Lake Lanier Fishing Report – October 2007

Lanier: Level: Down 11.7 feet below full pool. If the lake drops another 5 feet, ramps will start to close. Temps: 78-79 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Spotted Bass: Guide and tournament pro Ryan Coleman reports some good fishing for quality spotted bass. On Sept. 20, Ryan’s guide party had eight big spots, four of which were better than 4 pounds. “The fishing is much better up the lake right now,” Ryan reports. He recommends the stretch from Browns Bridge to Little River. Bass are in transition — for fish still holding deep, use a drop-shot rig on the main-lake ledges and humps that have timber and are 25 to 40 feet deep. Some spots will be moving up in brushpiles on the points and humps and will hit topwater like a Zara Spook or Chug Bug.

Largemouths: Good. According to tournament pro Billy Boothe, “October is a great month to fish for largemouths on Lanier. Start off the mornings throwing a shad-pattern Pop-R (topwater plug) or a white 3/8-oz. buzzbait dead in the backs of pockets around any docks or brush that have water on them. If you really hammer them in a few pockets on the topwater, go back and fish a watermelon-seed Senko or a pearl fluke slowly through the same areas. After that, it’s time to get out a grey-ghost Mann’s Baby 4 Minus and cover water. Look for shad holding along shallow rock points and flats near deep water, then burn the 4 Minus through the balls of shad. About the middle of October, the dock bite will start to heat up again. Look for docks in 3 to 8 feet of water with bait present that are about mid-way back in the pockets. Swim a white 3/8-oz. TABU jig under the walkways and floats. For big fish, target laydowns and brush up the rivers with a green-pumpkin Reaction Innovation Sweet Beaver. Make multiple pitches to each tree. If we get a really bad cold front, just back out to the nearest drop and fish a smoke-purple Mann’s Wonder Worm on a 1/4-oz. Bite Me jig head.

Stripers: Excellent. It’s been off the charts — on fire. There are huge schools of stripers over the river channel and at the creek mouths from Vann’s Tavern to the dam. Try trolling lead-core line with 1-oz. bucktail jigs tipped with a blueback herring or a chartreuse split-tail trailer. Power reeling is producing. When you mark a big school, drop a 2-oz. bucktail tipped with a herring below the depth, and reel as fast as you can straight up through the school of stripers.