West Point Hybrids and Striper

[DawgonWestPoint]

I born and raised fishing all over GA (Clark Hill, Hartwell, Oconee). I just moved back to West GA after 15 years overseas and out of state. I bought a Cape Horn to fish on Lake West Point for Hybrids and Stripers and ran it for the first time this week. I am catching the dog days of summer and looking for some help with where to start. For June / July is it better to start down on the main lake and fish the humps or try and track them down in the channels back up in the river? Also any preference on early AM vs night fishing and shiners (cast nets have been full of them) vs trying to track down shad.

 

[Dustin Pate]

The fish are extremely nomadic now and haven't really setup in/on a particular spot or area. It has changed from one day to the next. The shad spawn and mayfly hatch has had them in relatively shallow water early, but once the sun gets up, they are headed for timber. You are really just going to have to ride a lot of structure until you start marking fish.

You shouldn't have any trouble catching shad. It's been taking me less than 10 minutes to have 200 threadfins in the tank. The lake is absolutely loaded with bait.

 

[CPrestridge]

If you have extra time, you can also catch some small bream/bluegill with hook and line. Then you can use them as live bait. 2”-4” bream are great live bait.

 

[DawgonWestPoint]

Better to start down on the main lake and work back up or vice versa?

 

[Dustin Pate]

Better to start down on the main lake and work back up or vice versa?

I personally like the south end this time of year.

 

[DawgonWestPoint]

I fished today with my 3.5 year old (Fisher). The GPS chart gave up the ghost about 10am. Caught a hand full of linesides and bass, but I could could not find standing underwater timber off the cell phone. Where are all the trees and underwater standing timber at on the WP main lake? Overall was a good day and proud little boy never complained and did not want to leave after a 14 hour day.

 

[Liquid nails]

Good deal. Glad you had a blast! We hooked up with a few today as well. ?

 

[DawgonWestPoint]

Monday early AM got on the linesides. They were boiling up and fed for almost an hour. Only saw one other boat and they put on a show for my 3.5 year old. Even the birds were getting in on the action and one even tried to pick a small hybrid out. Landed 9 on flat lines and spoons, lost 3 on Flukes and Spooks, but all 1.5-3 pounds. Picked up 2 late just messing around some timber with artificial but good time overall. Bait appears to be a problem on WP. Catching nothing but shiners and the lineside were just killing them but not eating them. Anyone know where to buy bluebacks or shad for after hours or an honor system?

 

[Dustin Pate]

Bait is definitely not a problem. We almost have too many shad. This time of year you just have to be up at 3:30-4:00 in the morning to get it. Once the sun gets up you aren't netting them....well you can, but in very limited areas. The marina or putting out your own lights is the way to go. You should have 150-200 shad in a couple throws with a good net. We are coming up on the full moon, which does put the bait in a funk. But even this year, the sheer numbers of shad have mostly overridden the full moons.

Finding and keeping shad is probably the most important part of the equation. Catching fish is the easy part.

 

[Cmp1]

Bait is definitely not a problem. We almost have too many shad. This time of year you just have to be up at 3:30-4:00 in the morning to get it. Once the sun gets up you aren't netting them....well you can, but in very limited areas. The marina or putting out your own lights is the way to go. You should have 150-200 shad in a couple throws with a good net. We are coming up on the full moon, which does put the bait in a funk. But even this year, the sheer numbers of shad have mostly overridden the full moons.

Finding and keeping shad is probably the most important part of the equation. Catching fish is the easy part.

Man you guys are blessed,,,,

 

[Cmp1]

@Dustin Pate , any action on the river at Franklin?

 

[Dustin Pate]

@Dustin Pate , any action on the river at Franklin?

Yeah, very good largemouth bite the last month.

 

[Cmp1]

I'll bet water Temps are gettin high,,,,

 

[Dustin Pate]

I'll bet water Temps are gettin high,,,,

Low to mid 80's on the main lake. It was 75-76 upriver yesterday evening.

 

[DawgonWestPoint]

Found the Striper this morning but they were not boiling. Temperature was up vs Monday but still managed to land 5 linesides and 1 spot by 9:00am.

 

[DawgonWestPoint]

Any recent reports on Striper / Hybrid at night on West Point? I got some new LED lights that I am ready to try out. Any suggestions on water depths to target and time of night to go?

 

[DawgonWestPoint]

Anyone doing any night fishing on West Point this week?

 

[King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah]

I can't tell you about fishing the lake side for stripers and hybrids on West point other than usually this time of year I see them busting on schools of shad and birds diving on them. Maybe you could get out early and run some points to see if there's any surface activity during the morning throwing topwater plugs and pulling planer boards to find them and in the afternoon fish deeper on the humps and near the creek and river channels with down lines. On the other hand, if you want to know how to catch them in the river on the dam side, I could write a book about that part. I have no boat so I never actually fish on the lake.