Well, we’re in the middle of it right now. Summer. It’s tough on chubby guys like me! Man, I seem to sweat through all I have on before I even make it to the truck in the morning … much less an afternoon on the lake. In any case, here’s a report and some fishing tips for you.
I was with Humminbird’s Bill Carson and Capt. Mack Farr at their striper fishing seminar a few nights ago, up at Jim Ellis GMC at the Mall of Georgia. What an awesome time; we learned a lot and had a lot of fun! We also got together to donate canned goods to the North Gwinnett Co-Op, (a food bank in Gwinnett County with a special emphasis on children). Look them up at northgwinnettcoop.org).
I got to ask Mack and Bill about fishing our brands of reservoirs in the summer. Bottom line: we don’t have a thermocline here in either lake. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t catch stripers and hybrids all year. Just use your electronics. Troll and watch your side scan and sonar carefully!
These fish move; they move a lot right now, so electronics are your friend, not your enemy! Invest in the best you can and learn to use them. It will pay off during this time of year.
Crappie: Richard Malcolm says the fish are in the brush piles, but they can be buried deep. And much to his consternation they only seem to bite minnows right now. That’s tough for the ol’ jigslinger to admit to right there, guys, but you all have good brush piles so go pound ‘em! But check them out at different times, the bite can switch on and off.
Bass: Chad Smith will only say it’s tough. Now, lots of us would say Chad is the most versatile fisherman on the lake, so when he says tough … it’s tough! Me? I’ll be on the lake today and fishing deep docks with shaky heads and throwing cranks around deep dock pilings and drop-offs.
Stripers: As most know, the consensus is that they have moved up the river. However, if you really want to chase them on Oconee try checking out the river channel from Hwys. 44 to 278. Capt. Mack said last night that maybe the reason we don’t catch fish doing certain things at certain times of the year is that we stop fishing. I agree with that. You can find stripers, but honestly, it’s probably not going to be like November or April.
White Bass: They are biting, folks! Shallow flats along deep channels are a good starting point. Lures for me tend to be rooster tails, small quarter- and eighth-ounce bucktails, or eighth- and quarter-ounce rat-l-traps. Curly-tail grubs less than three inches and on small jig heads or swim bait heads are good, too, and even underpins work.
Match the hatch and keep an eye out for them. They will bust at weird times this time of year, but most reliably at daylight and at dark. It can be almost any time on cloudy days in my experience. If you don’t see them busting the surface, try trolling Berkley Flicker Shads or Shad Raps (small ones).
Now here’s the secret to this time of year to me: fish early and fish late. No matter what fish we are discussing, unless we have moving water on Oconee, the best bites have been early and late.
Avoid the busiest times of the day at the boat ramps and on the lake. I’m generally off the lake before 10 a.m., and I will go on again in the evenings around 3 to 4 p.m. and have the lake to myself by 6 p.m. a lot of times during the week.
Trust me; try it.
It’ll also reduce the stress that the less-frequent boaters place on you. After all, we do have to share the resource—but we don’t have to all be out there at the same time!