LAKE LANIER IS DOWN 2.41 FEET, THE MAIN LAKE IS CLEAR AND THE CREEKS AND RIVERS ARE SLIGHTLY STAINED AND 79 DEGREES.

Black bass are tight on the lake’s deeper cover, making up lake the best. The bass are on cover and look to depths of 7 to 15 feet around any point close to the deeper waters. With the cool weather on the way, the bass will feel the water temperatures change and start feeding. Worms, jigs and crank baits, as well as live minnows, are good choices --and this is a good week to try lots of baits.

The bass might feed on anything, so rig up a Carolina rig, a Texas rig a jig, a spinnerbait and even a buzz bait. It’s hard to beat a jig in the 3/8-ounce sizes by Stanley jigs in browns with a spotted crawfish #11 Uncle Josh pork trailer. Cast shallow on and around docks and the shallow cover. The gourd green Zoom u tail worms on a Texas rig are worth fishing and use the brass and glass combinations. Work lures in tight cover and actually hit the under water structure with any lures or baits. Try live minnows on a light wire hook around docks. Cast to the deepest set of main lake docks and let the bait swim under the docks.

Spotted bass are on the same patterns, just junk fishing. We can see them on the Aqua Vu underwater camera on deep trees, brush piles and points. The most consistent bait is a green worm on a lead head around docks, but these are smaller fish. Get off the banks and on the humps and points and work the cover. It’s also a good idea to come back to a location at least three times during the day. Be versatile and work all your baits. Keep a Zara Spook Jr. ready all day and watch for any action on the surface, even if it is just a ripple. There could be spots or stripers just under the surface. Even using a 1/2-ounce Flex-it spoon and working the deep trees in the mouths of the major creeks down lake can work, as the water is changing daily. Fish are feeding lakewide so pick the area and work all the baits. Use all white spinner baits on main lake points any time of the day. There are schools of spots holding tight in some deeper cover, and it may take several presentations to get them to bite. Also...try out the drop shot rig and pull up on a deep ditch at 30 feet. Rig up 6-pound fluorocarbon on a spinning reel and use an 18-inch leader. Drop the bait to the bottom and then get the line tight and doodle the baits. Strikes are usually light so keep the bait tight and straight down.

Stripers are moving around lakewide, and there is a fair flat line and planer board bite mid-lake. Then go deep during the day when they are biting live, and cut bait during the day. Some limited schooling action is in place, but you have to be on the fish when they pop up. Long points and 30 to 50-feet deep seems to be the magic for stripers this week. But keep trolling and hunting until they show up on the Lowrance. Find the trees in the mouths of the lower lake creeks and use fresh bait on points at 30 feet, and also use live baits like herring, bream or even shiners during the day. It’s important to fish any time of the day during the major feeding period. Stripers will spend all day in the standing timber in the rivers and in lower creek mouths. Use the Lowrance depth finder and find the timber and the schools of shad and then down line live bait right on the tops of the trees. We have heard a few rumors about a night bite, but so far we have not been successful. But stay tuned...it will start soon.

Jason at Hammond’s (770-888-6898) reports striper fishing is best down lake on a 50-foot bottom, so keep the baits at 25 feet. If bait is any deeper, the herring will not be active and will not attract stripers. If you can see the main lake river you, are in an active area for stripers. Humps at 50 feet deep are good areas to troll over with umbrella rig, white buck tails and chartreuse trailers. The up lake rivers have been slow as the river water is changing over the waters at many levels. Early and late, keep a top water bait on hand and a flat line ready in case there is ANY surface action. Remember, just a ripple on the water can give you a place to flat line baits.

Billy and Captain Quinn at The Dam Store (770-932-2931) report good action mid-lake, and they are seeing some surface action any time of the day. Keep an all white Zoom Super Fluke ready and sling it into any surface action no matter how little. There are some big spots taking herring and Super Flukes as well.

Crappie are fair, but they are on off-shore cover in the creeks. They are on the deeper docks all over the lake, and locating larger schools under docks is much easier than over the creeks bends and the timber. There are schools under many docks almost all day and night, and mini tube jigs in banana, sand and water melon greens have been working. Use a super small 1/32-ounce Renegade flat head jig and 4 pound test AN40 Silver Thread line. Ultra light rigs will work a lot better as the strikes are very light.

LAKE ALLATOONA IS DOWN 4.2 FEET, 80 DEGREES AND CLEAR.

This fishing report has been brought to you exclusively by Mike Bucca, Triton Mike's Spot Country Guide Service, www.tritonmike.com, Lake Allatoona, Georgia, email: mbucca@comcast.net

Fishing is still good, and not a whole lot has changed pattern-wise, as lots of patterns and baits are working right now. The schooling fish are still breaking the surface in the Red Top area. Arrive early to take advantage of the schooling action, but they are hitting on and off all day long from Allatoona Pass to the Dam area. There are hybrids and spots mixed in and feeding on shad. I like the Sammy 115 in American Shad, primarily because it's a heavier bait and I can cast it long distances to the schooling fish once they surface. I certainly wouldn't hesitate trying the Sammy 128 for bigger fish. I am also doing well with Spinnerbaits by burning it just under the surface. Be sure to use a good trailer hook because those schoolers can be finicky and often short strike. Once the sun gets up and the schooling comes up, find a brush pile in the 20-foot range and put your boat right over the brush and irritate the fish by keeping your bait in the vicinity of the brush and just shaking it. This pattern will also work with the weedless Spot Stalker Jig head (www.bassstalker.com) and by using the drop shot.

The bluff wall Senko bite is also starting to turn on strong. By the end of the first week in October, the Senko bite should be in full swing. I like the 4-inch Senko's in blue pearl color rigged on 10-lb Triplefish line and a 4/0 Gamakatsu Offset Worm hook. Just twitch the Senko up near the surface and let it fall about 10 feet, then work it back up toward the surface and then start the process over on the next cast. Another pattern that is doing well is working the very backs of the rivers and creeks. The BDS 3 and 4 bite is coming on strong and will continue to get better once the corps start dropping the water. Those fish are seeking the cooler water in the back of those creeks. I like to work my way in with the BDS 3 and 4 crank by working the outside edges of the visible structure. On my way out of the creek, I fish with a Grass Stalker Jig by flipping it into the heavy cover. My favorite option is running the run and shoot offense and fishing the windblown shorelines with a Spinnerbait. Be sure that you are casting INTO the wind or at least cross wind to insure that you are bringing the bait back in front of the fish and not coming up behind the fish. I like the Allatoona special color, which has one white willow leaf and one chartreuse willow leaf blade. These colors are important, especially in very clear water, because they have a great calling distance (more visible). Be absolutely certain you have a trailer hook or TWO on the back of your spinnerbait. Make long casts with some good Triplefish fluorocarbon line in 15 or 20lb test to insure a good hook set at the end of those long casts.

NEW DROPSHOTTING ARTICLE PERTAINING TO ALLATOONA: This article appeared in the most recent Yamamoto's Inside Line Magazine, www.tritonmike.com/flattail.html. In the present edition of Yamamoto's Inside Line, I have an in-depth article titled, "Spotshottin' With Flat Tails," which is a detailed article pertaining to how I go about dropshotting for fish, specifically on Allatoona. You can subscribe to the Inside Line by visiting www.insideline.net/ and hit the subscribe link in the upper right-hand corner. FREE SEMINARS: If your bass club in the metro Atlanta area is interested in having me speak at your club meetings, shoot me an email at mbucca@comcast.net.

The Line Side Report is bought to you by Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service, www.firstbiteguideservice.com, 770-827-6282.

Line sides fishing has been good, but you've got to cover a lot of water to catch numbers. The lake is starting to turn over. The fish are scattered all over the lake -- not only north, too, but from the mouth of the creeks to the back of them. Down lines and planner boards are working right at sun up. And by 10am it seems to be an all down line bite. Shad are still producing best, but shiners are working too. Trolling may be the best all-around bite going right now. Mack Farr u-rigs in all white seem to be the ticket for the trollers right now.

The top water bite has slowed down a lot, but keep a Jr. Spook ready just in case they pop up. The south end of the lake has been best for top water action. The fly rod bite has slowed down but should pick back up at anytime. And the best working fly right now is a mini Cowan Coyote, according to Scott K. For fishing trips, book now for the months of October and November. If you mention Ken Sturdivant while booking a half-day trip, you'll receive an extra hour on the water. That’s five hours for the price of four.

We have three books available for 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.

Our new book, Bass Fishing Lake Hartwell, is now on sale. Tim White and Ken Sturdivant have opened this lake up to avid bass anglers with over 100 key bass fishing holes.

We also 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.aquavu.com. You really need a camera. Copyright 2005, Southern Fishing Schools Inc. See our web site, www.havefunfishing.com for more details or call us right away at 770-889-2654.

Southern Fishing Schools

106 Hickory Ridge

www.havefunfishing.com

770-889-2654

Cumming, Georgia 30040