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Friday, July 11, 2008
Hot spots: Allatoona fishing ‘off the charts’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Beginning this week, and updated each Thursday, I’ll try to help you catch more fish with the help of some experts who make a living on the water.
But I’ll need your help, too.
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Report for weekend of July 11:
LAKE ALLATOONA
Striper guide Robert Eidson (First Bite Guide Service) says hybrid and striper fishing is “off the charts … I don’t think the fishing can get any better than it is now.” Eidson captained a party boat charter on July 4 that boated over 50 hybrids and stripers and had at least 30 more get away.
The best bite going right now is south of Bartow Carver. The mouth of all the south-end creeks are holding big schools of hybrids. There is a very good bite at the dam right at sun up as well. These fish can be caught on flat lines and topwater plugs for the first 30 minutes after sunrise. After that, the down line bite really picks up.
Look for these fish to be out over open water and at depths of 20 to 50 feet deep. Shiners, shad and bream are all working well for these schooling fish. If live bait isn’t your thing try umbrella rigs. The u-rig bite is really getting good right now. Pull your rigs at 3.1 mph 130 feet behind the boat.
White bass: For lots of action for small white bass, go to the Harbortown Marina area in the evenings and throw a Rooster Tail.
LAKE LANIER
Guide Doug Youngblood (Fish Lanier Guide Service) reports striper fishing has been good, with a strong morning bite (9 a.m.-1 p.m.) on live blueback herring downrodded in 40 to 50 feet of water. Go above Brown’s Bridge, but the fish are moving south. You can find stripers on the creeks on the lower end of the lake.
In the afternoon, when the power is being generated through the Buford Dam, use the same techniques in deep creeks, such as Six-Mile and Four-Mile. Youngblood has been catching 10 to 15 stripers on half-day trips with sizes in the 20s. Bob Lynn pulled in a 26-pounder last week.
Bass: The spots are schooling like crazy, making it a topwater bite. Use flukes, Sammy’s, Spooks and other topwater baits.
Crappie: Your best bet is fishing at night (with submerged lights) under bridges.
CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER
Rob Smith at the Fish Hawk in Atlanta says fishing has been good for trout on the upper end (the tailwaters below Buford Dam) and shoal bass on the lower end (below Morgan Falls).
Trout: For fly fishing, use lightning bugs, prince nymphs, woolly buggers and zebra midges. Strip retrieve the wolly bugger; use a strike indicator for the others. For spin fishermen, use rooster tails and rapalas.
Shoal bass: Use spinnerbaits, flukes and other bass lures on the lower end (below Morgan Falls).
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