Lake Oconee Fishing Report February 2011

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: 43 to 48 degrees. Clarity: Stained.

Bass: Slow. Aaron Batson reports, “Bass are mostly still deep at this time and very slow to bite. Carolina-rigged finesse worms or a french-fry type worm will catch a few. They are holding on points and humps in 15 to 25 feet of water. Later in the month they will begin to stage at the mouths of creeks and coves. Then you can catch fish on Rat-L-Traps and Shad Raps. Use brighter colors like firetiger or chartreuse/chrome. Deeper docks will also load up. Flip a 1/4-oz. Net Boy Baits Flipp’N Jig in black/blue on dock posts in 10 to 12 feet of water to get a bigger bite.”

Crappie: Slow. “Look for fish to be in the channels leading into the spawning areas or holding over brush in 15 to 25 feet of water,” said guide Al Bassett. “If we have a couple warm days in a row, look for the fish to move into the spawning areas. Use your Lowrance HDS unit to locate these fish while they are on the move. You should be trolling to cover a lot of water until you locate the fish. The best bait this time of year has been a Jiffy Jig tipped with a live minnow. As long as the water doesn’t get too muddy, I would use a 1/16-oz. in the red/green/yellow or the black/bubblegum/chartreuse. If the water gets muddy, go to darker color. This time of the year you cannot expect to catch large numbers of fish, but you can expect to catch larger fish.”

Catfish: Slow. Smith Guide Service reports, “I have found some good concentrations of nice catfish between the Highway 278 bridge and the I-20 bridge area. Look for any bait in the 20- to 30-foot depths, and the fish will be under them or close by. Once we get into the end of January and first of February, a few warm days back to back will pull these catfish out of the deep holes and onto the adjoining flats next to the channels. They can be caught on gizzard or threadfin shad either anchoring the boat or slow drifting. Don’t forget to look around the standing timber between the I-20 and 278 bridges. The big catfish love this area. The big flats right in front of Blue Springs Marina are also a great place to look when we have some warming trends.”