Lake Lanier is down 5 feet, the creeks are slightly stained and the main lake is clear and 48 degrees.

Be sure to go to www.havefunfishing.com on Friday, February 23, 2007 when we start “The Have Fun Fishing Show” "It's Watch and Listen Radio". Just click on the link and you are ready to hear and see this new show.

Black bass fishing is fair and the waters in the shallows are warming up daily. In the early mornings, the water temperatures are around 47 degrees and by afternoon it is possible to see them climb into the lower 50's. Cooler water still remains in the upper portions of the rivers and lots of the smaller spots are starting to move up on the warm clay banks especially up river. Small mini lizards and pumpkinseed finesse worms seem to be the favorite this week. Throw these baits on a 1/4 Texas rig with 10 or 12 pound test line. Work all the rocky points that you can find and be sure to work the bait all the way back to the boat. Most of the better bites are coming in 10 to 14 feet of water. Later in the day, look in the mouth of the larger coves for any structure like stumps or brush piles in the 10 to 20 foot range. Drop a marker on these areas and work them real good with the Texas rigged worm. Work the major and secondary points with the Bandit root beer crank bait in the 200 series and stay off the points and make long casts into shallow water. Work the bait slow and even try stopping it once in awhile. Look for isolated stumps and larger rock piles in and around these larger points. Dark brown and black jigs are producing a few bass when targeted at the front of docks and the end of any lay down trees that are still remaining. Lake levels are still low so be careful while navigating any unfamiliar waters.

Spotted bass fishing has been fair. The fish that are being caught are coming off of points, main lake humps, and ditches of the last deep water going up into coves. Areas where there are brush piles and bait in about 25 to 40 feet of water are good places to start. Occasionally, when the warm weather pops out you can catch some spotted bass moving up into areas of warming water, such as areas out of the wind and that get the most sunlight. Traditionally these are usually banks located on the north west side of the lake and in the adjacent coves and cuts. Most of the spotted bass that are being caught are being caught later in the day on jigging spoons with a small profile, and a drop shot rig. The spoons are a Flex-It or a small Silver Buddy/Cicada type bait, preferably in the ¼ to 1/2 ounce sizes, in a white or silver color on a sunny day and a gold or solid white on a cloudier day. On sunnier days, as things warm up, some fish are being taken on the deep rocky banks out of the wind on suspended jerk baits in a silver/blue or an orange/copper color, a Zoom’s Swamp Crawler worm rigged on a 3/16 ounce Spot Sticker head in the green pumpkin and natural blue colors and a small jig such as a 3/16 ounce Strike King Bitsy Flip in the black/blue, brown, or the green and brown color rigged with a brown, black, or green pumpkin chunk such as Zoom’s Super Chunk Jr. The spots are beginning to move some on the lake but still try to slow down and focus on areas that will warm the quickest, such as rock and areas out of the wind with stagnant water.

This report is provided exclusively from Captain Quin’s Striper Guide Service, 770 503 5955.

Striper fishing is very good especially early morning as the warm waters from the recent rains got the shallows warm. The bait fish moved up as a result and several 30 pound fish have been caught from daylight until 8:30am. Planer boards, trout and herring have been very good. After the fish move out, down lines over 60 to 80 feet of water are working. Down lake has been especially good and small pockets off the main creek channels are best. Balus Creek and Flat Creek are good creeks all day. Also trolling is still very good and a zig zag trolling technique will fire up some fish. Heavy fully loaded umbrella rigs with all white shad bodies 130 feet back at 3 miles per hour will work. Just cover the deepest water in the creek after 9am until dark. Stripers are also frequent visitors to deep brush piles because there is food there. So watch the Lowrance and be sure to be very quiet on and around these shallow areas. Most of the brush piles the fish visit are from 25 to 40 feet deep. Captain Quin is setting up a fully loaded striper boat with all the tackle, rods, reels bait, and even hooks along with a great sonar unit so anglers can go after stripers in a rental boat. Captain Quin also will teach you how to rig up and fish for stripers using the best techniques for fishing on Lake Lanier. Give him a call and get all the details.

Crappie are on docks close to deep water mid to up lake and the stained water means bright tubes and jigs. Most of the fish are off the fronts of the docks and the rascals are moving daily so there is no really good set of docks to try. Keep shooting docks out in front of them and keep the boat 20 feet out and work the baits all the way back to the boat.

If you would like to have a free set up sheet for your sonar, send me an e mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net and ask for the “Sonar Setup Quick List”.
 

Meet professional anglers Ken Sturdivant and Chris Scalley at “The Great Southern Boat Show” at the North Atlanta Trade Center March 2-4, 2007. See www.havefunfishing.com for the seminar schedule.

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

Lake Lanier Striper Survey: www.stripersurvey.com

You can see the feeding times daily with a Data Sport Fish and Game Forecaster on our web site.

We teach “ON THE WATER SCHOOLS”: “Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass or Maps and Depth Finders. Call 770-889-2654 for details or see the web site: www.havefunfishing.com.

Take a look at www.aquavu.com. You really need a camera. Copyright 2007, Southern Fishing Schools Inc. call us to set up a school “Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass”. See our web site, www.havefunfishing.com for more details or call us right away, 770-889-2654.