OUTDOORS: Haunted lake fishing

According to popular legend and the “experts” at the History Channel, Lake Lanier is haunted. Now, I’ve only fished it a few times, but all I’ve ever found is hungry spotted bass, big stripers, and a ton of fun! If that is haunted… Then I’m good with it!

Seriously, a few weeks ago my buddy, Kevin Underwood, called and said to bring some rods and come on up. I promptly did. When Kevin and I met up it was HOT.

I mean really hot and muggy. That stretch of 100-degree days we had back in JUNE. Yeah, one of those days. Kevin assured me that we would catch them, and it would be worth it. The point of the day was for me to learn how to fish the Sebile Magic Swimmer and the unique bite Lanier has this time of year.

I’m used to fishing topwater and subsurface baits in the heat. Honestly, I’ve always given up and moved on to something else once the sun gets up good and the heat sets in. These spots though never quit it seems. As the day wore on, I learned it only got better!

First off let’s discuss what I was using. Check out the Sebilie Magic Swimmer if you haven’t seen one. It’s a cool jointed bait that swims just beneath the surface. I was tossing it on a 7’2” St. Croix Bass X medium heavy rod and a Lews Tournament speed spool, with a 20-pound Sunline Assasin.

No leader, no swivel, just tied straight on. I love St. Croix rods. I like one a little longer on lures like this because it allows me to get better distance. When chasing fish this can be key as you watch them blow up on herring all over the lake. You are not always going to be sitting right on top of them.

Here’s the bite and the info. Kevin and I were hitting submerged brush piles looking for schools of fish with his Humminbird megalive. Forward-facing sonar is a big help on this bite because the fish will not ALWAYS be on top at first. We could watch for followers, wolf packs of these aggressive spots and bait balls suspended over the brush. The strategy was simple. Hit brush piles until you found fish willing to eat, catch a few and move on to the next. You need a long list of piles to really set up a big bag on this pattern.

Kevin and I started at 7 a.m. and at 12:30 p.m. got ran off the water by a thunderstorm. Between the times we racked up about 25-30 spots with the biggest being 4lbs 12 oz.

Numerous fish in the 3 1/2 lb range and spectacles the like I’ve only seen chasing Spanish mackerel and stripers in the salt water. At one point I was casting to a school of spots that were crashing herring so hard they were leaping out of the water to hit the bait! It was AWESOME!

You see the spots are ambush feeding from the tops of the brush so they T-bone the bait just like those sharks on shark week hitting the seal decoy I keep hoping they will put a hook in! These spots would knock my lure slap out of the water and hit it again on the way down! It was a ton of fun folks!

Now, if you too want to experience this, I would recommend getting in touch with Kevin at Lipsticker Fishing and booking now! Just an FYI, this tactic should work on any lake that has a spotted bass population.

So, Lakes Hartwell, Russell, Clarks Hill, and Murray, all should be solid options if you want to try it!