Lanier Trolling Report Stripers are Biting

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Guest was a no show today, so I started fishing at 6:15 AM instead of 6:00 AM. The pattern from my July 4 Forecast is holding very well and I had two big ones in the box by 7:15 AM and also had two other strikes I missed - four different lures, Capt Macks jig, HJ10, DDHJ12, and a big king mackerel trolling spoon. All 20 ft down at 2.4 MPH, but a mix of lead core (200 ft), trolling sinkers, and Dipsey diver. All four close to the Hooch channel between FB Bay and Three Sisters Island.

 

[Josh B]

My girlfriend wants me to start fishing for stripers since we discovered they taste pretty good. Have you ever tried them in Oconee by the dam?

 

[antharper]

Great fish and report ! Congrats

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

My girlfriend wants me to start fishing for stripers since we discovered they taste pretty good. Have you ever tried them in Oconee by the dam?

Since I'm in Hall County, that's a pretty long drive for me when the summer striper fishing is so good in Lanier (boat ramp 10 minutes away). I've researched it some, and from what I've learned, Oconee does not stratify strongly in summer due to the reverse pumping at the dam. Combined with being a shad dominated lake, (Lanier is herring dominated), the striper trolling is much different in the summer. Lanier stripers concentrate near the dam in a thin wedge of water below the thermocline and above the hypoxic bottom water which is what makes fishing so predictable in the summer months. In Oconee, there is a weaker attraction to cooler deeper water near the dam. Oconee also has a mix of stripers and hybrids. We've caught a few hybrids on bait in Oconee, but never really targeted them.

I'm sure there are Oconee locals who can tell you the summer striper patterns. But our Oconee trips focus on the N end of the lake and on catfish, since I've never figured out summer catfish on Lanier.

 

[buckbull]

Nice fish and report.

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Nice fish and report.

I had two more in the box between 7AM and 8 AM today with the same approach in the same area.