Lake Lanier Fishing Reports – February 2021

Lanier: Level: 1 foot low. Temp: 45-52 degrees. Clarity: The main lake is clear and there’s a slight stain as you get to the backs of the creeks.

Bass: Tournament angler and guide Ryan Coleman reports, “Fishing has been good as the fish are just holding in the winter areas. There are shallow and deep fish this month, and that should hold on throughout February. The deep fish are in 40 to 50 feet of water and are holding on timber edges and steep dropping bluffs where you can find them. Not much has changed as these fish are eating jigs and plastics out in the timber fished slowly. Early in the morning, there is a fantastic bite in the backs of creeks and pockets with a 3.3- or 3.8-inch swimbait in either pearl or blueback herring colors rigged on a 1/2-oz. SpotSticker Football Swimbait Head. We are taking that bait, rigging it on 12- to 15-lb. fluorocarbon and dragging it from 10 to 30 feet. I am just keeping the rod high and slowly reeling the bait just fast enough to keep it on the bottom. Once you find a group, you can catch four or five of them. This bite lasts about two hours every morning. The rock bite has been good on sunny days by just working a 10-foot-diving crankbait or a 3/16-oz. Screwball Shaky with a 6-inch green pumpkin/purple or electric shad Finesse Stick. As the sun stays out past 10 o’clock, make sure to run shallow docks with a jerkbait for largemouth trying to sun themselves.”   

Stripers: Capt. Ron Mullins reports, “The winter schools of stripers are getting larger and larger as the water cools into the low 40s and the bait gets pushed farther back in the creeks. The creeks on the north end of the lake like Ada, Gainesville and Little River have more fish than the southern creeks like Bald Ridge, Four Mile and Flowery Branch, but don’t count those southern creeks out because there is nowhere near the amount of pressure on them. First thing in the morning look for huge schools of bait in 70 to 90 feet of water halfway to a quarter of the way back in the creek channels. Most of this bait will be 35 to 45 feet deep, and you will see fish on your Humminbird SOLIX either mixed in with the fish or even slightly higher. We will start our day off pulling a mix of herring, trout and shad on flatlines and Captain Mack’s Perfect Planer Boards over these scattered fish at 0.8 to 1.0 mph. Don’t forget to run a Captain Mack’s Mini Mack in your spread out the back of the boat or behind a board about 25 to 30 feet out. This speed seems to be the best to get those blades spinning and putting off a great shimmer and vibration. Once you start seeing the fish group up, go ahead and pull the boards in and put out your downlines with the same baits. Most of the suspended fish will be slow to take a bait up in the water column, but there will be fish below that will eat that trout when you get him down within the last 10 feet of water you are in. Captain Mack’s Fat Hawg and Jr. Hawg spoons will be the other artificials to use in February when you get around big groups of fish. They can be fished vertically like their big brother Boss Hawg, but they can also be cast out away from the boat and slow-rolled back after letting them sink down 20 to 30 feet. If you are not a fan of the cold, then get out in the afternoons and look for the fish to be shallower as the bait moves toward the backs of the creeks as the water warms slightly. We will spend some afternoons in February pulling big baits (10- to 15-inch shad) on Perfect Planer Boards up on the bank in 5 to 10 feet of water looking for just one big fish. You will not catch a lot of fish, but you have a shot at a big one this month. Remember that no matter what side of the fence you are on, Jesus loves us all and has a plan for us all.”

Capt. Clay Cunningham reports, “The stripers have been deep with the deep bait all winter and will continue to do so until the weather finally makes a turn toward spring. We need some sun to warm the water for the bait to make a shift shallow. Most of the bait has been 50 to 80 feet deep. There have been a few fish shallow that can be easy to catch but not big numbers. Live bait has continued to be the best pattern over the deep bait. As the bait continues to condense in the creeks, this pattern will not change much except that they will progressively move shallower as spring gets closer and closer. Trout have been the best bait all winter. Herring has been working, as well. The problem has been getting herring. With the bait very deep, the bait catchers have been working extremely hard to keep the bait stores supplied. Be prepared with as many rods as possible. Keep as many Shakespeare striper rods rigged as possible with Penn Fathom Linecounter reels spooled with 15-lb. Trilene Big Game. Rig several of these striper rods with downlines. The downline is a Carolina rig for live bait. Tie on a 2-oz. Captain Mack’s Swivel Sinker, a 4-foot leader of Trilene 100% 12-lb. fluorocarbon and a Gamakatsu size 1/0 Octopus hook for the trout and a size 1 Gamakatsu octopus hook for the herring. These hooks are tiny but incredibly strong. Great electronics like the Humminbird SOLIX will greatly increase your success, as well. You should be able to see your bait almost hit the fish on the head with the electronics. Also the Down Imaging of the SOLIX allows you to see into the bait with more detail. Many times you will see fish with Down Imaging that is hard to see with old-school 2D. If you want to use artificials, the Captain Mack’s 3/8- and 1/4-oz. bucktails will come into play in February. In clear water, go with the white bucktail and the chartreuse in stained water. Rig up a Penn Conflict 3000  with 10-lb. Trilene Big Game on a 7-foot medium Penn rod and you are ready for battle. If you prefer a baitcaster, match up an Abu Garcia Revo with an Abu Garcia Veritas 7-foot medium casting rod. Do not use heavier than 10-lb. line. Heavier line will decrease your casting distance. This pattern will be best once the bait moves to the backs of the creeks. February can be the big fish month of the year as the females begin to feel the urge of the spring spawn. The metabolism of the big females will increase, and they will be looking for a meal. Be sure to check all your lines for minor frays and knots. Some big fish may show up this February if the weather falls into place. The stripers are rebounding from the parasite that hurt the big fish a few years ago. Look for more big fish starting to show up this year.”

Crappie: Capt. Josh Thornton reports, “Crappie fishing is good! The hot-bite target zone is 15 to 20 feet. The bite is super soft. Keep your pole in your hands and feel for the slightest bump. I have found that the 15- to 20-foot fish want minnows, and fish 25 to 35 feet want jigs. When using jigs, try putting two or more different colors on one line about 12 inches apart. By doing this, you can see what color they are hitting and judge the depth they are hitting at. Then concentrate on what they want. Look for open-water, deep brushpiles in 30 to 45 feet of water. Use a heavy jig head to get down there quickly. Look under docks that are in 20 to 40 feet of water and have brush or structure. Use your electronic charts to locate these areas. Try downlining a crappie minnow with a sinker or use a slip bobber. Jigs can be used for short casting, vertical jigging or dock shooting. If you are not dock shooting right now, you are missing out on some slabs. I’m using ATX Lure Company jigs on 5-lb. test, high-visibility yellow K9 braid for my line (unless I am using a bobber) and a Piscifun reel on a light-action 5-foot B&M rod. I use Garmin LiveScope  and the Navionics Boating app.”