Striper fishing on Lake Lanier has been solid the whole month of August. September looks to be much the same. The water temperature is hanging at 83 degrees and the water is clear but it feels like Fall already with the lower humidity.
As long as the weather stays hot, look for the stripers to stay deep on the south end of the lake. With the right electronics like the Humminbird Solix Series you can see the fish feeding through the schools of bait and biting your herring on the hook. To catch these fish deep you need a carolina type rig using a Capt. Mack Swivel Sinker, a six foot piece of Trilene 100% Flourocarbon leader material and a 1/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. Hook the herring right up between the nostrils. and drop them right above the schools of stripers on your electronics.
If you do not want to use live bait, lead core is also still catching some big fish. We are seeing more big fish this Summer than the previous five years. Lead core is a weighted line you pull behind the boat. It is color coded to help you dictate your depth. On the end of the lead core line, tie a thirty to fifty foot piece of 20 pound Trilene 100% flourocarbon tipped with a Berkley Fusion White bucktail, or a Capt. Mack white chipmunk jig. You need a wide selection of these bucktails from 1 to 2 oz. Some days they will key in on a particular jig or color. Tip the bucktail with a 4” chartreuse Capt. Mack Shad Body as a starting point. Every bait store around the lake has these bucktails and Shad bodies. Be sure to purchase several colors of the Shad bodies as well. Some days a certain color will out perform other colors due to numerous factors like cloud cover. The Capt. Mack Shad bodies are fairly cheap so purchase several colors to be prepared for changing weather conditions. Curious to see how productive tue leadcore bite is this September. As mentioned, the leadcore is catching some big fish but it feels like the leadcore bite is tapering off earlier than expected.
Lastly, late September the weather will begin to cool off. Be sure to have several topwater rods loaded with topwater baits and swimbaits for any early topwater. We are already seeing some stripers on the surface. In 24 years guiding, this is earliest we have seen them surfacing on a daily basis. Baits like a Berkley Canewalker and the Berkley Magic Swimmer are essentials. These fish will school on the surface into October and November . Be ready for the fun.
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