Lake Lanier is down 8.1 feet, the creeks are slightly stained, and the main lake is clear and 83 degrees.

Bass fishing has been off most of the week after the full moon last week, except for the early feeding periods. There are also 138 B.A.S.S. boats on the lake this week. There is a fair top water bite early each morning in the creeks. Small top water lures like the Zara Spook Jr., and the small Red Fins are working on major feeding periods, but cover a lot of water. A light Texas rigged worm in a u tail will work on wood and bank cover. Small live bait books and small shiners or spot tail minnows will catch a largemouth around these same locations. Also try a white or Lake Lanier Shad color Leverage 3/8-ounce spinner bait and a white Rooster Tail in medium sizes.

All day, concentrate your efforts up on the north end of the lake. The old road bed at the Wahoo Creek Bridge is a good all-day area, as well as the bridge pilings. Lots of shad are around these rocks, and the bass will feed on them daily. But try both shad and crawfish colors in the #5 Shad Rap and the new DT6 Rapala crank bait in hot mustard.

Be sure to bump the baits ON the rocks. Small white spinner baits and small all-white crank baits are the best choices. Mid-day fishing has been slow due to the heat. Even the river fish will stop feeding with the high sun in the middle of the day. Try a jig and pig in black and blue combinations after dark. Large dark-colored crank baits have been fair late afternoons around docks. Continue to move around and fish pockets and points all afternoon. Small Shad Raps are fair and use light 6 pound test on smaller sizes of any crank bait. If you want to try some live lizards around docks and on man made brush piles, use weed less hooks and light line with a small split shot.

Spotted bass fishing is slow unless you fish deep. They are not on manmade brush piles. The fish have moved out to the old structure that was left in the lake when it was built 50 years ago. This old stuff will be stumps, old logs and log jams along old breaks lake wide. Unless you can use the Lowrance, casting to the bank is futile.

Now that the lake is 8-feet low, the banks are barren of fish. Anglers will need to fish 30 feet down to 40 feet deep daily. Fish of all sizes are roaming around these locations, and if your depth finder is properly set, you can even see the fish swimming in and around this structure. If you are casting to the banks, there is nobody home day or night. All the fish are deep with the water still warm. The usual summer homes include the deep channel bends in the creek mouths.

Now it’s how to get them to bite. Get a green Zoom finesse worm and a small 1/0 offset Mustad worm hook and cut the worm down to about three inches. Many anglers are not casting to deep fish; they are using drop shot rigs and spoons. Another tip is to find the deep brush piles and mark them with the GPS. Pick long points and criss cross the points, and the brush piles are there. Ride away from it and go find four more. Mark five of them with the GPS, and now go back to the first one. But do not ride over it with the engine. Shut off the motor and then ease up on the locations with the nose of the boat in the wind to control your location. Drop baits straight down to the fish on the old structure. The fish jumping are carp, not bass. The top water bite will pick up soon.

Stripers are deep all day with little top water for now. It’s still the same summer pattern, and that means go get the herring, large 2-ounce sinkers on a down line, and get to the creek mouths and look for the fish from 50 to 80 feet deep. The fish seem to roam around the depths all day, and heavy line on the main line is critical up to 25-pound test.

Almost all the fishing has been from Three Sisters Islands to the dam all week. The fish are over very deep water. When trolling, use 8 colors of lead core with a 50 feet or less of 17 pound fluorocarbon leader material and a one-ounce white Mack Farr jig with a white trailer. Pull this bait 3 miles per hour and concentrate on the main river, and later in the day head to the dam when the water is moving. When these fish get on the jigs, try to get them up fast. Heavy rods and related lines will make it easier for the fish to survive after coming up from these depths. Get them up and get them back in the lake fast and they will have a better chance of surviving. If you fight them too long, they are very hard to revive. We see fish dead daily on the main lake. There is no night bite.

We offer the Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 770-889-2654 and our six-hour Striper School “On the Water” to get you up to speed fast. (www.havefunfishing.com).

Crappie are still in the lake, but they are all in off shore structure. We can see them mixed in with spots in deep brush piles. Live bait and tiny tubes will work.

We have a new book called BASS FISHING ON WEST POINT LAKE. This book is written by Tim White and Ken Sturdivant and has over 65 locations exclusively for bass and covers every week of the year. The cost of the book is $39.00. If you would like a sample, send an e-mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net. Our mailing address is: Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 106 Hickory Ridge, Cumming Georgia 30040.

We have three books on sale: 52 WEEKS ON LAKE ALLATOONA, 52 WEEKS ON LAKE LANIER, and 52 WEEKS ON WEST POINT LAKE. Each book is $23.95. Our mailing address is: Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 106 Hickory Ridge, Cumming Georgia 30040.

The new bass fishing books, BASS FISHING LAKE RUSSELL, BASS FISHING WEST POINT LAKE and BASS FISHING LAKE HARTWELL are $39.00 each and are on sale now. Tim White and Ken Sturdivant have opened both lakes up to avid bass anglers with lots of key bass fishing holes. Send an e mail for a sample to: kensturdivant@earthlink.net.

We teach “ON THE WATER SCHOOLS”: Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass or Maps and Depth Finders. Call (770) 889-2654 for details.

Take a look at www.pollymoon.com for a yearly moon phase calendar.

Take a look at www.aquavu.com. You really need a camera. Copyright 2006, Southern Fishing Schools Inc. See our web site, www.havefunfishing.com for more details or call us at (770) 889-2654.