Surface Temp: 52 degrees
Lake Level: Down 18.72 feet, but rising.
Since my last report, the striper fishing remains good on Lake Lanier, but just a little unpredictable with these passing wintertime cold fronts. Our boats have had some 20-30 fish mornings only to go back the same afternoon and work for 5 or 6 fish. There are fish showing up in all the usual wintertime places and the seagulls are a dead giveaway. Your best bet is to freeline and planerboard bluebacks, trout, gizzard shad, and cast leadhead flukes to these rolling fish. Somedays they won’t bite the bigger baits, so it p
ays to bring along some medium minnows or catch some small threadfins and freeline them, especially if the fish you are on, are feeding on small bait. There are fish scattered on the main lake south and in the mouths to the middle of southend creeks. Look for the seagulls diving with and without loons. At times the loons are a distraction, but this week especially we have caught many stripers that are rolling with the loons. There are also fish up in the typical northend creeks, but these recent rains have muddied up and brought in a lot of debris in the rear of these northend and some of the southend creeks. Once the backs of these creeks clear a little, I would look in the very back of north and southend creeks. Our lake has come up about a foot and half from these recent rains, let’s hope it continues. If you are in deep enough water and the fish are rolling under the birds, Capt. Mack’s 3 and 4 arm umbrella rigs are working very well. The biggest thing we can tell folks is not to fish blind. Keep moving until you find the birds diving and the fish rolling. If a cold front passes and the birds are sitting, the fish are going to be deeper and you will have to downline to get any bites. Overall, the striper fishing has been good. Our boats have caught fish this week ranging from 8-32 pounds.
This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service and Hammond’s Fishing Center. Good Fishing. We appreciate everyone’s business and Happy Holidays.