Atlanta Area Lakes Report

[Randall]

I have been fishing a bunch of lakes over the past few weeks looking for the best bite and finding spots for trips later this spring/summer. The best lake right now by far as far as producing both size and numbers is the lake at Stone Mountain Park. I have fished it a few times over the past few weeks and it has produced 20-30 fish a trip and best five limits between 13-25 pounds. The lake has been good all spring and has had some big tournament weights. The lake is full of shad and grass and there is just a bunch of three to five pound fish being caught. I have also seen two fat bass over ten pounds caught out of the lake this spring by bank fishermen so they are some big ones in there. My biggest so far out of Stone Mountain this year is the seven pounder in the photo caught on a Tru-Tungsten swimbait last week. It was part of a five fish limit weighing over twenty pounds. I have also had two best five limits of all four to six pound fish on swimbaits that went around 25 lbs. I have been getting most of my fish on topwaters, swimbaits, and plastics. There are a few big fish still on beds as well but those should be finishing up in the next week or so and the late spring/early summer fish should continue to bite well thru mid June.

Fishing at Varner right now is very location specific. If you are in the right place you can catch fish and load the boat if you are not in exactly the right places at the right times you will swear there are no fish in the lake. LOL. The grass carp are having an effect on the lake by taking out much of the shallow grass (pond weed) that many of the post spawn bass and fry have used for years as cover. At the same time many areas of the lake are really lacking in shad. I am guessing this was caused by a combination of a winter shad kill when the lake was down last winter and the fact that there are a bunch of hybrids that have grown to three pounds plus that were stocked by the DNR a few years ago that are really eating on whats left of the shad right now. I have even seen hybrids real shallow in parts of the lake with very little shad eating on small bass, bream, and crappie on beds all spring. Without getting into what I think of the grass carp and hybrids being in Georgia's best public big bass lake I will say if you like to fish shallow you will most likely have to change the way you fish on Varner this time of year. I am not saying the fishing is bad right now but it is different from years past. The fish have already started showing up in deeper water early this year. I had two buddy's that weighed in over 22lbs last Saturday on Varner in a tournament that caught them off channel ledges and offshore structure and I have been catching the bigger fish offshore in the same area on plastics for about two weeks already. This is the way I like to fish anyway and how I catch most of my bigger fish so until the hydrilla gets up later this summer there should be even more fish bunched up on offshore structure making the next couple months great for fishing deeper water. Also, on the plus side of the shallow grass being gone there is a real specific bite in shallow water. With the shallow grass gone the shellcrackers and bluegill have no place to hide as they move shallow to spawn. Some bass are taking advantage of this midday when they can see and stalk the bedding panfish. I have seen packs of ten to twenty big bass moving into areas where these fish are bedding and feeding on them. It's a very tough bite to get with all the real shellcrackers there but these fish will hit a swimbait like a Mattlures bluegill fished through and around the beds if it's done perfectly without spooking the bass.

The last lake I have fished that is fishing well right now is JW Smith. It has a bunch of late spawners on the deeper end of the lake right now and it has a pretty good postspawn bite in the shallow end of the lake. I won the JBA tournament without a partner last weekend and took advantage of fish bedding on offshore structure like long points, underwater pond dam, and humps near deep water and weighed in over eighteen pounds of fish with a big fish that also won the big fish pot that weighed over six pounds. All my fish were caught sight fishing with jigs except for one swimbait fish (Mattlures Woody)and a couple of smaller fish caught on worms early.

[Gatorbassman]

Yea, Thanks to Mike and the DNR I think the great fishing at Varner is history.

[burleytog]

You sure know how to make a guy long for a trip to Georgia. :'(

[rondef]

Nice hawgs  

[TheBeast]

Can't believe they are letting Varner turn into that.  I loved that place and was looking forward to getting back down there with you sometime, and of course bringing Burley (IronWalnuts) to gaurantee I catch the big one.  

[Randall]

Varner still isn't bad and is still one of the best in the US for big fish but it's just different than past years. The lake just keeps changing year to year and the grass carp even in the very limited numbers is making the lake fish much tougher for most since the bass are deeper. The hybrids just keep the lake and LM bass from their full potential since they compete with the LM for the deep water areas I will say if they continue to stock more grass carp until all the grass is gone and continue to stock more hybrids it will be over as far as producing 10 lb fish. Burley the Dinkmaster would still be happy there though since nothing would change for him.

[burleytog]

Burley the Dinkmaster would still be happy there though since nothing would change for him.

You sure know how to hurt a guy.  :'(

[32251]

Thanks for your report Randall.

[TheBeast]

Burley the Dinkmaster would still be happy there though since nothing would change for him.

You sure know how to hurt a guy. :'(

That made me "LOL, out loud"

[blueatlanta]

thanks for the report! i live really close to JW smith, i've been ready to get out there. i will have to go this weekend and see what i can do. any particular jig color/setup? i dont have a boat so i'll be on the banks in the park area.

[Randall]

thanks for the report! i live really close to JW smith, i've been ready to get out there. i will have to go this weekend and see what i can do. any particular jig color/setup? i dont have a boat so i'll be on the banks in the park area.

The pattern I fished with spawning fish will just about be over by this weekend. Most of the fish should be post spawn in that area. I would try plastics and topwater.  

[Hillvis]

may have to hit stone mountain lake this weekend. i've always fished the bank but never had a SINGLE bite. nice pigs!!!