Lake Lanier Weekly Fishing Report, July 26, 2024

Lake Lanier Weekly Fishing Report

July 26, 2024

Water Level: The lake level has risen to .54 feet BELOW full pool.

Water Temp: Temps have fallen into the mid 80s.

Water Clarity: Nothing significant to report on the clarity of the lake, it’s typical clarity for July IE Clear. Mud lines can be found on heavy boat traffic days around points and banks that have not been lined with rip rap.

I have been on Lanier for 6 of the past 7 days. For the month of July, Lanier is fishing phenomenally well. To make it even better, the bite has been all topwater for me. I do not know how much longer this is going to last, but I plan on enjoying it as much as I can while it lasts. Numbers of fish have been great with plenty of 3s and 4s mixed in to keep us on our toes.

I am targeting fish suspended over a 25-35ft bottom. Points have been best, but humps have been productive too. As for location, areas near the main lake and the first 1/3rd of the major creeks have been best.

Typical of Lanier, chrome is best when the sun is out and bone when it’s cloudy. That being said, I have had success with chrome over the past week on cloudy days. Why? I don’t know. I would not have even realized it was an option if I had not been too lazy to put a bone one on one day. Lanier…. She’s always tossing anglers curveballs.

In addition to Lanier, I spent one days on Lake Allatoona this week. I mentioned this last week, but I want to expand on it a bit more this week. As with the past two summers, the bite is very good for numbers. While the average size is not what is common on Lanier, the sheer number of bites/catches make up for the lack of size. It is a great change of pace and a great place to gain confidence in some different techniques/ baits or even the use of FFS.

Two baits from Jackall have been key for us on Allatoona thus far this summer: Riser and Iprop. The success with the riser should not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed my reports fo the past year or so. It has become a staple of my top water rotation and the bites are addictive to say the least.

What may be new to many readers is the Jackall Iprop. This is a spy bait style lure. What is different is that it sinks much slower than a typical spy bait and there are even floating versions of this bait. The other thing that is different is that we are working this as a top water bait. This is easy to do with the floating version, but it will work with the sinking version as well. As far as retrieve, it is no different than a riser or spybait. Toss it out there, and wind it back keeping the bait on the surface. We have been using this bait in conjunction with the Riser on Allatoona. There are days and even locations where the bass prefer one to the other. The two baits make a great one two punch.

When anglers hear of sight fishing with FFS, their minds often go to “shaking a minnow” underspin, or fishing a jerk bait. What is often overlooked is it is also a phenomenal tool to work into one’s topwater fishing as well. The sheer numbers of bass on Lake Allatoona allowed me to figure this technique out. Meshing FFS with topwater presentations on herring lakes allows the angler to be far more efficient with their casts and greatly increase the chances of catching feeding fish.

I have found that its best to set my depth range at 30-40ft as I am targeting bass that will be suspended in less than 20FOW. Additionally, I set my forward view to 120ft. While this decreases detail, it allows me to target bass as far away as possible. On clear, pressured waters, there is no substitute to long, accurate casts.

If things continue to play out like they have for the past two summers, this bite will continue into September. If you are interested in learning it, please let me know as I will run trips to Allatoona for the next couple of months to capitalize on this bite.

The daily videos I publish offer up to date current information on what I’m doing on the water. In these videos, I cover the conditions, part of the lake, and how I caught fish (or did not) for most days that I am on the water. All subscribers have access to all historical videos (300+ previous videos). You can sign up and view videos at https://jeffnail.uscreen.io

For the rest of July, I have the following dates available: 28,30,31. For August, I have the 1-2, 4-14. If you are interested in a trip on either Lanier or Allatoona, please reach out and I will get you on the calendar.

Jeff

770-715-9933

jeffnailfishing@gmail.com

jeffnail.uscreen.io

Jeffnailfishing.net

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