Lake Weiss Fishing Report – July 2007

Weiss: Level: 1.3 feet below full pool. Temp: 84 degrees. Clarity: Mostly clear.

Bass: The fish have gone deep, and much of the fishing is out on the river ledges in 8 to 14 feet of water using either a deep-running crankbait or a jig ’n pig, said Jason Tucker at J.R.’s Marina. The alternative is to flip docks, and both techniques will work better if water is being pulled. Jason said a DD22 or similar plug in a shad color is a good fish-finder lure out on the ledges. When you get hit, pick up the jig and you are likely to catch more fish from the same area. Jason gives the nod to a green-pumpkin jig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Super Chunk. Brown and chartreuse is another good combo to try. Since the water has been warming up, there has been almost no topwater activity, but keep a Rooster Tail or tail-spinner ready in case the white bass come up.

Crappie: Weiss guide Matthew Kelly said it has been bad hot on the lake, but the crappie are still biting. On June 21 his clients had 23 keepers that ranged up to 1 1/2 pounds in three hours by fishing brushpiles in 12 to 14 feet of water. Matthew is fishing minnows on a modified drop-shot rig with a 3/8-oz. weight at the bottom of the line, then 18 inches up he ties in a dropper with a No. 2 Eagle Claw hook. “You just drop it right down in the brush and ease around real slow,” he said. Matthew said he had also had good luck shooting docks with Southern Pro jigs. He said his boat was in 8 to 10 feet of water, and he was catching fish in 4 to 6 feet of water. The morning after we talked to Matthew he was planning on spider-rigging a river-channel ledge with the drop-shot rig with a 1/2-oz. weight. With lines out around the boat in the 12- to 14-foot range he eases along the ledges, concentrating on places with brush or stumps.

Stripers: The stripers are biting good up the Little River at Cave Hole, and they’re also up the Chattooga River. They’ll hold in the deep holes where you can find running water. The fish are running from 4 to 18 pounds During the last week of June, Jason caught seven over 18 pounds. The fish are hitting live shad in the deep holes, but you have to be there very early or very late.