King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah
Fishing ? Instructor!
The "dead sea" is very much alive and kicking right about now!
Water Temp: 60-65
Water Clarity: 2-5ft
Depth: up to 35ft
Water Color: Green
Allatoona is fishing very much like Lanier right now but with some slight differences....
Spotted Bass: the spots are very aggressive and are set up on just about every point, reef marker and marina on the lake. Any creek you fish is bound to have plenty of spots as long as there's some rock and some threadfin shad. Haven't tried a jerkbait, but I'm sure it would do very well in smaller sizes. Fish are biting topwater baits around shallow cover, more so poppers and buzzbaits than walking baits. A drop shot and shaky head are effective too. Crankbaits and swimbaits are seeing some action as well. The key here though is to think SMALL. Spinning gear is in order here. On Lanier you can get away with regular size baits. On Allatoona right now, it's all finesse. Use nothing bigger than 3 inches or heavier than 3/8oz. Reason why is because they're eating threadfin shad and they're downright puny. It's a finesse fisherman's dream on Allatoona right now and a power fisherman's dream on Lanier. I'm used to 7+ inch gizzard shad stuffed down the gullet of a big largemouth, but on toona you're going to get a bunch of 1-2lb spotted bass spitting up 1 inch shad on the deck of your boat or on the bank. A 7ft medium spinning rod and a 7ft medium light spooled with 10lb and 8lb test respectively are the deal. If you refuse to pick up the "fairy wand" and you must use a baitcaster to avoid being picked on by your buddies, go with your smallest and lightest baitcaster. Something you can cast a wacky rig senko on without much trouble. Here's your choice of baits:
Worms: Lanier fruity worms, Zoom Trick Worm, Zoom swamp crawler, roboworm 4 inch worms
Jerkbaits : Megabass Vision 110 Jr, Zoom fluke Jr
Creatures/beavers : Zoom baby brush hog, missile baits baby d bomb
Crankbaits : Rapala shad rap #5 and #7, spro little John, spro rock crawler
Topwater: Strike King mini king buzzbait, Don Iovino Splash - It Jr popper
Notice how we're going for the "Jr" and "baby" and "little" versions of baits here. You'll see some surface strikes and maybe even tons of bait, but they're so small it looks like rain rather than big ripples and swirls.
Largemouth Bass: Largemouth are on shallow wood cover up the creeks and around bridges. You'll find them in hidden pockets on the lake too. Spinnerbaits, Texas rigs and wacky rigs are good for them here. Dark colors on worms and white and chartreuse is good on spinnerbaits. Willow blades are better than Colorado or indiana blades, but if you need more thump, without overdoing it, I like Rick Clunn's trickster spinnerbait pretty well. It has a unique blade he calls a "long drop" blade which is kind of a thinner and longer tear drop shape. I've caught good fish on it and it's worth a try being that it's something different and gives you plenty of flash while also giving more vibration then your average willow blade.
Crappie: You only need to know two things here. Brush and Bait. Find some brush piles especially those around marinas, docks, points and reefs along with some baitfish and you're in business. Bobby garland jigs in monkey milk chartreuse are good, as are Strike King plastics on 1/8oz heads.
Striper/Hybrids/White Bass: You're going to have to do a little searching for them because they're a little scattered, but schools of fish can be found following baitfish on flats, points, and along the channels. Live bait is producing better now, but with dropping temperatures, vertical jigging will get pretty good by next month is my bet. Downline and trolling are good methods right now with live shad or medium to large size shiners.
Water Temp: 60-65
Water Clarity: 2-5ft
Depth: up to 35ft
Water Color: Green
Allatoona is fishing very much like Lanier right now but with some slight differences....
Spotted Bass: the spots are very aggressive and are set up on just about every point, reef marker and marina on the lake. Any creek you fish is bound to have plenty of spots as long as there's some rock and some threadfin shad. Haven't tried a jerkbait, but I'm sure it would do very well in smaller sizes. Fish are biting topwater baits around shallow cover, more so poppers and buzzbaits than walking baits. A drop shot and shaky head are effective too. Crankbaits and swimbaits are seeing some action as well. The key here though is to think SMALL. Spinning gear is in order here. On Lanier you can get away with regular size baits. On Allatoona right now, it's all finesse. Use nothing bigger than 3 inches or heavier than 3/8oz. Reason why is because they're eating threadfin shad and they're downright puny. It's a finesse fisherman's dream on Allatoona right now and a power fisherman's dream on Lanier. I'm used to 7+ inch gizzard shad stuffed down the gullet of a big largemouth, but on toona you're going to get a bunch of 1-2lb spotted bass spitting up 1 inch shad on the deck of your boat or on the bank. A 7ft medium spinning rod and a 7ft medium light spooled with 10lb and 8lb test respectively are the deal. If you refuse to pick up the "fairy wand" and you must use a baitcaster to avoid being picked on by your buddies, go with your smallest and lightest baitcaster. Something you can cast a wacky rig senko on without much trouble. Here's your choice of baits:
Worms: Lanier fruity worms, Zoom Trick Worm, Zoom swamp crawler, roboworm 4 inch worms
Jerkbaits : Megabass Vision 110 Jr, Zoom fluke Jr
Creatures/beavers : Zoom baby brush hog, missile baits baby d bomb
Crankbaits : Rapala shad rap #5 and #7, spro little John, spro rock crawler
Topwater: Strike King mini king buzzbait, Don Iovino Splash - It Jr popper
Notice how we're going for the "Jr" and "baby" and "little" versions of baits here. You'll see some surface strikes and maybe even tons of bait, but they're so small it looks like rain rather than big ripples and swirls.
Largemouth Bass: Largemouth are on shallow wood cover up the creeks and around bridges. You'll find them in hidden pockets on the lake too. Spinnerbaits, Texas rigs and wacky rigs are good for them here. Dark colors on worms and white and chartreuse is good on spinnerbaits. Willow blades are better than Colorado or indiana blades, but if you need more thump, without overdoing it, I like Rick Clunn's trickster spinnerbait pretty well. It has a unique blade he calls a "long drop" blade which is kind of a thinner and longer tear drop shape. I've caught good fish on it and it's worth a try being that it's something different and gives you plenty of flash while also giving more vibration then your average willow blade.
Crappie: You only need to know two things here. Brush and Bait. Find some brush piles especially those around marinas, docks, points and reefs along with some baitfish and you're in business. Bobby garland jigs in monkey milk chartreuse are good, as are Strike King plastics on 1/8oz heads.
Striper/Hybrids/White Bass: You're going to have to do a little searching for them because they're a little scattered, but schools of fish can be found following baitfish on flats, points, and along the channels. Live bait is producing better now, but with dropping temperatures, vertical jigging will get pretty good by next month is my bet. Downline and trolling are good methods right now with live shad or medium to large size shiners.
