Lake Lanier Fishing Report November 22 2019
Lanier fished well throughout November and continues to do so, hopefully you have bagged your venison and are ready to get back on the water! The lake level as of Friday afternoon was 1067.14, dropping slightly from last weeks level of 1067.31, to 3.86 feet below full pool. The surface temp Friday was 59 degrees.
STRIPED BASS
Striper fishing has been good with live bait and trolling techniques leading the way. The downline bite has been mostly good, some days or some groups of fish can be very finicky, but overall pretty strong. Look for the fish to be up in pockets, bays, drains, and creek channels anywhere from 35 to 70 feet. If the fish are hard to hook, and some days they have been, try
taking your reel out of gear and letting the fish take a few feet of line before setting the hook, this will sometimes get a few extra fish in the boat. It is also beneficial to keep a jigging spoon tied on, if the fish are thick they will often take the spoon, The Jigging Shads and Flex-It spoons are both good options for vertical jigging.
Trolling Umbrellas is really gaining strength, with some very good catches being recorded by anglers in the last few days. Fish the same areas as you would with live bait, once you target an area spend 10 to 15 minutes searching and if the graph does show the fish move on. For the most part if you find fish in the 15 to 35 foot range they are quick to take the rig. The Capt. Mack’s 4 arm 9 bait rig, either the 3 or 2 oz model should get he bite. 120 feet behind the boat has been a good number, but as always adjust accordingly based on what the sonar dictates.
Stealth trolling is also a good option and is starting to produce some nice catches. Starting out with the Mini Mack’s 25 to 30 feet down is a good number, with or without the planers, at .5 to 1.0 MPH. Again adjust the depth based on what the sonar says, and calculate that you will lose about 15% of your depth(FYI that 15% number is a big variable based on speed and line size)due to the motion of the boat lifting the rig.
I guess the report would be incomplete without a mention of schooling fish, even through they seemed to have gone awol for the last week, at least compared to recent weeks. Up until the 15th, chasing surfacing fish was a fairly consistent pattern, especially on cloudy/rainy days, but since then the schoolers are reluctant to appear. Who knows if that pattern reemerges, but I would have a Sebile or a buck tail tied on if they do pop up somewhere. We now have good numbers of Gulls and Loons to tell on them, so look for the birds to point out the fish as you move up and down the lake.
Plenty of fish still being taken on the Bombers, that bite has been pretty consistent and should remain strong as water temps have been hanging on to upper 50’s or 60 degrees. Other than a brief cool down Sunday and Monday the forecast is pretty mild through the end of the month so a sunset trip may be a good plan! This bite is very good on the lower and middle parts of the lake.
BASS
Lanier’s Bass have been angler friendly this week as well, and we have many baits and patterns that are producing fish. There are a lot of patterns/baits working well, but if you just want to catch fish tie on a Weedless Wonder Shakey Head, 3/16 oz , and fish docks, rock areas, points, almost any tangible structures between 5 and 25 feet and you should have no trouble getting the bite.
Which worms? Finesse worms will be hard to beat, and almost any shade of Green Pumpkin will produce. One footnote: on the Weedless Wonder, the models with the standard hook size will be the best option, the extra length of the extended hook version or the 5/0 version, will bind a finesse worm and kill the movement and action. Use the extended and 5/0 models with the trick worms or other larger plastics. In addition to the Green Pumpkin colors, Mean Green, Prizm Kraw, and Bitchin Craw are also good colors. Jigs are also very good on this pattern, maybe not as prolific as the Weedless Wonder worm combo, but they may catch the bigger fish.
This pattern will be effective lake wide, on the main lake or in the creeks. There are some Bass being caught in deep water, drains, ditches, roadbeds and high spots, and bait concentrations over channels and drains. Shakey heads are strong on this pattern as well, along with the drop shot and spoons. Dropping a Damiki head with a Fluke or similar type swimming bait can also be very effective on this pattern, You will probably see a lot of suspended fish over the drains or over bait schools, some really big schools of fish that because of the numbers they look like Stripers on the Sonar.
Don’t assume the latter because it may be a big bunch of Spotted Bass. Just remember and reel your bait up to any fish you see randomly swimming through the water column. Either watch the spoon/worm on the sonar, or calculate how much line you are taking in by counting the worm gear, and if you get the spoon to them in time they will generally be quick to take it.
Good Fishing! Capt. Mack
