Lake Oconee Fishing Report – August 2021

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: Mid 80s to almost 90. Clarity: Lake is clear except up the rivers where there is some stain.

Bass: Tournament angler Karl Pingry, “According to tournament fisherman Tony Couch, the dog days of summer are upon us. Bass fishing is poor with a few bass being caught around the bream beds and seawalls early in the morning on topwater baits. The only other pattern is fishing shallow docks and seawalls with plastic worms and shaky-head worms. A few bass are also being caught on shaky heads around the big rocks and brushpiles in 5 to 15 feet of water if you know where to find those on the south end. However, these bass are small.”

Crappie: Capt. Doug Nelms reports, “I was looking on my fishing logs last evening and at the top of the page on Aug. 1 it read, ‘Brushpile fishing will be the best this month.’ It kinda surprised me because it has been awesome this past month, and it’s hard to imagine it will be any better, but it will be. There will be hundreds of fish on standing timber this month. If there are 30 trees in the group, only a couple of them will hold fish. If you have good electronics, like my Humminbird Solix SI, you will see them stacked in the tops of these trees. Throw out your marker and drop minnows down to the top of the gaggle of fish and start working them over. The bite could be from 12 to 20 feet deep. I use 11-foot B’nM rods, 12-lb. braided line, a 1/2-oz. trolling weight and 8-lb. fluorocarbon on a No. 2 Tru-turn hook. This entire setup can be purchased at Sugar Creek Marina. Just ask William or Mike for the crappie fishing setup I use and they will hook you up.”