing of the year. Ditch fishing is often the approach upon which I focus, yet there are many options in a transitional month like November. As you pursue different patterns this month, stay flexible as weather fronts will affect the location and mood of the catchable fish. Don’t forget to look shallow around points and humps, both on the main lake and in the major creeks, in addition to the smaller creek runs. Even with the lake down almost 7 feet heading into November, a shallow bite will exist on some days. A Georgia Blade spinnerbait on windy days can be incredible when fished shallow on points, as can be a large crankbait like a Berkley Dredger. The Spro RkCrawler is a great choice for a smaller crankbait.  Also a big swimbait, like the Sweet Baits Sweet Herring, can be an excellent choice for a big catch.  As we proceed with this report, I will address more of how to approach Lanier once the water gets around 60 degrees, which will likely happen this year in November.  Often, if you find a shallow ditch (15 feet or less) in a creek, you will find baitfish present in and around this ditch. Bass will show up and feed in these areas, particularly in low-light conditions, even in the dead of winter. Slow-rolling a Georgia Blade Shad Spin or slow cranking a crankbait in these areas at daylight is a great way to take some huge spots throughout the late fall and winter. Present a Berkley Stunna over these same areas for bites, as well.  Cast your jerkbait long distances over the ditch, and work the bait back to the boat with a jerk, jerk, pause retrieve. Include pauses of up to 10 seconds between jerks. Also, ensure that you jerk the bait on slack line to improve the erratic action of the bait, which will trigger more strikes. The key to this technique is patience. Long pauses can be important as well, so stay patient. Many of the same definitions and techniques above will still apply to deeper ditches, but there are some key differences. When you search for these deeper ditches (25 to 50 feet deep), start by following the shallow ditches out to deeper water. Once you have moved to the deeper part of the ditch, use your Humminbird electronics to look for cover within or around the ditch that may offer an ambush spot for bass. If you can find an area with a ditch, standing timber, brush and key feature changes, such as an outside channel bend intersected by a roadbed in 40 feet of water or so, you have found the perfect winter haunts of the bait and our green-backed friends. Good electronics, such as Humminbird Helix in conjunction with Garmin Panoptix, are vital to finding these subtle depth changes and cover. Once you find a location like this holding fish, start by dropping a Georgia Blade jigging spoon or Shepoon down to the location of the fish. Allow the spoon to sink to the bottom and then real it two cranks up before beginning your presentation. Jig the spoon with quick, short, upward thrusts of the rod and include pauses in your presentation. Let the fish tell you how they want the bait presented. Another option for these deep fish includes a drop-shot rig. Rig a drop shot with a small worm or minnow imitation and present the bait in the area of the fish. Do not over-work the bait. Often periods of no movement can trigger strikes. I prefer the many offerings of Lanier Baits for these presentations. Lastly, steep banks and rip-rap consistently hold fish during the late fall and winter months. These ‘vertical’ banks, present both in the creeks as well as the main lake, offer the fish the ability to change depths within the water column without traveling very far.  This provides an optimal situation for the fish whose metabolism and activity levels are slowed by the colder water. Begin by using your electronics to graph a likely area in search of bait. When you find the bait, you can rest assured that bass are somewhere in the area. Search for changes in the structure as your starting place. Look for points, pockets, contour changes or transition areas where sand meets rock or clay, for example. Begin your prospecting in these areas with a jerkbait, like the Berkley Stunna. Impart the jerk, jerk, pause retrieve mentioned previously, with a focus on long pauses. If the fish are not active enough to hit the jerkbait, try worms or Georgia Jigs worked slowly down the rock bank. Position your boat in deeper water and cast toward the bank. Work the bait slowly and methodically back to the boat, paying particular attention to your lure’s movements. Bites in the late fall and winter are often VERY subtle. Once you detect something unusual in your lure’s action, set the hook. While these areas are not the only possible places to find fish on Lake Lanier in the late fall, they are some very good areas to begin your search. Remember to look for bait and fish in an area before fishing it—fish where the fish are. Good luck out there, and see you on the water!” For more on fishing with Jimbo, go to https://jimboonlanier.com.

Lake Lanier Page: Archived Articles, News & Fishing Reports

Stripers: Capt. Ron Mullins with The Striper Experience reports, “As turnover finishes the ‘breakout’ has begun and fish will be caught all over the lake in November and the kitchen sink fishing will continue. Topwater plugs, StriperTackle Pro Swim Bait Heads with a fluke trailer and Captain Mack’s Super Spoons will all be effective artificials this month. First thing in the morning (on cloudy days, all day long) the topwater bite will be great for stripers. Large schools will be coming up in the main creek channels and the river channel from Brown’s Bridge to the dam. These schools will not stay up long, so be prepared to run-and-gun the main lake looking for them to pop up. When you get close, make a long cast with plugs like a Spro Sashimmy, Evergreen Shower Blow, Storm Chug Bug or Heddon Spook Jr. Chrome, bone and ghost are all go-to colors for these plugs. Other great lures that have been catching are the StriperTackle Ultra Pro Swim Bait Head and the Ultra Pro Spin head with a Zoom Super Fluke Jr. in white pearl or smoking shad. These 1/4-oz. lures can be cast a long way and reeled back steady to the boat, yo-yo’d back, or can be dropped vertically to the school after you run over the top of them. All of these artificials should be fished on an Okuma Reflexions 7-2, medium-action spinning rod paired with an Okuma Helios 40 loaded with 15-lb. braid. Tie in a 4-foot length of 15-lb. fluorocarbon with an Albright knot and any of these lures can be cast an extremely long way. The shallow bait bite will get better as the month progresses. Pull planer boards and freelines, with your herring or shad, back 50 to 125 feet behind the boat/board over 15- to 30-foot points or humps or in the areas you are seeing the surfacing schools. The birds are already showing up, so don’t feel overwhelmed with the amount of water the fish are covering because our feathered friends will help you locate fish and areas to put out your kitchen sink. Make sure that you live a life of love. 1 John is an amazing book about love. Chapter 4 is a great reminder that God’s love lives inside all of us and we should let it come though us. ‘Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.’ 1 John 4:7-8. We are called to love one another, not because we like everyone, but because we are God’s creations and His love should come out of us for everyone. Keep our world, nation and communities in your prayers that we may learn to love each other in these extremely tense times.”

Capt. Clay Cunningham, of Catching Not Fishing Lake Lanier Fishing Guides, reports, “Fall is here and the Lake Lanier stripers have been schooling on top at random times. Some days it has been spotted bass, as well. Look for some of these schools to be very large in size. You may see them from several hundred yards away. All types of topwater baits will work, but each day a different one will be the key choice. Two key baits are the Berkley Magic Swimmer and the Berkley Drift Walker. So far this fall, the Magic Swimmer has been on fire. We have been catching them on the Magic Swimmer for several weeks. Our bigger fish have come on the Magic Swimmer over live bait some days, especially the days with a little wind. Spool up a Penn Battle III 4000 spinning reel with 12-lb. Trilene Big Game line on a 7-foot medium-heavy Fenwick spinning rod. If the water is calm, pick up the Berkley J-Walker or Drift Walker. These baits will zig-zag across the surface. The south end of the lake will most likely continue to be the key area, but the stripes may quickly be found farther north on the lake. Some are already being caught on the north end. If you want to use live bait, pull some freelines 100 feet behind the boat tipped with a blueback herring. This has been good in the main channel, but look for them to move into the creeks in the coming weeks. All you need is a Shakespeare Striper Rod paired with a Penn Fathom II Linecounter reel spoiled with 15-lb. Trilene Big Game line and a 1/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. The herring will do the rest. If it is calm, try the open water. If windy, pull the herring across humps and points and you will catch stripers and spotted bass. Looking forward to less people on the water this November. See you on the water.”

Crappie: Capt. Josh Thornton reports, “These are the best months for large crappie. Crappie can be found suspended from 5 to 25 feet deep. Target shaded areas, standing timber or covered docks with structure. Live small minnows straight down with a split-shot are working very well. Also try small jigs with a slow retrieval for the best results. The gear I recommend for crappie fishing is an ACC Crappie Stix one-piece rod and reel with a 6-lb. test  K9 line, along with Garmin LiveScope and Power-Pole. For more information and tips, please visit my websites www.crappieonlanier.com and www.fishingwitheverydayheroes.org.”