Lake Oconee Fishing Report – May 2009

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: Upper 60s to low 70s. Clarity: There is a very heavy mud line working its way down the lake, and it’s stained to the dam.

Bass: Good. Guide Al Bassett reports, “The shad spawn in under way and should last for most of the month. Being on the water at daylight is the key to some good and fast action. Look for the hard seawalls where you find the shad flipping. There are a lot of good baits to use like a Pop-R, a buzzbait or a small crankbait. The key is to fish very shallow where you find the spawning shad. Casting parallel to the shore is a way to keep your bait in the strike zone for the longest amount of time. Once this slows down, just back off a little and fish a little deeper in the same areas, as these fish will only move a short distance from where they had been feeding. A crankbait or a Carolina-rig is a good method to use. By the end of the month, a good number of fish will have moved into their summertime holes. Fish long points and underwater islands using the Carolina-rig.”

Crappie: Fair. “Most of the fish have moved back into deeper water over brushpiles and deep dropoffs,” Al said. “Use a live minnow, and fish right over the brush while using your depthfinder to locate the area of the brush that is holding the fish. Night fishing with lights off the side of the boat has started and will only get better.”

Linesides: Fair. The buoy-line bite at the dam has been sporadic. Use a combination of freelined and downlined shad or large shiners. First thing in the morning look for hybrids on seawalls where the shad are spawning, and they can be caught on topwater, Rat-L-Traps, bucktails or small crankbaits.