Lake Oconee Fishing Report – September 2024

Oconee: Level: 0.2 feet below 435. Temp: 86 degrees. Clarity: Stained to the Highway 44 bridge.

Bass: With summer winding down, September will begin a transition month, but not until cooler weather settles in a little more consistently. Don’t let that week of nice weather in mid August fool you. We’re not quite done with the brutal muggy Georgia heat just yet. Early mornings and on cloudy days, throw Trick Worms or Senkos anywhere you find grass. Proximity to deep water will still be key, especially as daytime temperatures remain in the upper 80s and 90s. The cooler the weather, the less that adjacent deep water will be a factor. There will always be a dock bite on Oconee, but expect those fish to begin filtering back into the creeks and pockets as baitfish begin their migrations shallow. However, don’t expect to see that push shallow until the end of the month. A squarebill crankbait will come back into play as this unfolds. Target docks and seawalls. Any sort of irregularity you find in these areas can be great ambush spots for largemouth. Standard dock baits will work, everything from Ol’ Monster worms to more subtle baits, like jig-head worms and plastic stick baits. Change colors often until you figure out what the fish want, and this might change daily in September. Also pay close attention to where on a dock you are catching fish, whether that be on the front posts or under the walkways. This, too, could change daily in September. Topwater will get better and better as fall sets in. Try a Zara Spook, buzzbait and a Pop-R.

Linesides: Capt. Doug Nelms, with BigFishHeads Guide Service, reports, “September is a unique month of fishing on Oconee. The kids are back in school, the recreational traffic has slowed down, cooler morning temps come back, and the fishing starts picking back up. Most of the boating activity you will find on the lake are all fishermen, for the exception of Labor Day weekend. But if you didn’t notice, we have had an unusually hot summer this year, and it has affected the fishing. This month the stripers will start chasing bait in the coves and points, and on some mornings you can find them schooling during the early morning hours. Popping corks with a striper fly is the best weapon for topwater schooling. White and yellow both work. I use Four Horseman popping corks. They are used to catch seatrout and redfish, but they work here, too. Our standard Oconee popping cork is only cupped and makes little noise, but these Four Horseman corks are cupped with rattles and weights and call the fish to them, even when they are not schooling. That’s not a guess either. I have experimented with them on several occasions, and they move fish to your bait more often than our old corks. The gulls won’t arrive for another month or so, but you can still find fish in just about the same spot every morning. The bubble line at the dam started off on fire this year but became a little disappointing as the month wore on. One day the fish would be there en masse and the very next day nothing. Last year, when they found the bubbles, they stayed there all summer and were pretty easy to catch. We’re still scratching our heads over this one, but I’ll let you know when we figure out what’s going on there. Of course you can always throw a 3-inch Sassy Shad, or any other small topwater bait, when the stripers are schooling. I also have noticed the bigger stripers we are catching have gill maggots. I guess that is the thing now. For many years, the Oconee fish didn’t have them, but I guess it was a matter of time. We first started seeing them during The Oconee Derby, and it’s an everyday thing now. Hopefully it won’t negatively affect the striper population and our fish will remain healthy. If your thing is topwater action, then September is the month for you on Lake Oconee.”

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