Lake Lanier Fishing Report, Freshwater Fishing Report

Striper fishing is very good. The fish are biting all day but the early morning bite has been best this week. The challenge continues to be finding the fish. They are scattered and it may take you a while to find them. There are still fish moving in and out of 2,4 and 6 mile creeks so you should consider checking them several times during the Day. There are also fish just off the river channel from Browns Bridge to the Dam in 80 to 100 feet of water in the morning. When the sun gets bright they will move out over the channel. The same is true for the mouths of the south end creek channels. The summer time pattern is in full force and all of the summer time techniques are working. Down line herring at 35 to 80 feet is working but the fish are easily spooked and it can be difficult staying on them. Power reeling has been the ticket this week for those for those fish that will just not bite. Drop your bait well below the fish and reel your bait up through the fish. This approach will often trigger a reaction bite and can serve to "fire up" the rest of the fish in the school. Shorten your leader to about three foot when power reeling. You will have a lot less trouble with tangles and knots than with the long leaders. You can also use a 2 oz Captain Mack's bucktail jig tipped with a herring. Downriggers and lead core are both working with Captain Mack's 1oz bucktail jig with a chartreuse or white 4 inch shad body. Leadcore at 7 to 9 colors has worked best this week. Both white and chartreuse shad bodies has worked equally well this week. The Umbrella rigs also worked this week. Finding fish in trees is a so much simpler with the new Lowrance structure scan. Meet Captain Ken West and Captain Mike Maddalena at the Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce Expo in Cumming on September 8, 2011 from 2pm until 7pm.

About the Author:

Captain's Bio: Capt. Mike fishes the lakes & river of North GA & Eastern and Middle TN. Mike was introduced to striper fishing by his grandfather when he was growing up on the Jersey coast in the 1970's. Work brought him to the ATL area in early 80's and when he found out there were stripers in the area lakes he was hooked all over again. It wasn't long before Mike moved to near Lake Lanier and purchased a boat and started striper fishing. He proceed to do very well in regional striper tournaments and decided to share his passion for striper with others. He and fellow North GA striper club member Capt. Ken joined forces and started "BIG FISH ON" Trophy Striper Guides in 2005.