April 5, 2026 Lake Lanier Fishing Report

Happy Easter Everyone! After spectacular winter fishing down in Homosassa Springs, FL we’re now starting our peak fishing season here on Lake Lanier. March ended with some impressive fillet tables of all our traditional wintertime saltwater target species. Thank you everyone who booked with me down on the Nature Coast and especially you guys who made the trip down from GA! Finally, the Blazer Bay is back to work on Lanier just in time for a Spring fishing report. 

The Dogwoods are blooming and for you anglers out there, you should know what that means. If you don’t, it means it’s time to go fishin’! Turkeys are gobblin’, Crappie are up shallow spawning, the Stripers are on their false spawn run, and the Bass are spawning. If it swims, it’s eating. This is my favorite time of year to get those rods bent non-stop. If you go, make sure you bring extra bait you will need it!!

Lake Lanier is currently at 1065.99’, that’s 5.01’ below full pool and up .04’ since yesterday. Surface temps have been flexing in the mid to upper 60’s. With these water levels, you crappie anglers will notice all the shallow timber and blowdowns we have been fishing the past few years are well out of water. Use this to your advantage. Now is the time to mark new timber to target in the future when lake levels are higher. They are all visually out of water, it doesn’t get easier than that! Secondly, use your sidescan and FFS to find your deeper timber still below the water line that you will be fishing now. You will be knocking out 2 birds with 1 stone doing this. Find where the crappie are lurking now, and where they will stage deeper in the warmer and cooler months. Put the time on the water and do the work. It will certainly pay off. It’s hard to beat a mess of Specks fresh out of the grease! 

Now is the time of year you can power down your electronics and just use your eyes. Birds, bait jumping, fish surfacing, and spawning locations are all the clues you need to find em’. In April and May your traditional live bait trolling freelines and planer boards is the most popular Striper fishing tactic you will find most anglers implementing. Bluebacks 20-50’ behind the boards at .6-.8 mph will get you bit lake wide. Depending on the day and conditions add or take away a split shot to adjust your depths. I suggest starting with different weights and lengths and make the adjustments to what’s getting the strikes. 

However, those who have fished with me in these months know I don’t troll that much. I’m very pitch bait heavy April and May. Yes, I do troll just about every trip. But that could mean for 30 minutes or an hour or 2. Rarely do I troll any more than that. And I will note, there are a lot of factors that go into play that decide the tactics I use daily and their durations. I adjust to conditions, moon phase, temperatures, time of day, atmospheric pressure, wind, boat traffic, fishing pressure, and the clients that day just to name a few. It’s never the same every day. 

Pitching herring on Lanier may seem like an easy concept but if you’re new to it, you might quickly find out there is technique involved. When mastered and done properly on the correct food source locations you can burn through 100 baits by 10am until your thumbs are raw. The food sources where the bait is spawning will hold every herring eater on the lake including your Striper, Spots, and Largemouth. This pattern holds very strong through May then we will transition into our summer bite patterns focusing on big schools of Striper using our Sonar. 

Spring and summer are an exceptional time to get the family, friends, or company group trips out fishing. If you’re interested in learning these Spring techniques, learning how to read your graphs, or just want to get out there catching, it’s time reserve a trip or 2! I have May dates available still and Joe and Brad have some last-minute April dates open too. I hope to see you out on the water soon!

Tight Lines,

Capt. Andrew Hammond