Lake Lanier Fishing Report February 27th - March 3rd, 2023
Lake Lanier Weekly Report 3 March 2023
Water Level: 0.22 feet BELOW full pool.
Water Temp: Upper 50s to low 60s. The shallower and dirtier the water, the higher the temps, the deeper and clearer the water, the cooler the temps. South facing banks are warmer than North facing banks. I expect temps to rise slightly between now and the 7th then fall some again with the following 8 days high temps only being in the 40s and 50s.
Water Clarity: 6+ feet on the main lake to less than 6in in the backs of some of the creeks and up the rivers. I expect the creeks will only get worse with the expected rain that’s due tonight. Some creeks fair better than others after large rains. It is the time of year where you can find just about any color water you are comfortable fishing.
After getting back from the farm, I have been on the water the past 4 days. From what I found, there are fish from 30+ feet deep to 2ft. If you are a deep-water angler, there are still plenty of fish out deep for you to chase. If you are shallow water, power fishing angler, you can do that too right now.
After spending the past 90 days or so fishing in 25-50ft, I have focused most of my attention on water in 15ft or less this week. Twice this week I found two large schools of fish on flats in the very back of creek arms. One of these locations was a south end of the lake creek and another was up above the 53 brides. In both cases, I put over 10 fish in the boat out of a very small area.
These areas had two things in common. 1) There was an abundance of bait. When I say an abundance, I mean enough to interfere with the FFS’s ability to see past 10ft or so in front of me. 2) The bass were actively blowing bait out of the water. It was not a one-time thing but happened repeatedly over the time I was in the locations.
Two baits produced best, a 3.5in Diamond Alabama rig and a 1/2 oz white and chartreuse Jackhammer chatter bait. For the A-Rig, I put some Kietech 1/8oz Tungsten ball heads and tipped them with 2.8 Gizzard shad colored Kietechs. You can see in the photo below just how small the bait was that these fish were feeding on, anything larger than a 2.8 would not get touched. Today, I put a 1/4oz spot choker on the center arm instead of a ball head and had decent success.
For the Jack Hammer, I took a 4.25in Trixster custom baits Tricky Shad and cut it down 3.5in or so. One day the Jackhammer was the ticket, the other the A-rig. In both cases, I would fan cast and retrieve relatively slowly. The bass would not touch it if I was retrieving it too fast. I kept my head on a swivel looking for bait skirting across the top, this would often give away the presence of feeding fish.
My bait of choice for the rest of the week was the ole standby…..3/16oz shaky head. We primary fished these in two places; clay/rocky secondary points and docks. Apart from the 4.5lb fish that Jimmy Sanders caught with me on Wednesday, most of the fish came off the deeper 1/3rd of docks or in 10-15 FOW on the points. Jimmy’s big girl was sitting up on a log in about 2 feet. Today and Wednesday, a 4in Zoom Dead ringer and a cut down trick worm produced the best, on Tuesday the Trixster Tamale in sweat baby candy was the ticket. If there are two guys in the boat, it is a good idea for one to throw a slenderer style bait and the other a Senko style bait until the fish make it clear which profile they prefer on a given day.
Lastly, it is about 90 days from lights out top water season. I say this because now is the time to inventory your topwater boxes and resupply as necessary. I like to try to restock about 90+ days out from a given season. I was in Hammond's Fishing Center yesterday and they had a good stock of many of my favorite topwater baits. Get them now because by the time they are hot, you won’t be able to find them.
I still have some dates open for March, contact me for availability. I am also booking for April as well which should be pretty good fishing!
I want to thank everyone for the support, it is greatly appreciated.
Jeff
770-715-9933
Jeffnailfishing@gmail.com
#TritonBoats #advantageboatcenter #hammondsfishingcenter #LanierBaits #trixstercustombaits #stcroixrods #castfishingco #gillfishing #Spotchoker
