Lake Nottely Fishing Report – April 2006

Nottely: Level: 12.8 feet below full pool. Temp: Upper 40 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Just okay, and it’ll get better when the weather warms. John Hembree said over the last month he and his brother have been on the lake several times, and their worst trip was about 20 fish; their best trip about 40 fish. They are catching a mix of bass and hybrids on flukes and bucktails. In April, John says a spinnerbait back in the pockets and creeks is a good bet to catch largemouths. “There is a lot of brush in the coves and pockets, and the largemouths will pull up in that,” he said. “You have to sort of wait them out until the water warms. The water temperature now is 48, 49 degrees, and the water temperature has to rise eight or nine degrees before they will move into that stuff.”

Striper/Hybrids: Good. Nottely linesides guide Jeremy Seabolt said a friend was on the lake Saturday, March 25 and caught about 20 stripers anchored by a 25-lb. fish. The fish were caught between Point 3 and Point 4 on live blueback herring. According to Jeremy, the fish are holding in about 15 feet of water. Watch for bait on your graph and then drop live bait, he says. Jeremy pulls downlines, planer boards and freelines this time of year. He said he had not seen any significant surface activity yet. A new lake record for hybrid bass has been set at Nottely. The hybrid, caught March 14, weighed 8-lbs, 10.4 ozs., and was caught by James Beise of Young Harris. James said the fish hit a fluke on top off a main-lake point.

Crappie: Jerry Young at Jerry’s Bait & Tackle said there was a 3 1/2-lb., black crappie caught from Nottely late in March. The lake record for black crappie is 2-lbs., 4.5-ozs. Try minnows or jigs in brush in five to 10 feet of water for crappie. John Hembree has been catching crappie back in the creeks on deep banks in brush eight- to 10-feet deep. Mostly he is fishing a chartreuse curly-tail jig, or home-tied jigs.