Lake Nottely Fishing Report – March 2006

Nottely: Level: Down 15 feet below full pool. Temp: 50 degrees. Clarity: Clear.

Striper/Hybrids: On a mid-February trip to Nottely, John Hembree said he caught about 20 hybrids and stripers up to about six pounds. “I have been catching them on a little 1/2-oz. white/chartreuse bucktail,” said John. “Flukes will work, but we are catching a lot of smaller fish — in the 2- to 3-lb. range, so you need a smaller bait. As the water temperature gets warmer, we should start catching stripers in the 10- to 12-lb. range, and we will switch over to a fluke on a leadhead.” John said he had better luck with a plain leadhead rather than a jig head with a spinner, and windy days are better by far. The wind circulates the water and just seems to make the fish more active and makes them move up. If you get the wind blowing across a point or into a pocket that creates a mudline, that gets the linesides going.” Cast across the mudline, and the bite will usually occur as your bait comes out of the mud.

Crappie: John said he had been doing well on crappie with a homemade 1/16- or 1/32-oz. jig tied with chicken feathers. “The jig is about a half-inch long, and it gives them a different look,” said John. “Hal Flys and tube jigs will work, too.”  The fish are in brush or laydowns. “The DNR has put out a lot of shallow cover, but the fish aren’t in it yet,” said John. The fish he has been catching haven’t been monsters, but generally out of 20 fish, 10 will be big enough to fillet.