Black bass fishing is fair and there is a fair top water bite early and late. The fish are mostly small fish on the post spawn feeding spree. Zara Spooks, buzz baits and even Pop R’s are working and the weather with this week’s thunderstorms has not had an adverse effect on the fish. Clouds or sun they are still biting. The bass will bite floating worms or lizards, spinner baits, stick baits, live lizards and top water lures. The Zoom trick worm in almost any color will get strikes and use light 8 pound Stren line on a #20 size spinning reel. Spend the day in the West fork of Little River and pick every dock and pocket apart. One of the best hooks is the #2/0 Mustad. They are extremely sharp and will easily go through the worm and the fish easily. Cast the all the baits around any shallow wood or docks all over the lake. Even at mid day these bass will strike the baits and they are moving shallow all over the lake. Zoom’s Super Fluke in all white will get strikes from roaming bank fish. Use a #4 Mustad hook and let the bass take the lure a foot before setting the hook.

Spotted bass fishing is good and can get better even in the middle of the day. There is a great top water bite and if you stick with it, lots of good things will happen. Rig up a chrome and blue back Red Fin seven inch size, a Super Zara Spook in any color and a large Chug Bug. Now head to any reef marker or point you see anywhere on the lake, especially below browns bridge. All the fish have spawned and you will find spots biting on main lake point, breaks, and humps where the fish are making their way out to for the summer. All the spots are coming off of spawning areas heading to the main lake. All the points from Aqualand Marina down to Lake Lanier Islands even over to Bald Ridge Creek are good all day areas. Start up lake and work down lake and USE the WIND. LONG casts and 12 pound Sufix Elite line will get lots of bites. Be sure to have fresh line and full spool, the stripers are on these same baits. You can fish points and reef all day but there is a fair deep water dock pattern but use a 7 inch trick worm in green pumpkin and June bug on a Spot Sticker head. This larger worm will keep the smaller fish at bay. Spots are biting jig heads and finesse worms, Mini Me spinner baits, the Yamamoto Senko’s in a white or green pumpkin, Zoom Flukes in pearl rigged with a Mustad 4/0 hook. After dark use black spinner baits and DT6 silver blue back Rapalas. Try a gold buzz bait into the shadows of the docks and work the shady side early. Also for fun, rig a curly tail grub Zoom Fat Albert in a white or watermelon on a 1/8 ounce lead head and cast to the same docks and rocks. Also work small 1/8 ounce Bitsey Bugs in greens around rocks. Use several colors like the black and blue, brown or the green and brown color rigged with a brown, black, or green pumpkin chunk such as Zoom’s Super Chunk Jr. Try to focus on areas of post spawn and deeper water, such as points and reef markers.

Stripers are biting down lake on flat lines and start at Young Deer Creek and work all the points, reef markers and pockets all the way to the Chestatee Bay. Up lake the down line bite is best over a 40 foot bottom down 20 feet. The best areas are Gainesville Creek and the mouth of Sardis Creek. Many of the fish seem to be shallow very early, (get up early!) and then head out to deep water out of the main river channel. If you can see the river markers on the points from the dam to Brown’s bridge these areas are best. There has been some great top water lake wide and lots of casts will get strikes on all the usual BIG top water baits like Sammie’s, Chug Bugs and even the Pencil Popper. And there are a few fish shallow early in the creek mouths also. Bait still needs to be there for these fish to bite so be aware of the activity on the L C R. The creek mouths have been fair down lake. Make sure you cover a lot of water. Cast super Flukes in pearl, pearl/chartreuse and white ice and Red Fins while slow pulling your baits in these areas and you will pick up a few extra fish and a few big spots. The live bait bite continues to be your best bet during the day using free lines and planer boards with live bait. The morning bite has been lasting from daybreak until about 9:30 AM then it slacks off a bit, but these methods continue to produce throughout the day. If it is overcast, look for it to last late into the morning. Mid morning through the afternoon down lining live bait 18 to 28 feet has been producing as well. We have tentative reports that over 480,000 fingerling stripers were stocked last week. Please participate in the 2007 STRIPER SURVEY at www.stripersurvey.com. Post your good and bad trips.

Crappie fishing is fair in the creeks around wood and docks at 4 feet or less but all the fish are small. Use tubes and small minnows. Crappie are heading off to the creeks and cuts to spend the summer.

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