Lake Oconee Fishing Report – January 2025

Oconee: Level: Full at 435. Temp: 51-54 degrees. Clarity: Stained to the Highway 44 bridge.

Bass: Guide Nick Knapp, with Elite Guide Service, reports, “During the month of January, I like to target rocky points with sun on them. With the cold water, the fish are trying to find warmer water. During this month, I like using bigger profile baits. My go-to is a green-pumpkin, 3/4-oz. jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer in the same color. Mid lake is usually the best this time of year. I like fishing the rocky points around Cuscowilla. It is wintertime fishing, so slower presentations are key.”

Stripers: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “Throughout this past month of December, it has absolutely been the best striper, hybrid and white bass fishing that I have seen in many years. The Oconee white bass are fat chunks and not a mark on them, and they are mean! Needless to say, we are excited because January promises the same thing with even bigger fish. Most all of the stripers, hybrids and white bass that we are catching are on the Oconee side from Sugar Creek all the way down to Tornado Point. They are not hard to find either. When you see the seagulls, you know the fish are very close by, and if you see the birds flying around in circles, it tells you that the fish are feeding. During this time of year, I keep spoon rods, popping corks and topwater baits, especially flukes, to throw into the schooling fish. Historically, the fishing will only get better until we have to resort to live bait in March, but if you like to live-bait fish, you can certainly catch a ton right now. For me, it takes a little too long to catch a bait, hook it up and then drop it down when the stripers are biting everything you throw at them on top and below the surface. And I’m not in love with throwing a cold, wet net at 5 a.m. either, but that’s another story. January is the time to be on Oconee to catch a lot of linesides.

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