Lake Oconee Fishing Report – November 2009

Oconee: Level: Full pool. Temp: Mid to upper 60s. Clarity: Stained.

Bass: “Fishing remains fair to good,” said Aaron Batson. “Limits remain tough to come by some days. For numbers of bites, work a 3/16-oz. Net Boy Baits ScrewBall jig head tipped with a junebug or redbug finesse worm on docks in 3 to 8 feet of water. Bites have been light and slow, but this will get a limit to the boat. Docks with planted brushpiles will be better than others. For bigger fish, try a 3/8-oz. Ol Nelle spinnerbait in chartreuse/white with double willowleaf blades. Work the spinnerbait in the very backs of coves early in the month, and follow the shad back out later, as cooler weather moves them back out. Right now the backs of pockets are absolutely loaded with shad in the 3- to 4-inch range. Try to match your blade size to the shad that you find. A 1/4-oz. buzzbait in white early in the mornings in these same areas could work well also. A 3/4-oz. chrome Rat-L-Trap might also be good for a kicker bite, but you will be looking for only one or two bites with a bigger bait.”

Linesides: Fair. Doug Nelms reports, “Some big stripers are starting to move into River Bend, and it is loaded up with bait. The cove just before River Bend has so much bait in it, they were literally jumping out of the water as we were making our way up there with the boat. This is the time of year I love to get started chasing the fish. Some nice stripers and hybrids have been found and boated. The lake is about to turn over, but on a recent trip a friend caught 12 and they ranged from 3 to 9 pounds. The rods were bouncing, and he said he missed several because he was fishing alone. My logs have shown that when the fish show up at this particular place it usually indicates the season is under way. After talking with the DNR, hopefully we will see an increase in the size and number of fish this year.”

Crappie: Very good. Doug said, “By the upcoming full moon (Nov. 2) it should be on like Donkey-Kong. If the weather patterns continue to hold, and the rain stays away, this is going to be one awesome crappie season. The crappie have already begun to show up. There are three of my network guys out crappie fishing, and they are already finding nice fish. I guess all the cool water that has come into Oconee has gotten them excited, and along with the full moon, it has produced some nice catches to start with. My neighbor was fishing his dock late yesterday afternoon and caught nine crappie that weighed around 1 1/2 pounds each.”