Lake Nottely Fishing Report February 2006

Nottely: Level: 12.4 feet below full pool. Temp: 43-46 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Slow, but a few days of warm weather could turn it around, said Ronnie McDonald. “The cold, windy weather has put the fishing way off,” he said. If you are heading for the lake in February, Ronnie recommends a jig ’n pig fished slowly down rocky, main-lake points. “A brown/orange jig or black/blue will work,” he said. “But another color that works well on this lake is a root-beer colored jig with a root-beer colored Zoom Swimmy Chunk.” Ronnie also said other anglers on the lake were throwing a Fish-head Spin with a fluke behind it and hopping it along the bottom in 18 to 28 feet of water. A jigging spoon is also a good bet, said Ronnie, with some spotted bass being caught in the lower end of the lake on chartreuse/white and blue/white spoons.

Striper/hybrids: Wintertime is prime time for trophy-class stripers at Nottely, but at least on the weekend of January 21-22 the bite was off. Linesides guide Jeremy Seabolt fished January 20 in the area around Point 6 and caught only two fish. “I was using live bluebacks and had two planer boards, two downlines and two freelines out, and the fish weren’t interested,” he said. Jeremy said he also spend some time casting a Red Fin but got no takers. “I was marking some good-sized fish, but they wouldn’t hit. Usually this time of year, the live bait works well. But that front coming through must have shut them down.”