It’s officially Spring and right on time the rain, cold fronts, and pollen have thrown an April Fools Day curveball. However, going forward the forecast looks awesome with warmer days and great fishing weather. Get ready, with the warm days ahead of us in the next few weeks the fishing will be on fire! As of today the lake is at 1071.82’, 0.82’ above full pool. Lake surface temps in areas were pushing the upper 50’s.
The past few weeks I was off the pond and down in Florida checking out a new sled for the up coming season. It was a very exciting and stressful event but we pulled the trigger on a brand new Blazer Bay 2420 fully outfitted! I was able to run it over 30 miles out in the gulf and do a little reef fishing and in 12” of skinny water in the back country before hauling back to Georgia. I got back on the pond this week to dial everything in and we picked up right where we left off with some great catches.
The stripers are spread out lake wide. After the heavy rains hit us it pushed a lot of debris and muddy water in the creek backs and northern stretches of both rivers. On the south end look for the diving birds, feeding loons, and creek backs. I think the northern stretches of the lake are still better for numbers. The spawning run has begun! We are running a spread of herring and shad on downlines, unweighted and weighted freelines, and planners. Run the freelines 80-120’ back and the bait 25-45’ behind the boards. I like to put a couple anglers on the bow throwing either a swim bait, bucktail, or a magic swimmer at the bank. You will pick up a lot of bonus fish that way, so get ready to hold on.
I have a few dates open in April and we are already booking into May. I hope you get to take advantage of the great fishing weather that is right around the corner and come aboard to check out the new rig! Tight lines.
-Capt. Andrew Hammond
