Lake Oconee Fishing Report – July 2010

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: 88-91 degrees. Clarity: Light stain to clear.

Bass: Fair. Todd Lowe said it’s as typical a summer pattern as you can get. “First thing in the morning, it’s topwater on the main-lake seawalls. Throw buzzbaits, Pop-Rs, Spooks or any bait that looks like a shad. After the sun comes up, there are two ways to catch fish. One, fish docks with either a shaky head, a big worm or a jig. Colors will be the standard green pumpkin or watermelon. The second option is to get offshore and throw a Carolina rig or a big crankbait. Again, colors will be the standard greens for plastics and shad patterns for the crankbaits. The cranks should be deep divers like a DD22, DT 16-20, 6XD or a Mann’s 20 Plus. You want to be digging bottom for this to work. You will catch a lot of small fish on the docks with a good one every now and then. The offshore bite is producing better fish, just not as many as the docks. With the shad kill we had this year, the fish seem to be roaming around more. Most are coming out of the 15- to 18-foot depths, and as always they seem to bite better when the water is being pulled.”

Linesides: Slow. Doug Nelms has been fishing the tailwater below the dam. See his report on Sinclair.