Lake Weiss Fishing Report – March 2006

Weiss: Level: 3.0 feet below full pool. Temp: Upper 48-50 degrees. Clarity: The main lake is stained, the Coosa is muddy, and Little River and Yellow Creek are fairly clear.

Crappie: “The fishing is great, super, excellent,” said Weiss guide Mark Collins. “I had a trip this morning (Feb. 24), and we had limits by 10:45. Mark said he has been catching fish trolling 1/16-oz. jigs. The most productive jigs have been something with white, he said. White/blue/white, white/green/white, and white/black/white have all been catching fish. Early in the day, the fish have been hitting in five or six feet of water, and gradually moving deeper as the day brightens. “The fish are staging in the mouths of the spawning bays,” said Mark. He mentioned Yellow Creek, Church House Slough, and Little Spring Creek as good choices. “In Little Spring Creek, which is spring fed, the water is a little warmer, and they are already catching them in two to three feet of water,” he said. Trolling the mouths of the trolling bays will hold up until about the middle of the month, said Mark, then the fish will move up and the best fishing will move to the back of the bays in two feet of water or less. Guide Jerry Sims echoed the great fishing news. “There must have been a million crappie caught out of Yellow Creek in the past two weeks,” he said. We counted 51 boats in there on Wednesday, (Feb. 22) and 40 today (Feb. 24) and everybody is catching fish trolling over water 12- to 15-feet deep.

Stripers: Good. There is a big concentration of striped bass holding in the mouth of Yellow Creek, said Mark. Anglers trolling the flats adjacent to the creek before it runs into the river channel are catching 15 to 20 fish per day by trolling Rat-L-Traps and big curly-tail jigs. Jerry Sims said he had been fishing the river channel below the causeway and on Wednesday and Thursday (Feb 22-23) he and friends caught a total of 67 striped bass. On Wednesday his big fish was a 29 pounder; Thursday’s catch included 10 fish over 10 pounds, including two 23 pounders. Jerry has been catching stripers by trolling or casting chartreuse-colored Sassy Shad. “You cast to them when they come up, and troll when they go down,” said Jerry. Watch for gulls. The gulls will show you where the bait, the stripers, and other striper fishermen are located.