May 24, 2025 Lake Lanier Striper Fishing Report

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope everyone is enjoying some family and friends time at the grill, on the water, or even in the Gulf for open day of American Red Snapper season! Yes, that is today and unfortunately, I won’t be able to make opening week this year. So, y’all send me some fillet dock pics and I will live vicariously through you. It’s been one of my busiest seasons guiding so I apologize for missing a few key months fishing reports this Spring. The fishing has been excellent and if it swims it’s biting. It’s also National Safe Boating Week. In today’s fishing report I will touch on some key boater safety pointers as well as some ramp ethics as the boating season kicks off here in Georgia. More importantly, this weekend we remember and honor those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. 

Lake Lanier accounts for about 10-12 MILLION visitors a year making it the busiest lake in America’s Southeast region and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. All boaters who want to operate a motorized vessel in the state of Georgia MUST complete and pass Mandatory Boater Education if born after January 1, 1998. This can be taken in class or online. For those who are born before this date it is highly recommended you take it too! There are plenty of boaters including professionals outside those guidelines that can use some brushing up for sure. I see you. Haha There are a few exceptions, you are not required to complete this class if you’re already a USCG licensed captain, operating on a private pond/lake, or a non-resident who has an equivalent approved course from another state.

Checkout https://gadnrle.org/mandatory-boater-education for more info.  

This course will bring you up to speed on your boating and safety checklist before you hit the water as well as our U.S. Inland Rules of the Road. Navigation Rules are regulations which aid mariners in safe navigation, just as driving laws aid vehicles in safe driving. Charts produced by the National Ocean Service show the COLREGS Demarcation Line, which denotes when mariners should follow the 72 COLREGS (outside the Demarcation lines) or the Inland Navigation Rules (inside the Demarcation Lines). Professional mariners must be proficient in the Rules of the Road but all mariners should know and understand the Rules. The Rules are legally binding and application of them makes the waterways safer for everyone. 

Simply put, everyone who operates a vessel must be familiar with these rules and obey them whether you’re a full-time fishing guide, professional bass angler, wake or ski boater, or operate a jet ski. Everyone. It’s the law. Just like when you drive your car. You know what a red light means, a turn signal, a yield sign, a speed limit sign, and your intersection right of ways. On the water we don’t have white and yellow lines to drive in between, we don’t have passing lanes or dashed or solid center lines to tell us when to overtake or not to, no traffic lights, no yield or 4-way stop signs indicating right of ways. You have to know these laws before you ever put your vessel in gear. Not knowing these rules is just like driving in downtown Atlanta not knowing what side of the road to be on or what a traffic light is. In most cases common sense will get you by, but we all know commons sense is not so common anymore. 

You can brush up on the navigation rules here: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/navRules/navrules.pdf

I’m sure you have heard some of the Lake Lanier drama on the local news with the Army Corp of Engineers shutting down your ramps and parks. If you haven’t, without getting too much into politics, the USACE has received a F- grade for the maintaining of our facilities and lake for about 4 years. Basically, completely neglecting our parks, boat ramps, and campgrounds. Some cases which I have personally experienced by the USACE trying to spin their own responsibilities and mismanagement on to other local Sheriffs, DOT, and DNR. Some recent government efforts to improve this have forced USACE to report their work or more so the lack thereof. We had our first signs of improvements that we have never seen in years start to kick in earlier this Spring. Shortly after, it is apparent any kind of responsibility was more than they care to put in the effort for.  Their response or flex back was to shut down and barricade all of your parks and boat ramps. The manpower it took to do all that was more than the effort it would take to maintain these parks. Go figure.. We currently have legislators working on this USACE “mismanagement” and their involvement with neglected operations on Lake Lanier. I will keep you posted on any changes throughout the season. 

In the meantime, don’t worry, we do have a fair amount of county ramps that are open, and the closures will not stop our fishing! If anything, we may have to relocate our pickup location a few minutes down the road and bump up our launch times. The earlier the better. The weekends I think will have the biggest impact with limited parking and overcrowded ramps. I always, always suggest fishing on the weekdays. We can provide a much better experience than the weekends and my charters do have a weekday discount! However, I understand not everyone can go during the week and we do run our charters 7 days a week. 

That being said about our busy ramps, here are a few pointers before you trailer to the lake. For the avid or full-time guys, I would suggest being prepared for a busier than normal ramp. Get there a little earlier so we are not delayed by someone who isn’t as experienced and please be patient. A few times I have been found guilty of the lack of patience for sure and it never helped the situation. Remember some of you have been launching boats daily for 20, 30, 40 plus years. Not everyone will mirror how quick you can drop that trailer in. If you’re a weekend warrior or new to launching a vessel, here are a few pointers to make the process smoother. For the earlier birds which this usually pertains to the anglers, when launching in the dark (morning or night) on a multi-lane ramp your headlights need to be OFF and parking lights on only. You are blinding anyone else trying to back down the ramp while you’re sending the bat signal up into the sky, causing a potential accident. Please don’t cut your lights off completely, this will also lead to a potential accident whereas someone can’t see you at all, thinking your ramp lane is open. Just parking lights. You can then turn your headlights back on when you pull away from the launch. Also, don’t forget to use your parking brake on the ramp. We have all seen those viral videos of vehicles going under and your transmission will certainly thank you. The ramp is NOT where you prepare, load, or unload your vessel before or after your trip. Find a parking area away from the launch to prepare your boat, such as removing your straps, popping in the drain plug, loading coolers, or equipment. Once you have your boat ready to launch then go to the ramp or get in the line to the ramp. You do not need to stop on the ramp to do anything else. The same applies to when taking out after your trip. Do not leave your boat tied onto the loading docks for extended periods of time. It’s for loading and unloading passengers only. Not a slip to park your boat while you have a picnic and read a book. Yes, believe it or not people do this! Please use your best judgment. If it’s a Monday and there is nobody at the ramp you are fine to stay tied off and rig lines or do whatever you need to do. If it’s a Saturday and you see other boats and trailers coming, get in and out in a respectful amount of time. Catch up with your fishing buddies after you put the boat back on the trailer away from the ramp, not at the dock. Lastly, if you are new to trailering and backing a boat down a ramp, a busy Saturday afternoon is not the place to try it for the first time. If you are having trouble and find yourself holding up the line and things are starting to get uncomfortable, please just ask someone to help you. I promise, someone will be happy to assist you if you just ask. At one point we were all there before and there is plenty of good folks that are willing to give a helping hand. 

Okay enough of that, here is the fishing report! Lake Lanier is currently at 1071.97’ MSL and surface temps averaging 76 degrees. That is about 1’ above full pool with the recent rains. 

All species are fishing well. The game fish are in their post spawn stages and Stripers are in their usual late Spring haunts. Trolling live baits are still in play using planner boards and weighted herring, especially early in the morning. We have been transitioning into a stronger summertime downline pattern now. After the sun gets high that has been my primary tactic on most days given the conditions. I have been spot-locked or contour trolling 30-45’ bottom with downlines 20-28’ down tipped with live blueback herring. Areas, such as ditches, points, channel swings, river and creek channels have been producing. Also, we have a good amount of bait on the vertical hard surfaces. Downlines and pitch baits close to the food source have been producing mixed species catches. We are still fishing lake wide for the Stripers from its upper reaches down to the southern big water. For me, I normally stay north as long as I can to avoid the heavier boat traffic on the southern end and covering bigger water. However, that doesn’t mean fishing is better on one end or the other at the moment. I would suggest shrinking your area and fishing the water you know best. Around mid to late June I will switch my fishing grounds below Brown Bridge depending on water the temperature. We are approaching our peak Striper season (July and August) so if you haven’t already, lock in a trip or 2! Those months will book fast. Hope to see you on the water soon and looking forward to fishing with you! 

Tight Lines,

Capt. Andrew Hammond