About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2017)
Friday, January 27, 2017 Lake Oconee News Page Bll Buildingfish attractors to attract fish The recent warm weather has many anglers out on the lakes as the fish are reacting to the weather and biting. It is almost like early spring that is still months away. Another activity going around the lakes is the building and placement of fish attractors. This past week I saw several anglers putting out Christmas trees in various locations to attract fish. The weather has made that activity much eas ier for anglers to do their work. Unfortunately, some anglers may be disap pointed when they return LAKE CONDITIONS - The lake is stained and muddy up the rivers. LAKE WATER TEMPERATURE - low 50s. LARGEMOUTH BASS - SLOW/ FAIR - The bite continues to be erratic due to the unstable weather. The fish are scattered due to the weather and hard to pattern from day to day. Some are in deeper water. A football jig, a jigging spoon and a deep running crankbait will catch the deeper fish. Lately, the jigging spoon has been most effective on the humps down lake. Some fish are not moving out of the coves yet but are holding tight to cover. Crankbaits (Shad Raps, Rat-L-Traps, square billed), soft plastics (Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, Trick worm), spinnerbaits and shaky heads remain good choices for the shallow fish. Some fish have moved deeper in the coves at 8-14 feet and a deep running crankbait or jig might catch those fish. Rip-rap always presents a possible bite when generation is occurring and we have a warm sunny day. CRAPPIE - FAIR - The crappie have moved back to the main lake and major creeks in large numbers and can be found in the mouths of the larger coves. Weather fronts have slowed the bite. Best Comes from using minnows and jigs on downlines and longlines. HYBRID/STRIPED/WHITE BASS - GOOD - Most of the action is now in the River Bend area. A good bite is occurring on live bait and jigging spoons. Jigging spoons are working at the pipeline when power generation is occurring. CATFISH - GOOD/FAIR - The catfish are primarily located in the main lake and major creeks and rivers now. Cut bait (bream and shad) are the best baits. Bobby Peoples Outdoor Columnist to fish their handiwork. Placement of the Christ mas trees or any other type of material to attract fish is a good idea but you need to take into consideration the current produced by the Georgia Power pump-back operation on both Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair but particularly the current in Lake Sinclair. Without properly weight ing the trees or other mate rials, the current will move your hard work overnight. I had to learn that hard les son when I initially began placing fish attractors in the lake. Fish attractors placed in the main lake are espe cially vulnerable to water current that is so strong that it can easily move a single cinder block. Attrac tors placed in coves are not as likely moved by the cur rent, but they also need to be adequately weighted. Anglers for many years have placed Christmas trees around their docks and other places in the lake to attract fish. Each year with the passing of Christ mas, you witness vehicles loaded down with Christ mas trees headed to the lake. Most of those Christ mas trees are destined to be placed around docks to primarily attract crappie. Almost any object placed in the water can attract baitfish and game fish but the type of material, the size of the material and where that material is placed can mean the dif ference between success and failure. It can mean the difference between a good place for an angler to catch an occasional fish or it can an excellent place where an angler is almost assured of catching good numbers of fish on a regular basis. I personally love to build and place structures in the lake to improve my opportunity to catch fish. Why would I be excited about that activity? After all it is hard work and can be done in unpleasant of weather conditions. Noth ing is more rewarding than to construct a fish attractor, place it in the lake and then return to that fish attractor and catch fish. I have over the years had both success and failure from my own building and placement of fish attractors, but I have learned from my failures. Other than proper weighting, one of the most important aspects of build ing and placing fish attrac tors in the lake is the mate rial used to construct the attractor. Let us consider the type of structure material that is best suited for building a fish attractor. Do not get carried away and assume you need to create an underwater forest. Some times less material is better. You want to use materials that will last for some time and not require you to redo the structure every year. I have found that old Christ mas trees will last at the most two years (some vari eties will last longer) where some hardwood trees will last two to six years. Unfor tunately, beavers can be a problem when using hard woods, and overnight the beavers can eat away your hardwood attractor. However, structures made from PVC pipe and other manmade materials will last just about forever. Some structures made from PVC materials do not show up very well on many depth finders so make sure SEE PEOPLES » B12 IF IT FLOATS OR ROLLS. .25 % off QUOTED RATE # KRYSTAL DENNIS HEATHER CARRWLO NMLS# 7157101 RURGHASEiOR.REEINANCE PUTNAM UOUNTY pinnacle credit union BRANCH OF PINNACLE CREDIT UNION 1076 Lake Oconee Pkwy. • Eatonton, Ga. 31024 706-485-2039 • www.pinnaclecu.org *1.99% is the lowest possible rate. Loan rates are based on credit, term and collateral. APR=annual percentage rate. Credit restrictions apply. Pinnacle t=T I Credit Union loans are excluded from the refinance offer. 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