The weather has been so nice I decided I wanted to get out again even though I wasn't expecting to catch much given the prime and recent fishing being reported. My best chances would be up the lake but I didn't have any gas and I wasn't planning on hiking up that far even after I did fill up. I fished from 8:30 to 1:00 on the South side from Big Creek up to BB. For the day I landed one 8 lb Striper and lost one in FBB as I was headed back to the dock. That last fish was most likely a big fish. It hit a large spoon, 12 colors out, after I had marked two fish at 40 ft.
Took the boat out for a short day trip to see what was going on up the lake. I got to the dock around 7:30 and was fishing by 8:30 up around Gainesville Marina. I spent most of the day looking and didn't see much. I'm not sure if I missed all the surface activity but I did hear of a few people catching fish earlier in the morning. I wasn't so lucky. Late morning I did get over some fish and was able to boat one small Striper along with a spotted bass. These fish were all hugging a 15-25 ft bottom and didn't seem to want to turn "on". I caught my fish jigging swim baits and did have quite a few window shoppers so they were "coming up" but just not taking it. The water temp up in this area was over 70 and sometimes as high as 72. There was a slight wind and the prime for the day was around 11:00 but the BP stayed high and I would say that was the main reason they never really turned on for me. Later in the day I heard of some fish being caught between 3-5 and noted the BP was dropping for a few hours right at the same time.
There have been some big fish caught in the spring over the years and many people believe that if a lake record is to be caught on Lanier, this is the time of year it will happen. After doing a little math, I concur. Lets use this chart for reference.
Winter is just about over. Look for some fishing reports to be posted as I make it out of the house and back to the water in the coming weeks. I should be hitting the river and the lake starting in March, 2009. For now, the best place to find a good fishing report on Lanier would be on Doug Youngblood's site. He posts reports on both Crappie and Stripers during the winter and gets out as much as any other guide if not more.