West Point Fishing Report – March 2008

West Point: Level: 3 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 50s. Clarity: Stained. Heavy stain up in the river.

Bass: Good. “Largemouth and spotted bass are going into prespawn,” said guide Paul Parsons. “Look for bass to start moving into feeder creeks to feed on shad with the warming water temperatures. Fishing will be best on warm, sunny afternoons when the shad move to the backs of the creeks into the warming water. If bass are feeding, you should see them chasing shad on the surface. Rat-L-Traps are probably the best lure to throw, and you should slow-roll it through any feeding activity. The Lucky Craft Pointers are also good this time of year. Use a slow stop-and-go retrieve. A good follow-up bait to use is a Zoom Super Fluke.”

Linesides: Striper fishing is good and getting better, and in about two or three weeks the river run will be on, according to guide Bobby Wilson. “Fish are being caught on 200 Series Bandits and No. 7 Shad Raps, trolling above the Hwy 109 bridge to the pumping stations up river. Pearl-white and chartreuse are working best on Bandits and grey-black on Shad Raps. Also try trolling 4-inch curly tails with 1/8- to 3/8-oz. jig heads. Pearl/white and white are working best on the tails. Watch for gulls hitting the water, and try trolling through them or drop live shad about 8 to 12 feet down and hang on. Stripers up to 10 pounds are being caught. The river run on stripers and hybrids starts about the third week of March and lasts to the end of April,” Bobby said. Guide Paul Parsons also has a good report on linesides. “Striped and hybrid bass are holding in standing timber around the river channel and creek channels from the dam all the way up the lake. Stripers, hybrids and white bass are hitting slow-trolled 1/4-oz. Sassy Shads and curly tailed grubs. The best colors have been chartreuse, pearl/chartreuse and pearl/hot pink. Troll just fast enough to keep the baits swimming. Lots of stripers to 10 pounds are being caught all over the lake. The spring run up the river is not far away. As soon as the water temperature gets up into the upper 50s, fish will start going up the river. When it hits the 60-degree mark the run should be going strong. The run usually gets going around the first of March and lasts for about four to five weeks.”

Crappie: Excellent. Guide Bobby Wilson said, “Fishing is great right now and getting better every day. As the water temp keeps coming up to the mid 50s to upper 50s in the afternoons, the crappie bite is on. Fishing up at Franklin has been great. We’re catching fish in large numbers and fish up to 3 1/2 pounds are being caught on minnows,” Bobby said. “Fishing in the creeks — Yellowjacket, Turkey, Wehadkee, Maple and Wilson — is getting better. Fish are being caught in 8 to 18 feet of water. Try trolling 1/8-oz. jigs with a 2- to 3-inch curly tail. Yellow-head jigs have been working best, but that’s subject to change. Also try black/chartreuse, chartreuse, black/blue and white tails,” Bobby said. Paul also reported the crappie bite as excellent. “Limits of good-sized crappie are being caught trolling jigs in 10 to 14 feet. Big crappie have started to move in very shallow in the afternoon after it warms up. Several 2- to 2 1/2-pounders have been caught in the last couple of days. Good areas to fish are Yellow Jacket, Whitewater, Turkey, Wehadkee and Maple creeks and up the Chattahoochee River between the 219 bridge and Ringer Access. Crappie fishing has also been excellent way upriver from the Franklin bridge up to the shoals. The next two weeks should be fantastic crappie fishing. If you don’t have a boat you should be able to catch lots of crappie from the banks. Fish minnows and jigs under bobbers about 2 to 4 feet deep. The daily limit is 30 fish per person. Please keep only what you need, and let the rest go for someone else to catch.”

Catfish: Good. Channel and blue catfish are biting good at night, said Paul Parsons. “Fish around the bridge pilings and the rip-rap with cut bait and liver. Fishing is also good at the West Point Lake dam, both above and just below the dam,” Paul said. “Flathead catfish up to 40 pounds are being caught up the Chattahoochee River. Bream and gizzard shad is the best bait. Heavy tackle is a must if you expect to put a big flathead in the boat.”