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Fishing Reports
Capt. Wes Carlton Fishes the PAA Fins & Skins Tournament with Glen Burns & Celebs
April 5, 2011 – 3:54 pm
Fishing Report 4-3-11
April 5, 2011 – 2:42 am
Lake Lanier Night Striper Bite
March 27, 2011 – 8:29 pm
The Striped Bass are on fire at night. Friday night I guided Lake Lanier with Mike Hawthorne and his 9 yr old son Logan. We managed to catch 16 stripers on long a bombers and yo-zuri jerk baits. The fish ranged in size from 7lbs to 18lbs. The south end of the lake seemed to produce best. Long points near deep water was where the biggest Stripers came from. Good Fishin!!!!!
Wallye/ Bass on Lake Burton/Lake Lanier/ Lake Rabun
March 24, 2011 – 12:20 am
With the full moon, high river flows and warming water temperatures this week, walleye are at their peak density in the rocky shallows of most north Georgia reservoirs. Details for each lake are reported at the bottom of this report. In general, our surveys this week indicated that almost half of the female walleye have completed their business and will head back down the lake soon. Most of the remainder will finish their spawning activities by next week, leaving behind a few stragglers for the last week of March and into early April. It’s been a good season with some monster fish being caught, including several over 10 lbs. I hope these reports have been helpful and informative. By the way, our DNR survey crews sampled all the lakes one last time on Wednesday.
Lake Lanier – There are high densities of walleye in the headwater pools and shoals in the Chattahoochee and Chestatee Rivers. Most of the fish are males in the 2 to 3 lb range. There is plenty of bank fishing opportunity for walleye along the Chestatee River upstream of the GA 400 Bridge. Most Chestatee River fish were found upstream of the old bridge abutment to the first upstream shoal.
Carters Lake – On Wednesday, Jim Hakala found an abundance of walleye in the shoals.
Lake Hartwell – The flow was extremely high this week and walleye were probably concentrated below Yonah Dam, which is too far upstream for boats. Bank fishing access is available downstream of Yonah Dam.
Lake Yonah – The flow on Yonah was also extremely high this week, which made for some difficult fishing conditions. Plenty of walleye are still in the vicinity of Tugalo Dam, but their numbers are declining.
Lake Rabun – Because of the easy bank fishing opportunities in the headwaters of Lake Rabun, it has been hammered by anglers for the past several weeks. Despite the heavy pressure, there are fair numbers of walleye in the vicinity of the Bear Gap Road Bridge. Several anglers told me this week they had success using nightcrawlers.
Lake Seed – There are high numbers of walleye in Lake Seed between the Burton Dam Road Bridge to the old bridge crossing downstream. This area can be accessed by bank anglers on Crow Creek Road or by boat. There are also a lot of walleye and some fat brown trout in the shade underneath the Burton Dam Road Bridge.
This will be the last walleye fishing report for the spring season. The locations and techniques described in this week’s report will hold up for another week or two. As walleye retreat back down the lake, they will initially be found on clay banks and points in the upper end of the reservoir, especially near the deeper end of submerged trees. Once again, the curly tail grub or Shad Rap will entices some post-spawn walleye to bite. The summer bite down lake in the thermocline is probably the best time to catch walleye. Look for more information on summer fishing techniques in the coming months. Until then…….Good Fishing!
Anthony
Anthony Rabern
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Lake Burton Hatchery
3695 Highway 197 North
Clarkesville, GA 30523
706/947-1507 (office)
Anthony.Rabern@dnr.state.ga.us
Walleye Week Georgia
March 18, 2011 – 3:35 am
* Georgia Walleyes
Here is a quick DNR report, as our biologists are still in the field (hint- Coosa white bass are running, so they’re getting the ingredients for Richmond Hill Hatchery to make hybrids for the statewide program).
Earlier this week, Fisheries Techs Chris and Leon hit the Lanier tributaries for walleye. They shocked up hundreds of fish on the Hooch, starting at least a mile above Mud Creek and going upstream. About 6 females were caught and two of them were spent, so the spawn is on. The duo also hit the Chestatee and found about 50 fish, starting at the 400 bridge and going up. Again, it’s likely that most walleye are upstream from the point where our prop-motor boats can go, so go high!
Wallye/Largemouth On Lake Rabun/Lake Burton
March 18, 2011 – 3:30 am
3/17 We slammed the fish with a 13lbs largemouth bass on Lake Rabun and Several big Walleye from the 7lbs range down to 3. These North Georgia Lakes are flourshing well with many species of fish to catch.
Lake Burton Lake Rabun Fishing for Walleye/ Brown trout
March 11, 2011 – 11:31 pm
March 11
Lake Burton Lake Rabun Lake Seed Fishing report:
FYI from Anthony.
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Warm weather persisted for another week and water temperatures in our walleye lakes hovered from 48 to 52 degrees. With stable water temperatures, more walleye migrated upstream this week. For Week 4, the shoals and pools in the headwaters of Lakes Lanier, Carters and Hartwell will be your best bets. I expect to see big numbers of walleye moving into the headwaters of our mountain lakes next week.
Walleye are finicky eaters this time of year with most bites resulting from a reaction strike rather than a predatory strike. Two big tips to improve your success are: (1) fish during low light conditions…..generally, dusk is best or when the water is stained and (2) use light line such as 6 lb test.
They are fishing in a deep pool about 100 yards below the cascading shoal that is known for holding a lot of small walleye; however, these same techniques will work in the shallow headwaters in all of our lakes. If you fish during the day, I suggest backing off into deeper holes and fish with nightcrawlers or curly tail grubs. There is a good program on summer walleye fishing techniques also filmed on Lake Tugalo entitled Trolling for Summertime Walleye.
Lake Lanier – Water temperature is 50 degrees and fish are becoming abundant in the shoals and pools upstream of Mud Creek. We are finding about four or five walleye in every little pool and more in the larger pools. I’m sure walleye can be found as far upstream as you can go in a boat. The bigger females have not moved up yet so the peak is still about two weeks away.
Carters Lake – On Wednesday (3/2), the water temperature was 51 degrees in the headwater shoals and the water color was muddy. Senior fisheries biologist, Jim Hakala, and his crew found large male walleyes ranging from 2 to 5 lbs concentrated primarily in 2 to 5-ft of water along the rocky shoal and he caught a few walleye in slightly deeper water on the rocky points downstream to the Big Island (see photo of Jim with two walleye). Jim said the density of walleye was the highest he has ever seen on Carters. Jim did not find any female walleye, which means the bulk of the population has yet to move upstream. Walleye fishing should improve substantially over the next two weeks. Ridgeway Boat Ramp is the closest ramp to these walleye honey holes.
Lake Hartwell – The water temperature was 49 degrees on Tuesday (3/1). Walleye have moved further upstream and are now mostly concentrated upstream of the Walker Creek Boat Ramp, which is located in Toccoa on Yonah Dam Road. From Toccoa, take Prather Bridge Road (Highway 184) out of Toccoa. Hwy 184 will eventually turn right, cross the river and head into South Carolina, but you should travel straight where the road changes names to Yonah Dam Road. The Walker Creek boat ramp is 2.5 miles from this point. My crew collected 8 big females up to 7 lbs a short distance upstream of the boat ramp in depths ranging from 2 to 9-ft deep (see photo). This area is a great place for anglers who fish from kayaks since the river shallows rapidly a few hundred yards upstream of the boat ramp.
Lake Yonah – The water temperature was 49 degrees on Tuesday (3/2) and my crew found our first walleye in the headwaters, a three pound male. The Lake Yonah Boat Ramp is also located on Yonah Dam Road about 2.6 miles north of the Walker Creek boat ramp. Both water bodies can be easily fished on the same day.
Lake Tugalo – Because Lake Tugalo is 9-ft below full pool, access is difficult and there are no bank fishing opportunities. This is another great place for anglers with kayaks, although the paddle can be quite far, but its a scenic trip. From the South Carolina boat ramp, paddle upstream to the cascading shoal on the Chattooga River. Walleye congregate in fairly large numbers in the pool formed by the cascade. This is the area featured in the referenced Post Spawn Walleye video.
Lakes Rabun & Seed – On Wednesday (3/2), the water temperature in both lakes was 48 degrees. Our sampling crew found a few males in the headwaters, but I’m confident that many more are not far behind them. On Lake Rabun, fish are downstream of the Bear Gap Road Bridge during daylight hours. On Lake Seed, daytime walleyes are downstream of the Burton Dam Road bridge. Your best bet is to bounce nightcrawlers along the bottom from the bridge downstream for several hundred yards. From twilight to dark, walleye will move upstream of these bridges to spawn in the shallow shoals. A floating Rapala is a must. Excellent bank fishing opportunities are available at Nacoochee Park located in the headwaters of Lake Rabun. Fishing is best at twilight and through the evening.
Good Fishing!
Anthony
Anthony Rabern
Senior Fisheries Biologist
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Lake Burton Hatchery
3695 Highway 197 North
Clarkesville, GA 30523
March Striper Fishing on Lake Lanier
March 9, 2011 – 8:18 pm
The Fish are firing up with warm temperatures. The night bite will be starting soon as well
Lake Burton Fishing Report
March 9, 2011 – 8:12 pm
Despite a cold winter it seems we have re-bounded with warm temperatures. The fish have come alive from their dormancy. The trout bite has begun! We have been catching Brown trout on small crank baits (td spawn,sc shinners). The spotted bass have been biting the drop shot rig with a four inch robo worm brown. Most of our fish were in 20 to 25ft of water. We had several fish in the 4 to 5lbs range. WALLEYE: early February we marked several big schools on the south end of Lakes Rabun and Seed. These fish were slow to bite. This weekend was a different story. These fish have moved up the lake fast and have started biting. The fish have ranged in size from 16″ to 4lbs. They are biting the drop shot rig tipped with medium Crappie minnows. The bigger fish are only a week or so from spawning if the temperatures hold. Shad raps as well as floating Rapalas (bright colors) will work well if trolled or thrown. There is a good chance the state record Walleye may be caught this spring!