West Point Fishing Report – February 2008

West Point: Level: Down 5.3 feet below full pool. Temp: 48-50 degrees. Clarity: Clear on the main lake; light stain in the major creeks and up the Chattahoochee River.

Largemouths: Fair, said guide Paul Parsons. “Jigging-spoon fishing will probably be the best method to catch bass,” said Paul. “Cold weather coming in will put bass into the standing timber on the river and creek channels. If the water temperature drops down into the middle 40s, a lot of shad will start dying. This will really trigger the spoon bite. White 1/4-oz. spoons will produce best because it will be mostly the small shad that die. Plan on losing a lot of spoons unless you use heavier line. There are good areas of standing timber in Maple, Wehadkee and along the Chattahoochee channel.”

Linesides: Good. “Striped bass and hybrid bass are on main-lake humps and flats from the railroad trestle to the West Point Lake dam,” Paul said. “Live-shad fishing is the best way to catch a lot of fish. Fish with threadfin or gizzard shad 15 to 25 feet deep. Jigging spoons are a good way to catch striper, hybrid and white bass if you don’t have any shad. Find the shad on your graph, and the striper, hybrid and bass will not be far away. Look for the seagulls. There are thousands of them on the lake right now, and it can be a great way to locate bait and fish. Fishing has been best from daylight until 10 a.m. Hybrids and stripers are also hitting slow-trolled 1/4-oz. Sassy Shads and curly-tailed grubs over channels. Lots of small striped bass to 8 pounds have been caught downlake.”

Crappie: Good. “Crappie fishing has been good during the day trolling with 1/16-oz. jigs over the creek channels and up the Chattahoochee River,” Paul said. “Limits of good-sized crappie with some up to 2 1/2 pounds have been caught trolling jigs in 8 to 12 feet around Wolf Creek and just above the 219 bridge. The river and creeks are lightly stained. Black/silver, black/blue and black/chartreuse are the best colors right now.”

Catfish: Very good. “Channel and blue catfish are biting good at night,” Paul said. “Fish around the bridge pilings and the rip-rap with cut shad and livers. Another good area is the West Point Lake dam, both above and below the dam,” Paul said. “Several big flathead catfish up to 30 pounds have been caught recently way upriver on big gizzard shad and bream.”