Lake Oconee Fishing Report – February 2006

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: 48-50 degrees. Clarity: Mostly clear except for a stain up the rivers.

Bass: Fair. Bass are still scattered. There’s a hot and cold shallow bite, and it’s best on warming trends or warmer afternoon. Try a jig ’n pig, Suddeth Little Earl crankbait, or slow-roll a spinnerbait on rip-rap at the bridges, and also try rock seawalls on the main lake and just inside the mouths of main-lake pockets. Red-clay banks can also be good using the Little Earls or a No. 5 or No. 7 Shad Rap. Use shad-colored crankbaits unless the lake stains, then try chartreuse/green or firetiger. For a big bite, try flipping a jig around dock posts or under docks that have brush that are in about six to eight feet of water. Bites are light, so watch your line. For bass that are still deep, use your electronics to find schools of shad on points and humps in the 15 to 22 feet of water, and try a jigging spoon or drop-shot rig.

Hybrids: Fair to slow. Your best bet is to fish the humps and ends of the points from Richland Creek to the dam. Find schools of bait, and try live shad or jigging spoons.

Crappie: February is the time to slow troll over the channels of the major creeks like Lick and Sugar, and also up the Apalachee and Oconee rivers. On warmer afternoon, move your trolling action over to the flats. Slow trolling works well by setting your jigs under corks, and this time of the year it often pays to tip your jigs with minnows. Experiment with depths on your corks, but bites usually range from 10-feet deep over the channels to four- or five-feet deep over the flats.