Lake Lanier Fishing Reports – August 2021

Lanier: Level: Slightly over full pool. Temp: Mid 80s. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Tournament angler Ryan Coleman reports, “Fishing is decent for spotted bass down the lake, but things are slowing as the heat sets in and the water temps start to climb. My topwater bite has slowed dramatically over the past few days. I’ve been doing better working a 3.3-inch swimbait on a 3/8-oz. SpotSticker Screwlock Swimbait Head over humps with brush and slowly reeling the bait and yo-yoing it over the deeper part of the humps. I’m using 10-lb. fluorocarbon line since the water is pretty clear. At times, I have downsized to a 1/4-oz. head with a 2.8-inch swimbait on my spinning rod with 8-lb. test, just trying to finesse them a little more. As the day goes on, I am using a 3/8-oz. SpotSticker casting jig in Georgia craw and dark smoke on the humps and around the brush. This is still my best bet for the bigger fish right now. Bounce the jig around instead of dragging it. That seems to provoke some better strikes. If the jig does not bring them to bite, just use a pearl shad Finesse Stick on a 3/16-oz. head and cast to the brush or drop to the fish you see on your electronics. That has been very good this July as well. Good luck out there to everyone.”

Stripers: Capt. Clay Cunningham reports, “After a cool early July, the summer heat has arrived on Lanier and the stripers have moved south on the lake. The average size of fish has increased since last year. The best fishing is on the south end of the lake due to deeper, colder water, which means higher oxygen levels for the stripers. Look in the creek channels near patches of timber. The primary pattern is the downline. The primary setup for the downline is a Shakespeare Striper Rod paired with a Penn Fathom II 15 Linecounter reel spooled with 15-lb. Trilene Big Game line, the Captain Mack 2-oz. Swivel Sinker, a 6-foot section of Trilene 100 percent Fluorocarbon and a 1/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. Add a live herring to the hook and you are good to go. Take plenty of herring, as they will not live long on the hook. Great electronics like the Humminbird Solix is the key for success right now. Be sure to use your Side Imaging to help find the fish. Most days they will be 30 to 60 feet deep. The trolling bite is also picking up. Talk to your local tackle store like Hammonds or Oakwood Bait and Tackle for the specific rod and reel needed. Look for a Penn Fathom reel paired with a Shakespeare Tiger rod. Once you are set up, tie up one rod with a Ben Parker spoon, one with a Georgia Blade Spoon and one with a 1- to 2-oz. white Berkley Fusion bucktail and troll at 2.8 mph. Tip the Berkley Fusion bucktail with a 6-inch Captain Mack chartreuse trailer. Let the first couple of bites tell you which one is hot. It can vary from day to day. Also keep white Captain Mack trailers, pink trailers and all bucktail sizes on hand. Be sure to release fish as fast as possible. Every second out of the water in the hot summer months increases mortality. If you are taking pictures, have everything ready for a quick picture and release. One key tool to have in the boat is the Ugly Stick 90 degree pliers. Great product to get hooks out of all fish, especially stripers. See you on the water.”

Capt. Ron Mullins reports, “The stripers are south and will stay there for the next few weeks. Shoal, Bald Ridge, Young Deer and Big are holding the biggest concentrations of fish so far this summer. Downlines are the ticket right now. Pair your Okuma Striper rod with an Okuma Coldwater line counter with 15- to 20-lb. Hi-Seas monofilament. Tie on a 1.5- to 2-oz. Captain Mack’s Swivel Sinker, 8 to 10 feet of Seaguar Tatsu 10-lb. leader and a No. 2 Gamakatsu circle or a No. 1 octopus hook and put your herring down 30 to 60 feet. Look for the fish to start moving out deeper into the creek channels in 70 to 90 feet of water and out of the pockets they have been. The stripers are getting into bigger and bigger schools, so locating them with your Humminbird Helix or Solix is getting easier to target these schools. Lively bait is the key to catching fish in August. Keeping herring alive during the summer can be difficult, but you can chill your baittank water throughout the day with no chlorine ice (available at Oakwood Bait and Tackle or Hammond’s) or ice bottles (milk jugs or 2 liter bottles) and use an 02 system to introduce pure oxygen into the water.  Never use lake water in your bait tank when the water is this hot, since it’s too warm and has too little oxygen in it for herring to survive. Make sure to always keep lively baits down in front of the fish, and plan accordingly when purchasing your bait. This time of year we are starting with at least 7-dozen baits for a four-hour trip as we are changing out baits for fresh ones approximately every five minutes. The lead core trolling bite is really starting to pick up and the Striper Tackle HAWG Fat spoon in nickel/silver or pearl/blue and the 1.5 or 2-oz. Striper Tackle HAWG Super Spin Shad (SSS) in white with glow/chartreuse tail or crystal with pearl/black body six to eight colors out will be what to start with. The HAWG SSS is a large shad head with an underspin blade and a custom 5-inch shad body fitted to it that was designed for lead core and downrigger trolling. The Captain Mack’s 1.5-oz. underspin bucktail in white or chartreuse with a 6-inch trailer will also be a go-to lure this month. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. All we need to do every day is just that simple.”

Crappie: Capt. Josh Thornton reports, “Crappie fishing is good. The hot bite target zone is 10 to 15 feet deep. The crappie are on the docks and also can be found on open-water brushpiles and blowdowns. I always put out a crappie minnow. Some days the crappie just want a minnow. If you have a LiveScope or Active Imaging, set the minnows just above the fish. Right now I am setting the minnows around 10 to 12 feet deep. For best results, use an active minnow, not a dead minnow. Look under covered docks that are in 20 to 40 feet of water and near a main channel, and look for brush or structure. Use your electronic charts to locate these areas. Remember crappie love the shade, so cast into the shadows of a dock. Try different jig colors and styles. Jigs can be used for short casting, vertical jigging, trolling or dock shooting. When dock shooting, the biggest fish are usually the first to bite. Let your jig sink and give it time to get down to the fish and retrieve your jig slowly. I’m using ATX Lure Company plastics. I use 5-lb. test high-visibility yellow braid for my line (unless I am using a bobber) and a Piscifun reel on an ACC Crappie Stix. I use Garmin LiveScope and the Navionics Boating app. Find me on Facebook and like my pages @crappieonlanier and @fishingwitheverydayheroes.”