Any advice for Lake Lanier, GA this weekend?

[J-B]

Hey guys, I have been invited to fish as a guest in a local bass club tournament on Lake Lanier this coming Sunday morning. Do any of you have any advice as to what baits I should be fishing with? What colors or styles?

Thanks.

J-B

[tnhiker44]

Unfortunately I do not have any advise for you. But I too have an upcoming club tournament on Lanier, and I have never fished it. So I will be watching for any responses you may get!

From what I have heard and the bit of research I have done, the lake is about three feet below 'normal' pool right now. Normally a lower than normal pool means receding water, but that is not the case with Lanier. It is up something like thirteen feet from just a couple of months ago! The info I have found on this rapid rise in water level was that it did not get really muddy (all things considered) and has already cleared up nicely. I have read reports of folks catching them on drop shots, shaky heads, rattle traps and topwater. And as I was told on here one time, if you are fishing for spots, any color will do.... as long as it is green pumpkin.

Good luck and please report how you did.

[J-B]

I have been told by a couple of friends that fish it on a regular basis that the northern half is where to be at this time and that they have been having luck using shaky heads with green pumkin finess worms and also with chartruse spiner baits.  I plan on trying that but I also wish to hear from others what their advice might be.

[senko_77]

If I were you I would have a Spook style bait, fluke, and 1/2oz double willow white spinnerbait tied on.  The fish at Lanier are chasin the Bluebacks right now and any bait worked fast on the surface is going to catch them.  Don't hesitate to throw that topwater out over deep water.  (50ft +)  Those spots will come up a LONG way for a topwater.

Goodluck and have fun catchin them magnum Spots!

[J-B]

Thanks for the advice. I tried all of that stuff. There was a storm front that came through the night before so hardly anything worked. After hours of watching the spots bust the surface and the shad schooling everywhere, the magic bait turned out to be a red-fin lure. We caught a few on normal cranks but the red-fin pulled the most, and largest fish out. The average size bass pulled out was 12.5 to 13.5 inches in length. With a 14" limit, our boat came in second place with a whopping 1 fish at an incredible 1.13 lbs caught on a crank bait. The boat that came in first was the gentleman that used the red-fin (the whole day as a slow crank and not a jerk bait) and had 5 fish totaling around 13 lbs. The majority of the fish were caught along the sides near the entrances of creeks coming into Lake Lanier in the southern part of the lake.

I am sorry to say that I do not know what color red-fin the angler was using but he did say it was about 5-6 inches in length.

[Jeremy D.]

What bass club was that?

[J-B]

The club is Meadowcreek Bass Club.

BTW...Roll Tide

[tnhiker44]

Now it is my turn to ask... any new info out there? From what I have read the lake is pretty much in a state of chaos right now. Its up to near normal... and they are talking about dropping it a foot and a half, in anticipation of rains I guess. With the cool snap we have had recently I would guess any turnover that might happen has got to be near or happening even as I write this. Not one single report I have read was a positive one. Not even the striper guides do not say much (or is that stripper? Think poles... uh...think line, not poles... totally forget about cranks and tiny beavers... ah nevermind).

Anyone??