Lake Oconee Fishing Report December 2013

Oconee: Level: 0.3 feet below full pool. Temp: 53-58 degrees. Clarity: Very little stain.

Bass: Tournament angler Aaron Batson reports, “Bass fishing is good for numbers, but bigger fish have been harder to find. Look for an early morning bite on 1/2-oz. Rat-L-Traps on red-clay and rocky banks. Fish are moving to deeper water with cold nights. Start looking in the center of coves and on channel swings in 18 to 25 feet of water. Try a 3/4-oz. Carolina rig with a Missile Baits Missile Craw or a Wackem Crazy Baits Pointy Tail worm. Good colors have been junebug or redbug. Also watch for any diving birds that would indicate schooling fish. Throw a 3/8-oz. jig head with a Wackem Mad Minnow in white colors to the schools.”

Crappie: Guide Doug Nelms reports, “This is the month when everything goes off on Oconee. The crappie and stripers will be very active. You can find the stripers by watching the gulls. If there are birds there, so are the fish. I throw a 3/4-oz. Hopkins spoon in silver or gold. If you are lucky enough to find the birds diving on bait, you certainly can catch all the stripers you want. The crappie will be great in the Sugar Creek and Lick Creek areas. We will be spider rigging open water as the fish will be moving off the tree tops and into the river channels. The big crappie will show up this month and will stay good until the month of March.”

Guide Jody Stephens reports, “Crappie are still holding tight to timber and brush at various depths from 15 to 35 feet deep. Straightlined minnows or minnow-tipped jigs are producing fish pushed as close to structure as possible.”