Lake Oconee Fishing Report – May 2010

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: 64 to 72 degrees. Clarity: Slight stain.

Bass: Excellent. Mike Cleveland said its taking sacks better than 20 pounds to win right now. The first wave of spawners moved out, and a new wave was pushing up the weekend of April 24. Good fish were coming on buzzbaits fished early up shallow in the creeks or in the backs of the pockets. Carolina rigs dragged through the spawning areas were also good. Green pumpkin is a good color. You can also catch some fish pitching jigs and worms to shallow docks. There are a ton of fish guarding fry, said Mike. Go with a 3/8-oz. jig in black/blue or a Texas-rigged U-tail or finesse worm in green pumpkin. A spinnerbait in the same areas will also catch a bunch of 2-lb. fish with a better one thrown in every now and then. The shad spawns should start showing up any day now. Look for flickering shad around rip-rap and seawalls, and throw either a double-willowleaf, white spinnerbait or a buzzbait. Al Bassett also said the shad spawn should be key for the next few weeks. He said to go with topwater early, something like a buzzbait or Spook, along hard seawalls. A Rat-L Trap or spinnerbait will also work for the shad spawn, but when it peters out, back off a little and throw a Carolina rig in the same area. Al said there are also some mayflies starting to show up, and this should be a good bite as the month progresses. Look for the mayflies on docks and bushes right on the water and throw topwater baits to areas where you see it happening. As fish start to move out and begin settling into their summer patterns, go to a big crankbait or a Carolina rig on points that top out at about 8 to 10 feet.

Crappie: Fair. The fish scattered following the spawn. It should soon pick up in a big way, though. They should group up over brush in 10 to 15 feet of water or under channel-edge docks. Live minnows dropped down to the fish on light line is the best bet for fishing brushpiles. Shooting jigs will be the deal for the dock fish. Al likes Jiffy Jigs, and the best color will change from day to day. It’s hard to go wrong with Christmas tree, which is red/green/yellow.

Linesides: Doug Nelms reports, “The fish are moving from the dam to various humps down the lake. Saturday I landed an 8-pounder that had not spawned yet, so I think the cold weather has set everything back about three weeks. We are catching them on bass minnows with downlines and flatlines. The shad spawn has not started, and it appears that a large portion of the threadfin population was killed during the severe weather. I have thrown the net in all the places where shad have been and have not found any significant amount at all. The shad spawn normally should have started two weeks ago, and no one is seeing any, which means the fish are really hungry and biting very well.”