Lake Nottely Fishing Report – February 2008

Nottely: Level: 20.7 feet below full pool. Temp: Mid 40s. Clarity: The main lake is clear, but the backs of the creeks are stained.

Bass: Whenever there is a February warm up, John Hembree looks for wind-blown points and pockets. “If you get a warm few days, the stripers and spots will move up shallow into dingy pockets, anywhere there is a mud line,” said John. He likes to cast a pearl-colored Zoom Super Fluke on a 1/8-oz. lead head into the mud line and pull it back out. If that doesn’t work, he will try a small white bucktail with a chartreuse trailer in the same area.

Linesides: The fishing has been up and down, said guide Jeremy Seabolt. “One day you’ll catch a few, and the next day you might not catch any.” There have been good catches of smaller stripers in the 7- to 8-lb. range caught near the dam on live bait. Jeremy has been up the lake between Point 7 and Point 9 looking for bigger fish. On Thursday, Jan. 24, he boated only four fish, but one of them weighed 40 pounds. The fishing remains sporadic. “A week ago they were in 8 to 10 feet of water on the banks,” he said. “This week they are in 15 to 30 feet of water.” He had been using both downlines and pulling planer boards with big, live bluebacks. “I have some big bluebacks, 8 or 10 inches long,” he said. Jeremy said he had been seeing a lot of shad flickering on the surface. The surface temperature is relatively warm, but if it drops into the low 40s and there is a threadfin shad die-off, the fishing will pick up. “If we get a shad kill, anyone can go back in the creeks and throw a Red Fin and catch fish,” he said.