Lake Weiss Fishing Report – March 2007

Weiss: Level: 3.5 feet below full pool. Temp: 48 degrees. Clarity: Main lake is stained.

Bass: Warren Barnes said he caught largemouths a week ago halfway back in the creeks by throwing a double Colorado, chartreuse-and-white spinnerbait around any wood cover. The bass have moved back into the coves and cuts looking for slightly warmer waters. By the end of the month, the largemouths will be on the banks spawning. The spotted bass are holding on secondary points in places like Spring and Cowan creeks. Try burning a Rat-L-Trap across the points, and the best ones will have pea gravel on them. According to Weiss guide Mark Collins, most of the bass were still hanging on a wintertime pattern out on the ledges. He recomended working a pumpkin seed Stanley jig with a Zoom Chunk or a six-inch Zoom Dead Ringer in pumpkin seed or smoke glitter on ledges in Little River or the Coosa River ledges. If you want to try shoreline cover, slow-roll a 3/8- or 1/4-oz. double-willowleaf spinnerbait. The bass will become much more active as the month progresses, and they will move up on main-lake and secondary points to feed. The crankbait bite on Shad Raps, Bandit 100s and blue/chrome Rat-L-Traps will pick up soon.

White Bass: Warren said the white bass — and some good ones up to the 3-lb. range — are bunched up in the River Bend area south of Brushy Branch on the Coosa, and at the mouth of Brushy Branch. He recommends casting a 1/2-oz. Rat-L-Trap in gold with a black back.

Crappie: Good. Lake Weiss guide Kelly Matthews said the fish are beginning to move up and school in the mouths of creeks on the lower end of the lake. In late February, the fish were not in Yellow Creek, but they should be by now. Kelly said to look for ditches, breaks and creek ledges in 12 to 14 feet of water and troll jigs six or eight feet deep. The best jig colors recently have been tri-colored jigs in black/blue or solid blue with a chartreuse tail. A Southern Pro Hot Grub in Orange Crush, an orange/white combo with a chartreuse tail has also produced fish. Try 1/16-oz. jigs early in the month, but switch to 1/32-oz. jigs later in the month as the fish gradually move onto the spawning flats. For details on Kelly’s fishing techniques, see page 32.

Stripers: Slow. The fish are scattered and beginning to make their spawning run up the Coosa.

Lock & Dam Report: Jeff at the Mayo Lock & Dam below Rome reports that the crappie and white bass have already started to stack up — although the better fishing is still to come. He said there had been good catches of crappie and whites on pearl-white jigs, and also green-colored jigs. The stripers had not showed up in numbers, yet, he said.