Lake Weiss Fishing Report December 2012

Weiss: Level: 4.3 feet below full. Temp: Upper 50s. Clarity: Light stain.

Bass: Fair. Guide Warren Barnes reports, “The largemouth bass on Weiss are in a late-fall mode right now and are starting to move out to the main-lake areas. Shallow crankbaits and jigs are still working best for me right now. On warmer days, the IMA Square Bill crankbait has been my choice. On colder days I will use the IMA Pinjack 200 to get a bit deeper. I am covering a lot of water to find my fish, but when I find them they are usually grouped up. I am also still flipping a Revenge jig around any type of heavy wood cover I can find to catch those tighter and sometime bigger largemouths. The spotted bass are starting to show up on the ledges and points. I am using a small Revenge jig or a Tackle Doctor shaky head topped with a Reins Swamp Mover worm to catch them. These fish can be hard to locate, but I am finding them by paying close attention to my Humminbird Electronics and looking for areas with hard bottoms. As we move into January, I would look for the bass to move out to the main lake. On calm days, a finesse bait like the Tackle Doctor finesse jig or Zappu Inchi Wacky Rig will be my baits of choice for getting those very finicky fish. On those windy days, try throwing a rattle bait like the IMA Rockin vibe.” Guide Mike Carter reports, “Weiss has been producing some very exciting action with the water temps cooling down. The water level has started to fall, and the fish are really getting aggressive. Start early in the mornings with some topwater action along the seawalls, and then move out to some of the shallow rocky and stumpy points fishing chrome or shad-colored rattle baits. The main secret to this pattern is to be prepared to cover a lot of water. Not every point is going to have active fish, but when you do find the point that does, it’s a blast.” Guide Mark Collins reports, “Most bass are still being caught shallow on gravel points, humps, roadbeds and medium to shallow brush in 2 to 6 feet of water. Crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps and ChatterBaits are working well. Some bass have started to move to their deeper winter pattern on the river and creek channel ledges in 8 to 12 feet of water. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits and Carolina rigs are working well on the deeper fish.”

Crappie: Good. “The crappie are still out on the river and creek channel ledges in 12 to 16 feet of water on brush and stumps,” said Mark. “The crappie are holding very tight to the cover and the bottom. Spider-rigging with live minnows and Jiffy Jigs is the way to catch the fall crappie.”

Stripe: “Fishing is fair. They are starting to show up on the river and creek channel ledges in 8 to 16 feet of water. Slow-trolling live shad is always a good way to catch these fish. Trolling a 1/4-oz. jig with a white 3- to 4-inch Sassy Shad body is also a good way to catch these winter stripes. Look for them to pick up over the next few weeks.”

Catfish: “Catfish are biting good on flats 8 to 15 feet deep on cut shad,” said Mark.