West Point Fishing Report – December 2007

West Point: Level: 12.5 feet below full pool. Temp: Upper 50s to low 60s. Clarity: Clear on main lake, light stain up the major creeks and up the Chattahoochee River.

Boating advisory: Low lake level; wear life jackets. The river is not navigable north of the Hwy 219 bridge. Yellowjacket, Horace King, Georgia Access, Lone Cane, Shaefer Heard, Glass Bridge and Rocky Point boat ramps are open at this time. The corps has been working on some of these ramps to keep them open.

Largemouths: Good, said Paul Parsons. “Largemouth bass fishing has been best later in the afternoon during periods of generation. Bass are moving in shallow with the cooler water temperatures. There has been a good topwater bite very early in the morning fishing buzzbaits, Pop-Rs and Sammys around shallow brushpiles. Once the sun gets up, fish wind-blown banks and pockets with Rat-L-Traps and spinnerbaits, and try to cover a lot of water. Also, try fishing main-lake points with a Carolina-rigged Trick Worm in green pumpkin or watermelon seed,” Paul said.

Spotted Bass: Good.“Spotted bass fishing is also good on main-lake points and roadbeds fishing with Carolina-rigged finesse worms in watermelon seed and in chartreuse pepper,” Paul said.

Linesides: Very good. Guide Bobby Wilson said his clients are boating 30-35 small stripers and hybrids mixed in with some big spotted bass on a typical morning trip. Fish are being caught downlining live shad on the flats and roadbeds down the lake in 15 to 22 feet of water. Bobby said to drop your bait all the way to the bottom then give it two cranks to put it in front of the fish. “The flats can be trolled with a Bandit 200 series or No. 7 Shad Raps without getting hung up to catch fish,” Bobby added. “Pearl, white and chartreuse are working good with the Bandits. Black/silver is working with the Shad-Raps. You can find these fish from Yellowjacket Creek to the dam.” Paul has also been catching hybrids and stripers.“Striped and hybrid bass are on main-lake humps and flats from the railroad trestle to the West Point Lake dam. Live shad fishing is the best way to catch a lot of fish. Fish with threadfin or gizzard shad 15 to 25 feet deep. Find the fish on your graph, and you should get some action. Fishing has been best from daylight until about 10 a.m. Hybrids and stripers are also hitting slow-trolled, 1/4 oz. Sassy Shads and curly-tailed grubs over channels. We have been averaging 20 to 30 hybrids and striped bass on our guide trips. Loads of small striped bass up to 6 pounds have been caught down lake. Please release small stripers and West Point Lake will have some great striper fishing soon!” Paul said.

Crappie: Excellent. Bobby said the crappie bite is on. “We’re catching fish trolling in the mouths of the creeks, using 1/16-oz., red jig heads with 1- to 3-inch curly tails. Black/chartreuse, chartreuse, white and black/blue colors are working best,” Bobby said. “Using 6- to 8-lb. test line is working best. Fish are also being caught around the trees and bridge pilings using minnows. A lot of good fish ranging from 1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds are being caught.” Paul is loading the boat trolling. “Crappie fishing has picked up during the day trolling with 1/16- to 1/8-oz. jigs on the creek channels and up the Chattahoochee River. Limits of good-sized crappie and some up to 2 1/2 pounds have been caught trolling jigs in the last few days. Crappie fishing is best after the sun has warmed the water up. Crappie fishing is also good around shallow brushpiles during the day with minnows and jigs. Night fishing has slowed due to the cool weather. Main-lake bridges are your best bet for night fishing.”