West Point Fishing Report – February 2010

West Point: Level: 4.9 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 40s. Clarity: Light stain on the main lake; stained up the creeks; stained up the Chattahoochee. Lots of water heading down the river after big rains the weekend of Jan. 23.

Bass: Poor. Micah Frazier said they’re just not biting right now, but things should really pick up in February. “As soon as it gets stable, they should start biting,” he said. The best bet in the cold water is to cruise points, creek channels and the edges of timber and look for bait balls suspended anywhere from 12 to 30 feet deep. There should be spotted bass feeding there. Micah said to drop a 1/2- to 1-oz. white jigging spoon on them, depending on their depth. Also, a drop shot can be deadly on these fish. He uses either a white Super Fluke Jr. or a green-pumpkin finesse worm on his drop shot. With a warming trend, the largemouths should move up following bait. Micah said it’ll then be time to break out a red Rat-L-Trap and fish rock structure or stained water that warms up quicker. If the water is clear, stick with a shad-pattern Trap. A Buckeye Circuit Breaker jig is also a good choice for targeting these shallow largemouths. Later in the month, when the prespawn kicks in, the Rat-L-Trap will be the deal. Micah said to just run the pockets with it. Paul Parsons reports, “The bass are moving out deeper with the colder water temps. Look for largemouths and spotted bass to be suspending in the trees along the river and major creek channels. Bass are also holding in the brushpiles on the old roadbeds. Most of the old roadbeds have brush on or around them. The best way to catch bass for the rest of the winter is probably going to be vertically jigging spoons. When they get hungry, they will come out of the trees and move up on adjacent flats to feed. Locate the shad on your graph, and you should also find a variety of game fish.”

Linesides: Good. Paul reports, “Striped, hybrid and white bass are now biting good down on the main lake on live shad. Good areas to try are the railroad hump, the flats around the mouths of Wehadkee Creek and Indian Creek and the humps in the mouth of Maple Creek.” Bobby Wilson said the stripers and hybrids are biting pretty well on artificials. They’re moving all the time, but you can find them where the bait is — around points, humps, standing timber and in some of the creeks where there is bait. Either throw Shad Raps or Rat-L-Traps at fish you see, or try trolling very slowly around these areas.

Crappie: Fair. Bobby said you can catch some crappie right now, but it’s tough. As the month progresses, and water temps rise, it should get a lot better. “It’s fixin’ to get real interesting in a hurry,” he said. Slow troll minnow-tipped crappie jigs for suspended fish around timber, on the creek channels and deep brush. Black/chartreuse, chartreuse, John Deere green, black/blue and blue/white are all good colors to try. Just figure out what it is they want. Paul reports, “Crappie are also moving out deeper and suspending in the trees along the river and major creek channels. Crappie are also holding in the deep brushpiles on the old roadbeds. Crappie fishing will likely remain only fair until the trolling season starts to get going in February.”