Captain Clay’s Lake Lanier Fishing Report
November 2007
Water Temperature: 72 degrees
LakeLanier Water Level: Approx. 1056.27 and Falling
Stripers: Fishing has been great on the lake for stripers despite the lake levels. The hardest part is finding a boat ramp that is open. At this time, several ramps are open on each side of the lake. The last public ramp to close will be Tidwell Ramp on the western side of the lake. It will close I believe when the lake drops to 1051. The fish are just starting to school on top. In years past, the years with lower lake levels were the best topwater bite and I expect the same this year especially with the lack of boats on the lake. If you can get out on the water, this is the time to go on Lanier. I doubt you will ever get a time again with the lack of boat traffic on a consistent basis. Keep the topwater baits tied on and look for schooling fish. Some of these schools of stripers will have several hundred fish in them and be visible for several hundreds of yards away. Some of the best days will be the days with a good amount of cloud cover. Start your search on the south end of the lake near the dam and work your way north. Two of the diehard favorite topwater baits on Lanier are the chrome and blue 7 inch Redfin and the Houston Bleeding Shad Super Spook. The Redfin should v-wake across the surface with a steady retrieve. The Spook requires a twitch type retrieve that causes the bait to zig-zag across the surface called walking the dog. If the fish become very finicky and do not want to take a surface plug try a smaller lure like a 1/4oz. bucktail and light line. When the stripers become finicky they are feeding on smaller baitfish called threadfin shad.
Bass: November is usually a very good month for the bass on Lanier. The bass have been taking topwater baits this past month very well and this will hold into part of November depending on the weather and water temperature. Once the water cools, spoons and jigs will be the two key baits you have to have on the boat. A .6 white foil flex-it spoon and a Georgia Blade spoon are the number one spoons on Lanier. At times you will need a ½ oz. white foil flex-it spoon as well. A good rule of thumb is that the deeper you are fishing the heavier spoon you will need. Look for the fish on the electronics. Drop the spoon right on top of the fish’s head. Work the spoon by raising your rod tip and lowering it slowly so the spoon flutters back to the bottom. Most of your bites will be on the fall. Variations of brown and green jigs will also be important to keep in the boat. A ¼ oz. brown jig tipped with a cinnamon pepper twin tail grub is the number one bass jig. Local companies like Georgia Blade make an excellent jig for this type of fishing. You want to tip the jig with a twin tail grub trailer. If the weather is windy, keep the spinnerbaits and jerkbaits on hand. A ½ oz white mini-me spinnerbait with white blades and a ghost minnow Lucky Craft Flash Minnow jerkbait are a couple of the favorites. Swimbaits which are the rage across the nation will pick up a good number of bass as well. One of the current favorites is the Triple Trout. Be careful on the lake and good fishing.