Lake Oconee Fishing Report December 2011

Oconee: Level: 2.2 feet below full pool. Temp: 60 degrees. Clarity: Mostly clear.

Bass: Fair to good. Guide and tournament pro Tony Couch reports, “Most bass are shallow in 1 to 5 feet of water. The bass are relating to all types of shoreline cover such as docks, stumps, rocks, logs and brush. Hot baits are spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits, square-bill crankbaits, plastic worms and jig-and-pigs.”

Crappie: Good to excellent all over the lake. Tony reports, “Small jigs and live minnows fished or trolled in 5 to 20 feet of water are working well. Shooting small jigs under the deeper docks is also working well.” Al Bassett reports, “The fish are following the shad into the creeks around the lake. Trolling is the best way to catch a limit of fish. By the end of the month, the water temperature should be down in the low 50s, and the fish will be staging at the mouths of the creeks where they will be getting ready to spawn in January and February. Use your Lowrance HDS unit to fish in order to see what depth they are at before you start fishing. The best bait to troll is a Jiffy Jig in red/green/yellow or black/blue/black. Tip the jigs with a live minnow. Another area to fish is the timber around the lake. Night fishing with lights off the side of the boat is great during this time of year. Again, using live bait would be the way to go.”

Linesides: Fair. Tony reports, “Some sporadic schooling activity is starting to show up on the south end of the lake. Rat-L-Traps and Zara Spooks are working for these schoolers. Most fish are being caught on live shad in 15 to 20 feet of water. A few are starting to show up on jigging spoons in 15 to 20 feet.”

Catfish: Excellent. Guide Chad Smith reports, “The best technique this month is controlled drifting moving 0.3 to 0.6 mph. Pull your baits across any long main-lake flat in 15 to 25 feet of water. I’ve been using big threadfin shad for my smaller eating-size catfish and for quantity. Big cut-gizzard shad chunks are catching my quality fish. Move just enough to keep your bait moving. I had quite a few 15 to 25 fish days in November with this method. Don’t rule out anchoring around channel bends in 30 to 40 feet of water and around brush using the same baits. All baits are used on a 6/0 or 7/0 circle hook.” Tony reports, “Catfish have slowed up some, but it is still good fishing all over the lake. Shrimp and live shad or cut bait are still working well. Most fish are coming out of 10 to 25 feet of water.”