Lake Oconee Fishing Report November 2014

Oconee: Level: 0.3 feet below full pool. Temp: High 60s to low 70s. Clarity: Light stain up the rivers, and clear on the main lake.

Bass: Good. Tournament fisherman Aaron Batson reports, “Fish are feeding up on shad in the very backs of creeks. Try a Rat-L-Trap or square-billed, shallow-running crankbait in the very backs of major creeks. Fish will be found near massive schools of baitfish. Most of these fish will be smaller keepers. Bigger bass are being caught under the schools on jigs and Texas-rigged worms. Try a Trixster Big Willie worm on the Texas rig. Look for any structure to work the worm on: stumps, rockpiles and blowdowns. Flipping shallow docks is also working well. Try a 1/4-oz. Net Boy Baits jig tipped with a Trixster Crusty Crawler grub. The best quality of the Trixster Crusty Crawler grub is that you can fish one bait nearly all day, catching multiple fish using just one. They are very soft but incredibly durable.”

Linesides: Good. Guide Mark Smith reports, “Find large schools of bait, and the striper/hybrids will be close by. Live bait, umbrella rigs and spoons are all working very well. You can use bass shiners or shad. One day it will be on flatlines, and the next day it will be on downlines. I like to use the umbrella rig to locate the large schools of stripers. I will troll it from the River Bend area of the lake to the dam. Spoons can be used once you locate the schools of stripers. November is a great time to fish for stripers. The weather is good, and the fish are hungry, trying to put on pounds for the winter.” Guide Doug Nelms reports, “The stripers will start their run and began to follow the bait into the creek channels. For the larger stripers that made it through the hot summer, they will begin to feel better and will be hungry. There are days you can go into River Bend or Double Branches and see hundreds of fish feeding. Bait is the main thing to target this month.”

Crappie: Jody Stephens reports, “Oconee crappie are doing well in 20 to 30 feet of water in the brush and trees. Smaller schools are feeding better than large ones. Minnows downlined to them are producing quality fish. Look for the fish to move farther back in creek arms as the water continues to cool.” Guide Al Bassett reports, “Currently the bite is extremely light. There are lots of fish in the brushpiles and drop offs around the lake, but trying to catch them may be a challenging. Using live bait and fishing right on top of them will be a way to catch a few. You have to be a line watcher, as the bite is so light. Find these fish using your HDS and LSS-2. Make sure you see the fish before you fish that spot. With the colder weather coming in, this will slow down some. More fish will start to show up in the mouth of Sugar Creek, Lick Creek, Sandy Creek and Rocky Creek. Trolling slow using Jiffy Jigs tipped with minnows will be good bet. Keep an eye on your depthfinder to see what depth they are holding at. Good colors to start with are red/green/yellow or black/bubblegum/chartreuse. You will still be able to catch some good fish holding in the brush and on the drops during the first part of the month until they start moving into creeks.” Guide Doug Nelms reports, “This is the month all the bigger crappie will come out of the trees and make their way into the river channels and ledges. Some of the places you will find them is Lick Creek, Sugar Creek and far up Richland Creek. We will be long lining or spider rigging this month using jigs tipped with minnows or just straight jigs.”