Lake Sinclair Fishing Report – December 2023

Sinclair: Level: 1.7 feet below 340 Temp: 68-72 degrees. Clarity: Some stain in the backs of some coves and some level of stain up Little River and up the Oconee. Clear water at the dam.

Bass: Karl Pingry spoke with Ed at Lakeside Chevron who said to keep it simple. You have a lipless rattling crankbait bite in the backs of the coves, especially those that have incoming water and a little stain. Best colors are chrome and blue and crawfish colors in the 1/2-oz. size. The next pattern is fishing docks and any wood you encounter midway back in the pockets with a black-and-blue jig or a green-pumpkin jig. Backup baits are an Ultravibe or an Ole’ Monster Texas-rigged worm in black emerald or junebug red. For numbers, use a shaky-head worm instead. There’s a Chatterbait bite up the Oconee in the hydrilla, and Ed said the Little River area is becoming a hot area to fish. The shad are all over the Highway 441 bridge. There’s plenty of parking and fishing updates when you stop at Lakeside Chevron.

Lake Sinclair Page: Archived Articles & Fishing Reports

College tournament angler Troy Harris recommends starting the next two or three weeks on the Highway 441 bridge fishing a crankbait and jig on the rip-rap and grass. If you want to fish for one big bite, throw a buzzbait. The rest of the day, Troy is going to fish a jig on any wood or dock he finds if he’s in a tournament and fishing to win. If he is not in a tournament, Troy will be fishing the stained water in the backs of the pockets with a lipless rattling crankbait, squarebill and a spinnerbait. The spinnerbait will be double willowleaf in clearer water, and in really stained water, he likes a gold willowleaf and an orange Colorado blade. Both spinnerbaits will have white and chartreuse skirts. He will work these baits on rock, wood, clay and grass until he finds what the bass are holding on. A recent example was Troy found the bass on the walkway portion of the docks but only on the ones with rock bottoms or extended rip-rap under the walkways. Remember that one bite is a coincidence, but two bites on similar structure/cover is a pattern. Pay attention to the depth the fish was in, the cover, the structure, bank composition and bank slope to really focus on what the bass are holding on. Enjoy the holidays.”

Josh George won the ABA-AFT Division 72 tournament at Sinclair on Nov. 25 with 17.98 pounds. He won $824 in the 53-boat tournament.