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2B I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 3,2019
LAKE LANIER FISHING REPORT
Summer patterns prevail for bass, stripers
Lake Lanier’s water level
is a healthy 1071.48 or .48
feet above the normal full
pool of 1071. Lake surface
temperatures have risen into
the mid-80s. Main lake is
clear and the creeks are
slightly stained. Above
Highway 53 Bridge the
water is slightly stained to
stained.
The Chattahoochee River
below Buford Dam is clear.
Check generation schedules at 770-945-
1466 before heading to the river.
The upcoming Independence Day hol
iday weekend will bring heavy boat traf
fic. This is the time when anglers should
demonstrate courtesy and patience. The
lake belongs to all of us. Be safe, wear
your lifejackets and enjoy the blessings
of our local Lake Lanier.
Bass fishing remains good for anglers
that can target off shore brush. Beating
the banks and fishing shallow in the
coves will produce some okay fishing,
especially early in the day. That being
said, if you really want to catch the
magnum spotted bass that Lake Lanier
is famous, it’s time to get away from the
banks and find brush piles in 15 to 30
feet of water.
Running and gunning is a term many
anglers use, but what does it mean?
Running and gunning simply refers to
when anglers can hit an area and quickly
determine whether it holds an active
school of fish, or if they should leave
that area for more productive water. This
type of fishing is not for everyone, but if
you have the energy along with the right
electronics and boat, it can be very pro
ductive.
The first thing you will want for suc
cessful running and gunning is a milk
run of off shore brush marked as way-
points on your electronics. This takes
some time but it is much easier if you
have Structure Scan (side imaging).
With Structure Scan you can idle over
an area and mark brush piles. You
should also monitor your electronics
throughout the day and add new way-
points any time you run over new brush.
Once you have several areas with way-
points marked, you are ready to run and
gun.
Shut the big motor down a few cast
lengths away from your best waypoints
and approach them with your trolling
motor. Make several casts with a topwa-
ter plug or a subsurface lure like a spy
bait, swim bait, crank bait or other faster
moving lures. If your initial casts don’t
produce a strike then move over the
brush and scan it with your electronics.
If the fish are present then try using a
drop shot, Texas Rig or even the rela
tively new Ned Rig and drop your offer
ings down to the depth where you mark
fish. If you don’t get a
strike then move on to
your next area.
You may hit 10 areas
before you encounter an
active school of fish on
your 11th stop. Then it is
time to “make hay” and
catch as many as possi
ble. This is why bass
boats have 250 horse
power motors. It’s not to
out run the bass but
instead to move efficiently to as many
areas as possible. And yes, they also
allow us to outrun other anglers to the
best areas.
This past week, we have been casting
larger, topwater lures and working them
with a fast pace along the surface. Use a
saltwater Chug Bugs, Super Spooks or
even an eight-inch SPRO BBZ1 Slow
Sink to work over off shore brush. I use
an eight-foot Kissel Kraft Custom Crank
Bait Rod that has a parabolic bend with
a fast reel spooled with SX2 Sunline
Braid. The braid helps with long hook
sets, and my Kissel Krafts rod gives just
enough to allow the fish to take the bait.
Once we determine if the fish are
inactive in an area, then we will move
above the brush and use a drop shot or
Ned Rig. Drop these offerings down to
fish that you see within the brush. My
drop shot rig consists of a Kissel Krafts
Custom medium action spinning rod
and reel spooled with 16-pound test
Sunline Sxl Braid attached to a SPRO
Swivel with a seven-pound test Sunline
Sniper Fluorocarbon leader. Hook your
worm with a #1 Gamakatsu Aberdeen
hook and a 1/8 to 14 ounce Tungsten
Skinny Weight.
Other lures have also been working
well on main lake. Smaller swimbaits
like a Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad fished
below the surface on a l/8th to 'A ounce
jig head, a spinner bait or even deep div
ing crank baits like a SPRO Little John
70 or 90 Deep Diver. Throw the lures in
the same places where you find off
shore brush.
The stripers are setting up in their
deeper summer locations around ditches
that lead into the creek and river chan
nels. With water temperatures in the
80s, the thermocline is starting to set up
in the 25-foot range. This means that the
cooler water below the thermocline
layer will concentrate the fish below that
25-foot level. My Lowrance Electronics
are essential tools for locating these
deeper fish. Make sure to locate the
schools before deploying down lines.
It is essential to keep your bait alive
and well during a fishing outing. Proper
aeration and chemicals are a must for
keeping your blue back herring alive
and active. Make sure to check in with
your local tackle dealer to secure the
proper bait tanks, non-chlorinated ice
and salt to keep your herring alive
throughout the heat of the day.
Most of the stripers we are marking
are located from 35-feet deep on down
to as deep as 70-feet. Use a down line
(basically a Carolina Rig) with a one- to
two-ounce sinker with a 20-pound main
line and a long 12-Pound Sunline
Fluorocarbon leader. Drop your bait to a
the level just above where you mark
fish. Switch out baits frequently.
The power reeling bite has really
started to turn on. There are basically
two ways to employ the power reeling
technique. The first way is easy. When it
is time to switch out your herring drop
the rod with your old herring down
through the school of fish, then reel it up
as fast as you can through and hold on.
Even if your herring are dead this tech
nique can trigger a reaction bite from
stripers as the bait speeds up past them.
The second way to employ power
reeling involves a large, Ben Parker
spoon. Drop these very large spoons
toward the fish that you mark on your
electronics, then reel them quickly up
though the school. Use heavy, 20-pound
Sunline Natural Monofilament on your
reel. This line is heavy enough to land a
big striper, but it also stretches enough
to handle the shock from the fish hitting
your lure. Other lures like a two-ounce
SPRO Bucktail rigged with a Big Bites
Suicide Shad or a smaller Lake Forks
Flutter Spoon will also produce hard hit
ting strikes.
There have been some stripers after
dark near deeper docks that have Hydro
Glow Lights located around them.
Better yet, you can drop your own
Hydro Glow light over the side of your
boat after dark in the creek mouths.
Drop your herring to the level where
you mark fish on your electronics.
Unlike when you fish during the day, it
pays to stay put and allow the bait and
stripers to come to your lights.
Crappie fishing has been a little
slower, but anglers who are adept at
fishing deep jigs around brush in 20 to
30 feet of water early or late in the day,
may catch them well. Find the brush
located close to deep water and allow
your jigs to sink to the level where the
brush is located. Work your small crap
pie jigs through the brush, allowing
them to work up and over limbs. Use a
bright colored light two- to six-pound
test line so you can see the small tick in
the line that indicates a bite.
For anglers (like me) that are less
adept at deep fishing, the night bite may
work best for boating. Set out lights
around deeper docks or bridges in the
backs of the creeks and rivers. Fish
crappie or spottail minnows below float
ing or submerged lights. These lights
will attract bait fish, which, in turn,
pulls in predator fish like crappie, bass
and stripers. If you get really lucky, you
may even boat a walleye. Walleyes are
nocturnal feeders that are about as tasty
as freshwater fish get.
Bank fishing: It’s that time of year
when the weather gets hot and most of
Lake Lanier’s predator fish move away
from the shore. That being said, there is
one hard fighting fish that prowls during
the hottest part of the day in shallow
water close to human activity — carp.
Fishing for carp is a great way for
kids or new anglers to have to opportu
nity to fight and catch a big fish on light
fishing tackle. Use your trout or crappie
fishing rods and reels rigged with four-
to eight-pound line. Carp love to roam
around beaches, marinas and banks
located close to local camp grounds.
Open up a can of com, take a small
handful and throw it into the lake in
front of the area you are going to fish.
Allow about a half hour to draw the carp
into the area. After chumming with the
corn, bait up several rods with a small
Aberdeen or Octopus Gamakatsu Hook.
String three to five kernels on each
hook, cast them into the area you have
already chummed and secure your rods
well and wait.
Remember to take a kid fishing!
Eric Aldrich is an outdoor writer, marketing
specialist and bass angler. Reports are
based on personal experience and permis
sion from a close network of friends.
Contact him at esaldrich@yahoo.com or
visit his website at aldrichfishing.com.
ERIC ALDRICH
Columnist
'You may hit 10 areas before you encounter an active
school offish on your 11th stop. Then it is time to "make
hay" and catch as many as possible. This is why bass
boats have 250 horsepower motors. It's not to out run the
bass but instead to move efficiently to as many areas as
possible. And yes, they also allow us to outrun other
anglers to the best areas.'
FROM 1B
Softball
'State is a totally different breed, it is
every team from across Georgia. For
our boys it was like playing on a trav
el team.'
The Dawson 8U soft-
ball team brought home
the 2019 Dizzy Dean
State Championship hard
ware after sweeping four
games against some of
the toughest competition
in the state in tempera
tures approaching 100
degrees.
Entering the final day of
the tournament as the No. 9
seed after what Head Coach
John Pulley described as
“truly awful” first day, the
team started June 23 on the
practice field at 7:30 a.m.
for an hour session before
facing off with No. 8
Murray County to start the
day.
Although his offense
Matt Smith
Assistant Coach
posted nine or more runs
in every game of the tour
nament, including nine
runs in the first two
innings of the champion
ship game, Pulley was
quick to credit his
defense with the team’s
ability to win out in the
single elimination tourna
ment.
Team tournament MVP
Laila Woody was credited
for her outstanding
defense in winning the
award over offensive jug
gernaut Preslee Partee
who finished the tourna
ment hitting over .800
from the plate.
“Our defense played
lights out,” Pulley said.
“Normally we can hit, but
it is our defense that real
ly gave us the chance to
win every game.”
Pulley went on to talk
about the grit and determi
nation the team showed
after fighting through the
loser’s bracket of the
District Tournament to
win two games in a row
against the team that had
Photo for the Dawson County News
The Dawson County 8U softball team gathers June 23 after winning the
Dizzy Dean State Championship.
beaten them the first time
around to emerge as dis
trict champions.
“We knew every game
was going to be tough
after District,” Pulley said.
“But these girls, when
they know their backs are
against the wall, they find
a way to win. They really
step up and play ball.”
The Dawson 7U baseball
team traveled a similar path
to the state tournament after
recovering from an opening
game loss to Jefferson
County in the District
Tournament June 14-16.
Dawson County went
on to win back-to-back
games on day two of the
tournament to earn a
championship rematch
with Jefferson to earn the
trophy and assistant
coach Matt Smith talked
about the resilience the
young team showed in
fighting back to win the
tournament even in such a
small district.
“There are only four
(7U) teams in the district,
not every county has the
resources to support a 6-
and 7-year old team,”
Smith said. “But they had
to face-off against a team
that had already beaten
them and that takes some
thing.”
The team’s visit to the
2019 Dizzy Dean State
Championship did not
fare as well with Dawson
being eliminated in game
one of bracket day, a dif
ference that coach Smith
also attributed to the dif
ference in districts across
the state.
“State is a totally dif
ferent breed, it is every
team from across
Georgia,” Smith said.
“For our boys it was like
playing on a travel team.”
s^NPekof the Weefc! 7
Weezer
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to go to a home with older children. Come say hi to this awesome boy!
A P P v A V J7
Dawson County Humane Society
706-265-9160 | 633 Martin Road, Dawsonville
adjacent to the Rock Creek Sports Complex
Visit our RESALE SHOP & BOUTIQUE Allp “ eeds
benefits the
Wed. - Sat. 10 a.m. - 5:30 ]
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CPA, PC
() Veterinary
706-216-0992
706-216-2362
Hospital
103 Industrial Park Road,
Dawsonville
2390 Thompson Road
Suite 100 Dawsonville
706-265-8381
