Lake Oconee Fishing Report May 2012

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: 70-74 degrees. Clarity: Light stain.

Bass: Aaron Batson reports, “Fishing is slow but getting better. Begin to look up the rivers for more stained water and shallow active fish. They can be caught on Net Boy Baits Flipp’N Jigs on any available cover, like docks, seawalls and blowdowns. Early in the day, work the Net Boy Baits swim jig on any rip-rap for some good bites. Also, dead sticking a Bitter’s Bait Magic Wand Worm under the docks will get you some extra fish throughout the day. Try junebug/blue.”

Linesides: Good. Guide Mark Smith reports, “As of Monday, April 23, there are still some fish at the dam. It is an early morning bite. You can expect to catch good-sized fish in fair numbers until mid morning. After the early morning bite at the dam, look for the fish to show up on the points and humps just up from the dam. The best way to locate these fish is with Capt. Mack’s umbrella rig (Sugar Creek Marina has a complete selection of U-rigs in stock). I am pulling the rig 3 mph 100 feet behind the boat. When you locate the schools, you can drop live shad down to them. As we move farther into May, the fish will start showing up on the usual humps and points up the lake, like the flag pole, pipe line and hay fields. May is a great time to take a child fishing. The weather is good, and the fish are biting.”

Crappie: Excellent. Guide Al Basset reports, “Fish have moved back into deeper water over brushpiles, standing timber and deep drop-offs. On April 18, I caught a limit of fish in two hours on a drop-off in the middle of the lake. All of the fish were at one spot that I located with my Lowrance HDS Unit. The key is to use your Lowrance HDS and LSS-2 to find the fish before you drop your bait into the water. Use live minnows, and fish right over the brush or drop-offs. Mark your area with markers and cast to the area using Jiffy Jigs. Once you find the fish in an area, work it very well, as you most likely have found a school of fish. This will likely last all summer. Night fishing with lights off the side of the boat in the timber or under the bridges is also working well.”

Catfish: Good. Guide Chad Smith reports, “With a lot of the blue catfish and channel catfish already done spawning, look for fish to move to deeper water. The day bite is still best right now, but look for the fish to start feeding more after dark as the water warms into the lower 80s toward the end of the month of May. The big fish are hungry after spawning and are wanting big baits, like bream or gizzard shad cut into chunks. Live bream are also catching a lot of fish. Right now is the time to catch a lot of small catfish for a fish fry. You can catch all the 3- to 5-lb. catfish you want from the middle to the back of any cove around the lake in 5 to 15 feet of water. The best bait for these fish is cut threadfin shad. The bigger 10-plus-lb. fish are being caught in the main-lake channels, deep sloping points and steep ledges. If you can find brush around any of these places, then you have struck gold. Look for these fish to be in 25-plus feet of water this month.”