Got out with Rick Thursday the 22nd of July and we did well. We scored fish by trolling and jigging. All the action came mid morning and mid afternoon. The total to the boat on the day was "lucky 13" with 8 fish trolled and 5 jigged. I feel we did exceptionally well since we really weren't on a bunch of fish at any one time. However, where we fished we seemingly fished well based on our results. Additionally, the fish were big. Most were 9-12 lbs and I jigged up my big fish of the year thus far – a Monster 23 lb'er!
This guy didn't want to hold still for the camera so I struggled getting a good shot. With the water temps up around 90 degrees, I didn't want to keep him out of the lake too long so we got this one image and let it go. Rick took a cooler of fish home today so I'm sure he got some excellent fillets from our harvest; all the fish we released swam off fine even though the water is extremely warm. According the DO reports from the Corp, we still have plenty of oxygen in the upper level water column.
Banking on the solid PM bite we've been seeing this past week, I ventured out with Jonathan Friday mid day as the air temps broke into triple digits. Jonathan struggled in the heat for the first part of the trip but I was banking on seeing fish from 3:00 PM on. The good news is they didn't disappoint. Right before 3:00 I found fish – the first of the day – and we proceeded to jig them hard. Over the next two hours we boated 13 and all were caught on spoons, swim baits and jigs. 11 fish were 12-15 lbs, 1 fish was 7-8 lbs and the big one of the day Jonathan hooked that tipped the scales at 16 lbs.
We left the lake still over some fish but with the extreme air temps we were both pretty much shot. Today's fish were more aggressive compared to what Rick and I caught Thursday. We were also able to find them out over deeper water which is what the summer pattern is all about. I expect the schools to get even bigger as we move to August and the next 2 months on Lake Lanier should be killer for Striper fishing.
Fishing continues to improve on the southside. I hit the lake twice this week and fished mostly from Flat Creek down to the dam. All the guides are catching fish on shallow bottoms, maybe 40-60 ft to start the day, but then note the fish move out to deeper water as the day wears on. I prefer the deep fish as these tend to be bigger so I've been fishing mid morning on through the day. This yielded fish in the 80 ft + water which I've been able to troll effectively. However, I'm not seeing any big schools yet so jigging has not been productive. Besides one fish Rick got on a sideways cast spoon out over the channel, there hasn't been much jigging to do. Hopefully that will change shortly.
The good news is jigs trolled 9-10 colors out mid day around the main channel is producing. We got 9 fish Wednesday up and down the lake ranging from 8-11 lbs with the big one coming in front of Big Creek over deep water in front of a mid channel hump. That's definitely the pattern right now. If I drag the jigs over these large humps which stick out like fingers into deep water, I can usually find a fish or two on either side. I'm not sure if they're coming up from the trees or sitting out in open water tight to the structure. Regardless, they do bite and for now you have to take what the lake yields. Here's a pic of Rick doing what he likes to do best; reel in a fish 
After being on vacation for a couple of weeks, I finally got back on the lake to see what's happening. Though the temps are nice and high, I didn't really find many fish. I worked it hard from Aqualand all the way up to just above Browns Bridge and the most I could muster were a couple of small fish at the mouth of Flat. Doug struggled today too and we're thinking the boat traffic from all the activity over the long weekend could have taken a toll on the fish. Late last week the fish were starting to school up and show themselves in deep water but all that had changed today. All I know is that I couldn't get over any from 9:00 AM all the way through till 3:00 PM. This is the first time I've seen "nothing" this year and usually by July I'm able to troll fish consistently.
In the end I had to resort to pulling a U-Rig over some shallow bottomed humps. I know this is still trolling but it's not the kind I prefer. Though it provided the only action of the day, I'm just not a fan of the U-Rig in July. I'm used to getting over fish and either deep trolling them to bite or jigging them up when they're thick enough. I'm also used to seeing a lot more fish out over open water. We have some scorching hot days about to bring up the water temp another notch or two so maybe this will help. It might hit 100 1-3 days in a row here so this could be the final straw that drives the fish to deep and open water and gets them on their summer pattern. I'll be hitting the lake at least twice a week now so I can establish some kind of pattern. I've got two auction trips coming up along with several trips waiting to be booked but I'm not setting up any till I'm on them good.
On a side note, my friend Bori scored some Kokanee trout and a beautiful Laker from a lake in the Cascade Mountains. The Kokanee are small but good to eat with the average size around 10-12 inches. The laker below was right at 20 lbs.
My boat was being serviced and I got to pick it up today. Seeing there were some fierce thunderstorms coming down from TN, I threw a spinning rod on board for the ride back from 6 mile to Aqualand. I launched at Charleston Park around noon and bringing the rod turned out to be a good call.
Though I expected to see some fish back in the creek, nothing was showing on the screen at the 5-6 points I inspected. But all that changed at the mouth of 6 mile where it meets up with the main channel. I was pulling up on that main lake point when several fish surfaced close to shore. I wasn't close enough to reach them and by the time I got within casting distance they were gone. My fish finder was showing them hugging the smooth bottom some 25-30 feet down there so I stayed the course and kept throwing my Redfin. All was in vain.
After some 15-20 minutes of throwing nothing but surface jerbaits, I tied on the medium swim bait and figured maybe something down deep in front of their face would spark a bite. Sure enough, that was the ticket. The school wasn't large in numbers but no doubt it was some 6-8 fish which is a good sign. More importantly, they were big. I ended up boating two fish; one at 12 lbs and the other some 8-9.
Water temps were 81+ all over the lake and though I didn't see anything the rest of the way back to Aqualand, I was encouraged by the little action I witnessed. We're supposed to have some 90+ degree days coming up and if this hot weather continues, fish will be all over the southside any day.
Hit the lake today for a last minute trip with David Shutte and Jonathan. Didn't expect to catch much but you never know. David had his summer vacation cut short and called me Thursday evening to see if there was anything we could do Friday. After 1/100,000.000 of a second I answered: Lets go Fishing!
So after netting some 25 spot tailed minnows Friday morning, we ran up the lake to see what we could find. Turns out our first stop was Wahoo creek. After talking to Doug, I heard there were some fish present though they appeared to be dormant. Hoping they'd kick on at some point, I made the trip up the lake. 2 hours later we had nothing to show for the drive. The fish were small looking and after trolling, jigging and trying several presentations, we weren't able to get any of them to bite so we headed back down toward Browns Bridge. It was right after mid day when we finally started to catch the fish we came for: spotted bass.
So for the rest of the day from Gainesville Marina to Browns Bridge we fished main point markers with both spot tailed minnows and lures. We ended up hooking up at pretty much every stop with most points yielding 1-3 fish. It took the boys awhile to learn how to get the bite and keep the fish on but in the end they did okay. The final tally was about 12 spotted bass, 4 catfish and a Striper.
The Striper came off the Rivers Fork marker where I was marking a school of them for the first time this year. I knew they were small and sure enough, the one I caught was right 5 lbs. But still it was good to see some fish this far south. The catfish were huge with two over 5 lbs. I'm convinced there are a lot of guys mistaking these for Stripers as they sure looked like them on the screen. Apparently they're moving in schools because we got over what appeared to be Stripers but then we end up catching nothing but cats. Today we boated 4 from what I was seeing on the screen and they were definitely in a school so I'm convinced they can easily be mistaken for Stripers. Plus, they don't like to hit the bluebacks like the spot tails which would explain so many guys complaining about "window shoppers". I think a lot more times then anyone realizes the "shoppers" might be another species of fish.
To finish up the day we noted some fish chasing bait on the surface and Jonathan wanted to throw surface plugs at them. I wasn't expecting much but I set us up with Redfins to see. After some 15-20 casts he was discouraged but I hung in there and sure enough, "BAM", I got a beautiful spotted bass which turned out to be fish of the day. Right at 4 lbs, it took three attempts to finally get hooked and both David and Jonathan got to see him attack the lure on top as they heard the first splash and watched the event. They were blown away by how cool it is to see them exploding on top and now Jonathan want's to come out around dinner time just for the top water action!
On a side note, I was marking 82 degrees around most of the lake. No doubt the water continues to warm faster than normal and I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing Stripes southside any day now. I know some guys are catching them on the south end but they're still being free lined. For me the real action won't start till these fish are being caught via down line which should be later this month. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure we're about to have a hot, hot summer and all indicators are showing me it will be summer season that lasts a lot longer than it did these past two years. I actually have been hearing cicada's already (actually, since June 1st) which is way early for them. Usually you don't hear them till the last week of June and to me, this is just another indicator this summer is most likely going to be long and hot. Since this will do nothing but extend our much coveted summer Striper pattern, I say 'bring it on"!