Lake Lanier Fishing Reports – July 2021

Lanier: Level: 1 foot low. Temp: Low 80s. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Tournament angler Ryan Coleman reports, “Fishing is very good right now with most of the spotted bass on the offshore structure right where they should be. The bite is more like an early June bite right now with the prolonged spring. I have been doing most of my damage on topwater but also catching some nice fish on jigs around the brush and a few on swimbaits. The topwater bite is about what you would think. Some of the fish are schooling, and some you just have to bring them up off the 25-foot brush with a walking or popping bait. I’ve been using the basics, a Spook, Chug Bug or Vixen in either chrome or herring colors. Chrome seems to be especially good this year for me. Working the bait over the brush in a medium retrieve seems to be best and then throwing to schooling fish as they appear. After a few casts with the topwater, I have been throwing a 3/8-oz SpotSticker Casting Jig in either Georgia craw or green craw out in the brush. I am just getting a full cast away from the brush and working the jig in and around the brush slowly. This is how my bigger fish have been caught the last few weeks. The fish are very pressured on Lanier so staying away from your targets is critical. I have just been putting a 5-inch cinnamon twin-tail on the back of my jig just as I have for many years. Things should not change much in July. There may be times when you need to drop shot these fish, but as long as there is some wind and the water temps do not rise a lot, the topwater and jig should be the ticket for you throughout the summer.”

Stripers: Capt. Ron Mullins, reports, “July on Lanier means huge schools of stripers in deep water on the south end of the lake. Look for these fish in deep drainages, creek channels and the river channel in 40 to 60 feet of water early in the day to 80 to 100 feet later in the afternoon from Brown’s Bridge to the dam. The best way to search for these fish and be fishing at the same time is by trolling with lead core or Cannon downriggers using a 1.5-oz. Captains Mack’s Chipmunk Jig with your favorite colored trailer. The hot new trolling lure is the Captain Mack’s Fat Hawg Spoon in nickel or pearl, with or without the silver scale markings, and the Striper Tackle Super Spin Shad. The Striper Tackle SSS comes in 1-, 1 1/2- and 2-oz. sizes in white, chartreuse or crystal colors. They are matched with custom-fit shad bodies in glow, glow/chartreuse, crystal chartreuse or pearl/black. If you are not close to the lake to pick some up from Oakwood Bait and Tackle or Hammonds, then get over to www.captmacks.com to get yours. Using the Side Imaging on your Humminbird graph is going to make your searches much easier because this increases your pattern coverage hundreds of feet wide versus 20 to 30 feet using Down Imaging only. Lead core will be best pulling at 2.5 to 3 mph with six to eight colors out. When using your Cannon downriggers, put your spoon 40 to 60 feet behind your downrigger ball that is 25 to 40 feet down. Once you find a school of fish, go ahead and get your live baits out on your downlines. This month our setup will be a 1.5- to 2-oz. Captain Mack’s Swivel Sinker, 6 to 8 feet of 10-lb. fluorocarbon leader, finishing with a No. 2 Gamakatsu circle or a No. 1 Octopus hook. This setup will get your fragile bait down through the warmer surface water fast and allow it to swim around without dragging around an oversized hook or heavy leader. The best baits will be herring, but small to medium gizzard shad will get the attention of some larger fish. Make sure you keep a Boss Hawg spoon or a 2-oz. Captain Mack’s Chipmunk Jig with a trailer tied on so that you can drop down through these schools and power reel these baits up through the fish. Be prepared to cover a lot of water since the stripers will be moving all over the south end of the lake this month. Remember that God’s presence allows you to be filled with peace even when you can’t see the path. He never promises things will be easy, but He does promise to be with us always.”

Capt. Clay Cunningham reports, “June has been a mixture of spotted bass and striped bass. July will be mostly stripers as the stripers pull out deeper. Typically July is one of the best months for numbers for stripers. This year looks to be the same. The schools will be on the south end of the lake mostly in the creeks and large bays. Keep the boat in at least 40 feet of water. With the schools of stripers being deep, good electronics and great bait are the essential ingredients to success. With the new graphs like the Humminbird Solix units, you can see your baitfish get devoured by stripers as they feed deep. You should be able to see your bait swim on the hook. After picking up blueback herring at the local bait stores Hammonds, Sherrie’s and Oakwood Bait, you just need a few key items. The key setup is a Shakespeare Striper Rod, a Penn Fathom II Line Counter reel, Captain Mack’s Swivel Sinker, Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon leader material and Gamakatsu red octopus hooks. You should be able to see your sinker drop into the schools of stripers. If you want to try artificials, spool up another Penn Fathom Line Counter with 15-lb. Trilene Big Game line and tie on a Ben Parker spoon or a 2-oz. Captain Mack’s bucktail. Use the Line Counter to drop to the correct depth and reel the spoon or bucktail up past the stripers. Many times they will try to rip the rod out of your hands. Give it a try, and you will be hooked, as well. The last two years the spoon bite has been slow, but every year is different. We are due for a good spoon bite. Hopefully this is the year.”

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. If you have 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 a live minnow, not a dead minnow. Look under covered docks that are in 20 to 40 feet of water near a main channel and have 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. The most productive jigs this time of year have been the translucent and light-colored jigs. 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.”