Lake Lanier Fishing Report – September 2010

Lanier: Level: 0.8 feet above full pool. Temp: High 80s. Clarity: Clear.

Spotted Bass: Eric Aldrich reports, “Fishing has gotten a little harder. Running and gunning still seems to be the best method, and offshore standing timber has been holding some chunks. Electronics are key, and fishing drop shots on timber that is on slight humps has been the ticket. You can also set down the trolling motor and work productive banks and still do quite well. If you can find the deeper banks that have rock, clay and wood present, you may be able to pick apart that area and catch several bass. Make sure there is bait in the area. Deep banks with older or sparsely spaced docks can hold some great fish. Keep your boat a cast away from any significant brushpiles, and work a topwater plug like a SPRO BBZ1 Shad Floater or a smaller Zara Spook in chrome over the brush before moving in so as to pick off the active fish. If no active fish are present, move in and position your boat directly over the brush and work a Big Bites Finesse Worm dipped in JJ’s chartreuse over and through the brush.”

Largemouth: Slow. Billy Boothe reports, “The largemouths are still shut down from the heat and are mainly feeding at night and right at daylight. The best bait has been a 1/4-oz. white War Eagle buzzbait fished over points and laydowns up the lake. If you don’t see clouds of small threadfins, keep moving until you locate them. You can still scratch out a few worm fish, but they’re running small. As the month progresses, look for the largemouths to make a move into the creeks. Follow the channel and hit the points, ditches and docks all the way to the back until you locate them. I like to fish fast with reaction baits such as a ghost-minnow Mann’s C-4 or a pearl Bandit 200. The grass bite isn’t that far off. Look for shad to start pulling up in the grass at the mouths of pockets and coves first. Wake a ghost-minnow Mann’s Baby Waker over and through grass to pick off active fish, and have green-pumpkin Mann’s Free Fall worm as a back-up bait. As the end of September nears, look for a great dock bite to emerge. The largemouths will suspend under the floats to ambush shad and will kill a 5/16-oz. albino-flash TABU jig worked right under the surface.”

Striper: Great. Shane Watson Guide Service Reports, “Since my last report the striper fishing has been great. Our boats caught and released many, many stripers up to 22 pounds this morning (Aug. 19) on lead core and on downlined bluebacks. It was the best lead-core fishing that I’ve seen this summer. Lead core nine colors out at 3.0 mph with a white, 1-oz. jig tipped with a Shadalicious or Basstrix trailer has been working best for me. Our boats also did very well this morning on downlined bluebacks fished 70 to 80 feet deep over a 100 foot or so bottom.”