West Point Fishing Report – May 2009

West Point: Level: 1.6 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 70s. Clarity: The main lake and near the mouths of the creeks is lightly stained, and it’s muddy in the backs of the creeks. The main lake is clear. The upper river is stained to muddy.

Bass: Excellent. Guide Paul Parsons will still look for some late bedding bass in the next couple weeks. Good areas to fish are any of the major creeks and up the Chattahoochee River north of Highland Marina Resort. The best bait is probably a Texas- or split-shot-rigged lizard. Trick Worms rigged with just a swivel and no weight are also excellent baits. Good colors to use are watermelon seed in clear water and black or junebug in muddy water.

Crappie: Good. Guide Bobby Wilson reports, “Fish Jiffy Jigs under a cork throwing at the banks, or try trolling jigs in deeper water in the backs of the creeks. Try minnows in the blowdowns under a cork, trying different depths until you find fish. All the major creeks — Yellowjacket, Stroud, Veasy, Wehadkee, Turkey — have good fish in them. The fish are going to move out into the creek channels into the blowdowns and any kind of structure in May.”

Catfish: Great. Paul reports, “Channel and blue catfish are biting good during the daytime on the main-lake flats in 20 to 30 feet of water. Locate the shad, and you should find the catfish. Another good place to try is the tailrace area below the dam. The best bait is fresh cut shad. The flathead catfish bite up the river is fixing to get good. The best baits for flatheads are gizzard shad, bream and crappie.

Linesides: The hybrid and striper run should be petering out in May, and it’ll be time to move down to the rip-rap around bridges to fish the shad spawn. Super Flukes and small crankbaits should be effective for hybrids around spawning shad early. Later in the day, move out and downline live shad around humps and roadbeds.