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