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Fishing
After a long summer, fall is finally here, and with the dropping temperatures, the crappie action is heating up in reservoirs all across the state. Lake Oconee is no exception. This impoundment between Atlanta and Augusta on Interstate 20 is well-known as an excellent fishery, and the crappie population is responsible for a good portion…
There are few things better than the bass fishing Lake Oconee offers throughout the fall months. Not only are the thousands of summer pleasure boaters a thing of the past, but there’s something special happening at this very moment. As you’re reading this article, millions of shad are making their annual migration to the backs…
James McClain, of Watkinsville, his son Dylan, 13, and nephew Brandon, 10, of Athens, were jugging at Lake Oconee on May 18 when they hooked a giant flathead catfish. “On this particular morning, we had set about 20 jugs, and when we pulled up next to one of them, the jug went under,” said James.…
Lake Oconee’s 22-year-old largemouth record was broken the morning of May 14 when lake-resident Bill Brantley caught a 12-lb., 14-oz. fish on a Texas-rigged lizard. Bill and his wife Pam, both of Buckhead, were dragging 6-inch, watermelon-chartreuse lizards off a brushed-up ledge in 15 feet of water. Bass were packed in tight on the ledge,…
If ever there was a spring to be thinking ahead, it’s probably this one. It’s not supposed to be 85 degrees in mid March. There’s not supposed to be this much pollen this early, and I can’t ever remember the woods being quite so green before turkey season started. However, Aaron Batson, of Oxford, has…
Shooting-up crappie can be the quickest and easiest way to fill a limit. Following the spawn, when the fish pack-in under docks like canned sardines, they are hungry. Getting a bait into the deepest, darkest recesses beneath a dock is the only thing standing between the angler and a mess of crappie. And if you’re…
It wasn’t the news Jay Crouch, of Eatonton, wanted to hear on a December afternoon. His wife’s grandmother called to say there appeared to be a deer floating in her 3-acre pond, which sits on property where Jay and his son, Ethan, 10, hunt. In fact, they’d been hunting a big one all year. “I…
Dozens of middle Georgia landowners joined volunteers at Crossroads Baptist Church in Eatonton to host the second-annual “Sights Set On Jesus” youth deer hunt. Forty-eight kids from all over Georgia attended the Oct. 30 hunt. They killed 13 deer. Sights Set on Jesus is part of a youth ministry that began at Crossroads in March…
When a few warm days finally hit, the fishing at Oconee should bust loose. But as of the Round 3 Lowrance Eliminator Series event on March 5, it had not happened. As it turned out, the eight boaters competing at Oconee for a coveted final-four spot only need to catch a single keeper bass to…
I’ve not missed an opening day of turkey season in Putnam County in more than 30 years. It’s the day real turkey hunters look forward to more than any other. We normally start to anticipate this day about dark on the last day of turkey season. I don’t say this to be funny; I’m dead…
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