Lake Nottely Fishing Report – November 2008

Nottely: Level: 15 feet below full pool. Temp: 67 to 71 degrees. Clarity: Gin clear.

Bass: Nathan Lewis said that if you can find dingy water, look for largemouths in shoreline structure. For spotted bass, back off to brush in 15 to 20 feet of water and fish a jig-head finesse worm in cherry-seed or green pumpkin. There have been some spots mixed in with hybrids and stripers schooling on top around Point 3. As the month progresses, the fish will move farther back into the creeks.

Linesides: Excellent, according to linesides guide Jeremy Seabolt. “It has been the best September-October for downlining I have ever seen at Nottely,” he said. Jeremy said the bigger fish are up the lake between points 7 and 9. The smaller fish have been from Point 7 to the dam. Jeremy has been hitting ledges in the mouths of coves or along the old river channel with downlined bluebacks. Early in the day, he may catch fish on either freelined or downlined herring, after about 9 a.m., he switches over to umbrella rigs and trolls the same areas. He pulls a U-rig about 120 feet behind the boat at 2 mph. If he locates a school trolling, he may stop and drop bait on them. The hybrid bite, which had been slow in late summer, has picked up. “There is a big school of hybrids that has been holding on rock ledges right in front of Point 4,” he said. “The quality of the fish has been good. I expect the lake record to be broken again this year.”