Got out Thurs-Fri this week to see how the lake is changing. So far nothing big. The water temp early in the morning is around 79-80 but it quickly gets back up to 82-83. I expect these temps to hold based on the current hurricane pattern. It seems all the hurricanes are either getting pushed to Mexico or the Atlantic seaboard and when this happens we tend to get high pressure and warm, stagnate air masses over us. So far that’s been the deal for the last month and it looks like it will continue till October.
On top of this consistent weather pattern the lake has been filled with water this summer and the Corp has been releasing on a steady daily basis. Although they don’t release every day, they tend to release 4-5 days a week. Additionally, these release windows are several hours. The last two years these windows were very small and not nearly as frequent. This is a big difference. When the current release schedule happens, the fish seem to get into a regular habit of biting early in the morning and biting late in the day when the water is running. Additionally, the water tends to stay very clear (new water is constantly replacing the bad water) and the fish seem to have free roam throughout the water column. This year has been very “easy” to revive fish since there is oxygen throughout. No doubt all these factors are making this season one of the toughest I’ve had on Lanier in recent years. Still, I can’t complain….
I’ve also noted over the past few years that when the major variables like weather (or lack of weather fronts pushing through), water clarity, water release schedules and lake water that’s full of oxygen, the fish seem to get in a pattern that holds and that’s been the case for 2010. Overall the fish have been slow to “evolve” or change like they had been doing and things tend to stay the same in 2010. Right now that means the Stripers seem to be feeding early in the morning in really shallow water. If you’re using bait, get close to the shore in 40-60 feet of water and you will find them in most any cove. For me these fish have been on the smaller side and I prefer to target the open water fish that have been bigger. Scattered out in the main channel, I’ve found trolling to be the most productive as of late. Today I scored 10 fish from 9:30 to 2:00 on the troll and though I was able to jig a couple, I didn’t spend a lot of time trying. But anytime you can go out and catch 12 big Striped Bass, you have to be happy 
and for that I’m grateful. But I also love to catch them on the lighter spinning rods which is tough with little weather change to get them going. Like I always say, it’s best to take what the lake gives you and for now, that would be the troll.
In summary the fishing is pretty steady and should hold up till the next full moon which is fast approaching. There might be some late week issues with the full moon but once it pasts, if no hurricanes make their way to us I expect the fishing to be good.
A lot of people were thinking the fishing on Lanier was going to turn for the worse following this years Funfest. I happen to think the opposite. In fact, I’m thinking we might be in for some of the best fishing of the season and today was a bit of validation to confirm my belief. Rick and I fished from 1:30 to 5:30 and scored 12 bruisers including Ricks big fish of the year on the Main Office – a giant 21 lb’er!
We got out to a late start since I spent 3 hours at the dentist getting a filling fixed. Still totally numb from all the novocaine they gave me, we hit the water unsure if I’d last the day. I didn’t know if I’d be able to fish comfortably but when you’re catching fish, I guess any pain or discomfort you might have quickly goes away! After spending an hour or so around Lake Lanier islands and the back of Shoal Creek, we found fish over by Saddledyke. Up on the weather station “hump”, these fish were big and aggressive. The initial two were trolled but after that we had at them with jigs. I was working a blue herring sling jig with single hook on mono and got 3 solid bites. I also picked up one with the chartreuse daredevil power reeling. Rick got one on braid and three on his butterfly jig including his big fish. The pattern I identified today was to fish in shallow water starting in the 30 foot range and then drift out over deeper stuff. As anticipated, the fish were right at the 40-45′ mark ready to pounce. It seemed most every pass over the long, sloping point yielded a “ready-to-bite” school of fish and for the next 1-2 hours we capitalized on their aggression.
After wearing this spot out we trolled here and there looking up the lake and finally found some fish gathering around the mouth of Cocktail Cove. These were scattered fish sitting deep and if I had more time I would have tried to figure out where they were centered but the day was running out since we got off to a late start. I was able to troll and jig one putting us at an even 12 fish for the day in what little time we spent there and headed home.
Two main notes I pointed out to myself today: 1) with the lake water so clear it’s possible mono might be the better line choice for the short run. When conditions are quiet and the water surface smooth, I’m beginning to think this could help get more bites. This is especially true when the lake is full of clear water as has been the case for 2010. It’s still too soon to tell 100% it really matters but today our mono rigs did well. I plan on getting some Fluorocarbon to use as a leader and will test this theory some more in the coming weeks. 2) I also believe the fish will be on their current pattern for the next month if not longer. It’s hard to move off deep water and go shallow anytime of year but for me, it’s especially hard when it’s still warm out. Yet this has proven to be the “bomb” over and over this summer so at this point I’m convinced the fish are using certain points as feeder stations. So if they’re using these points as launch points I might as well be there to intercept their path. For the rest of the year I need to locate more and more such points as they are no doubt productive. The best ones are seemingly smooth which makes them okay to fish and it doesn’t seem like you can catch as many fish in one location when using this pattern but 2010 is so different from recent seasons I’ve learned to take what the lake gives you and be happy
Another point I made to myself today was the water temps. I was marking 83-84. I know the lake is starting recent mornings a bit colder than it’s been but it’s still warming quite nicely by the PM. This is a big difference from last year in September. Last September we were marking 77-78 in the middle of the day and that was the high it would reach. In other words, the lake is at least 5 degrees warmer this year which means fishing should last a lot longer. If I was to say, I believe the lake is a good 3-4 weeks behind schedule compared to 2009 and that’s fine. I’m perfectly content with the longer lasting summer pattern and with the cool and dryer air we’ve had lately, it’s been some of the best fishing weather wise we’ve seen in many years.
Can you believe we won the Funfest 2010?? 60 boats entered and we SLAM DUNKED them all. Our two fish total was 70.5″ which put us 5.25″ over the second place team. Unbelievable! Doug boated a monster the first hour of the tournament that measured the maximum length on the measuring stick: 38″. With a fish like that on the boat in the first hour, my expectations were running high. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the day was “easy”. In fact, it was far from a walk away victory for us. Turns out getting that second fish took over 3 hours!!
Finally, just after 11:00, I boated my first fish for the day and that brought our total up to 63″ so I knew right then we’d be in the top 10 if not in the top 5. A few minutes later Jonathan boated his first fish which turned out to be slightly smaller than mine so as noon approached, we were feeling good but knew we needed a 30+” fish to “seal the deal”.
At that point our strategy was to turn to the troll and that turned out to be the right move. I boated my second and third fish out over the channel with a slightly larger fish caught right at 27.5″. That brought our two fish total to 65.5″ but more importantly, fish were gathering around us which is what I was hoping would happen. Doug quickly got his bait down to these foraging big looking fish and that’s when Jonathan “nailed the coffin shut” with his second fish of the day. The way his rod was bending I knew his hook up was big and sure enough it turned out to be another monster at 32.5″!! He fought that fish like a true champ and boated what turned out to be the winning fish for us. What a day!
Here we are prior to the award ceremony and then with our trophies.
Here is a .pdf file of the complete standings of the competition. Note the team that won last year – Lanier Striper Charters – dropped from first to 45th. Jeff took a chance up the river and it didn’t pan out.
http://www.bugspray.net/labels/fun_fest_2010_final_standings.pdf
Went out with Jonathan today to get him back to the mindset of fishing. He’s been going to school for almost a month now and with our Funfest Striper tournament coming up this Saturday, I wanted to make sure he still knew how to reel in a fish! Fortunately he got some practice even though the lake was as packed as I’ve seen it all year. The boats were out big time along with 3-4 foot waves throwing us around non stop. Still we fared well all things considered boating 8 and missing a few that weren’t taking the lure hard but instead just pecking at it. When this happens you’ll get a lot of “nibbles” that don’t stick when trolling and we had at least 4-5 which is a lot in one day.
We started moving across Lanier around 9:00 AM and the boats were already up and mobile. To add motion to the already tumultuous water, there was a strong Northeast wind that wouldn’t let up. We had 1-2 footers across the main lake when we first got out which swelled to 3-4 footers in the PM. I counted over 10 monster cabin cruisers and half a dozen speed boats ripping it up in the afternoon. The net effect of all this surface interference was to scatter the fish in the water column. What little schools we did see were hard to keep on the sonar screen due to all the rocking and rolling we were doing at the surface. I was actually able to find fish as we traversed and the boat was fairly flat but as soon as I’d stop, I’d start rolling side to side and loose them. I just couldn’t keep the boat centered and still over them and this made down jigging tough since we didn’t know if we were over them or not.
In the end patience and diligence won out. I kept trying and was able to hook a fish here and there. The first was in the mouth of 4 mile over a small school. It was a fat 8 lb’er and was boated around 11:00. At noon we got our second at Shady Grove and the rest of the fish were caught from the mouth of Young Deer out to the channel. The good news is that we saw fish out in the channel, really deep, and I was able to toll some as well. I even got a bite while trolling the monster Cisco Kid but it wasn’t meant to be. After taking drag for 3-4 seconds, he fell off. I intend on trying this lure more during the week as it gets deep and I’m hoping I can get on a ‘big fish” pattern prior to the tournament. If this works it would really help our odds in the “total length” department since the winners will be judged on overall length.
In summary, the fishing was decent considering the lake was packed. It’s days like this that make me really appreciate being able to go out during the week Here is Jonathan sporting the big fish of the day; a long and lean 12 lb’er.
Spent most of the day on the lake with Rick both Monday and Wednesday this week. I didn’t expect much but we did fairly good. We boated 27 fish Monday and 12 today. Monday the fish were aggressive when we found them but we only found them in a few locations. Trolling produced 4 fish including a “double” from the screen image below; the rest of the fish were jigged with a combination of jigs, spoons and swim baits. The good news is we capitalized when we did find them and the fishing was fast and furious. Today the fish were a lot easier to find but a lot harder to get to bite. For some reason we would only get one fish to bite and then the whole lot would go “cold”. I figured out if we changed lures after catching one you could induce another bite but still, it was a lot of effort for little reward and clearly the fish weren’t as aggressive.
On Monday I got over a school which yielded 8 fish. Around 10:00 AM we trolled into Orr Creek and right over a bunch of fish. My side scan was showing a ton of fish all around us and sure enough, we got a double as our lures got in the “zone”. Over the next hour we jigged several and got our money’s worth from this herd for sure. In the image below you can see the bait off to our port side as we rolled into the creek channel at 3.6 mph. The fish were all over the board and with the wind blowing, we drifted through them picking up bites at all depths since they were actively feeding.
Next week we get a New Moon phase that peaks Wednesday the 8th. Based on my fishing logs, this has been one of the best times to fish Lanier. This moon phase usually hits us the last week of August or in the beginning of September and I know it well. I first noticed this pattern back in 2006 when I boated my monsters and it’s rang true every year since. Leading up to the moon the fish will begin to school and move to open water. Some 4-5 days before the phase peaks the fish will start getting aggressive and when you combine “aggressive fish” with “open water”, the conditions are prime for some awesome fishing! I expect the holiday boat traffic to maybe slow them a bit Sun-Mon but by Tuesday Lanier will be on fire for sure. I expect to be out every day right through the week and with the Funfest Striper Tournament next Saturday the 11th, I fully expect this week to be full of fun and excitement!