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SPORTS
Bill Murphy Sports Editor | 770-718-3415 | sports@gainesvilletimes.com
Unties
gainesvilletimes.com
Friday, December 21,2018
LRKE LANIER
FISHING REPORT
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL I Lanierlandplay-in games
Deep bite
for bass still
productive
Swings in weather
have had no impact
BY ERIC ALDRICH
For The Times
Lake Lanier is presently at 1,070.32 feet,
or .68 feet below the normal full pool of
1,071. Expect that to rise with this week’s
rain inflow. Lake surface temperatures are
right around 50 degrees.
The main lake and lower lake creeks are
clear in mouths, but expect some stained to
muddy inflow in the backs. The upper lake
and rivers are slightly stained, but expect
the same muddy inflow to cloud things up
after the rain. The Chattahoochee below
Buford Dam is clear at the dam and muddy
down past Highway 20.
Check generation schedules before head
ing out to the river below Buford Dam at
770-945-1466.
Merry Christmas and Bass Wishes to our
readers this Christmas! Count your blessings
and I bet they will outweigh your troubles!
Bass: The past weeks warmer weather
did little to affect the deep bite. In fact, we
seldom caught a bass shallower than 35 feet
this week. That being said, we didn’t fish
shallow because the deep bite has been so
good.
Quality electronics — like my Lowrance
Carbon 12 and 16 with good mapping — are
essential to find the sweet spots out deeper.
The bass have been both in the deeper
ditches and also stretched across deeper
flats where bait is present.
Find the bait and drop a spoon to any con
centrations of fish you see.
These schools of fish are often glued to the
bottom, so drop on anything different that
you see and the screen may light up with
schooling fish.
Our targeted depth has been 35 feet to as
deep as 60 feet, with most of our bites occur
ring from 45 to 55 feet deep.
A drop-shot rig is a great second option
for these deeper fish. Also try working a jig
across flat bottoms as a backup to the spoon
or drop-shot.
My favorite lure to use is still the jig, and
it has yielded the biggest bites. I have been
stair stepping this crawfish imitator down
the sides of ditches from 35 to 50 feet.
Ledges, bluff walls and steeper rocky
banks have also yielded some decent bites.
Striper fishing remains decent to very
good, and the guides have been catching
them consistently on down lines from 40 to
60 feet deep.
Not surprisingly, these are the same
depths that the bass are being caught. That’s
because it is the depth that most of the bait
is located.
A down line is basically a Carolina Rig or
a small Gamakatsu Octopus or Circle hook
and long leader attached to a swivel with
a 1 to 2-ounce sinker attached to the main
line. I also like to attach a small plastic bead
between the sinker and the swivel to protect
your lines.
Herring and trout seem to be working the
best, but I also suggest getting some medium
to large sized shiners as an alternative if fish
are present and you are not getting bites.
Use your electronics, and explore areas
in the middle lake areas. Keep moving until
you see bait and stripers on the screen.
There are also some very big spotted bass
roaming around with the stripers.
The second technique to consider while
fishing down lines is a jigging spoon or a
SPRO Bucktail.
Watch your lure on your Lowrance Elec
tronics, and keep it slightly above the level
where you mark fish.
Hop or jig these lures up and down, and
you may get your arm broken as a big striper
attacks your lures.
Also keep an eye out for diving gulls and
loons to give away the best locations. These
birds, in addition to your quality electron
ics, will help to unlock the secrets to the best
areas.
Trout Fishing has been good directly
below Buford Dam with the clearer water,
even during hard rains. That being said,
expect the rivers and streams to be blow out
and muddy or stained with this weekend’s
rains.
During high water periods use bright col
ored spinners and flies for your best results.
It is hard to beat the old reliable earthworm
if you are fishing trout waters that allow live
bait.
Bank fishing: Fish in pounds, smaller
lakes and on Lake Lanier often react to rain
inflow because it washes bait and nutrients
that attract minnows. Look around rain
inflows and try bright lures that vibrate, like
a Colorado Bladed Spinner Bait or a Rattle
Trap.
Live earthworms are also a great choice,
but try fishing them on the bottom rather
than under a bobber. Other bait like cut
shiners or even chicken livers will attract a
variety of fish to your lines.
Eric Aldrich is an outdoor writer, marketing
specialist and bass angler. Reports are based
on personal experience and permission from
a close network of friends. I would love to
hear from our readers so please email me at
esaldrich@yahoo.com Remember to take a
kid fishing.
Jumping in the bracket
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Cherokee Bluff’s Jason Evrett attempts to rebound the ball while Chestatee’s Will Cantrell, right, and Cameron Gwyn look to make
the block during the Lanierland tournament play-in game Thursday in Gainesville.
Cherokee Bluff boys earn dominating win against Chestatee
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
Less than a year after leav
ing Gainesville to coach boys
basketball at first-year pro
gram Cherokee Bluff, Bears
coach Benjie Wood will get a
shot at his old team.
The Bears played a com
plete game Wednesday night
in its Lanierland play-in con
test against Chestatee, over
whelming the War Eagles
84-61 and earning a first-
round meeting with No. 1 seed
Gainesville in next week’s
tournament. It’s a matchup
that Wood said he’s particu
larly looking forward to.
“Oh yeah,” he said when
asked if he was excited to play
against his old team. “I love
those guys. Coach Graham is
like a brother to me. He was
with me six years. ... I love
those kids to death, and I know
how good they are. We’re just
hoping to come out and com
pete and have a good time. I’ll
hug them before the game and
hug them after the game.”
The contest will also be
a reunion of sorts for Bears
guard Griffin Neville, a for
mer member of the Red
Elephants who played under
Wood at Gainesville before
moving to Cherokee Bluff this
■ Please see BLUFF, 4B
Cherokee Bluff’s Rolando Razo dribbles past Chestatee’s
Cameron Gwyn on Thursday in Gainesville.
HIGH SCHOOL SCOREBOARD
Lakeview Academy girls earn 47-45 win
Eliza Snyder had 20 points
and four rebounds, Jackie Allen
(four steals) chipped in another
10 points and the Lakeview
Academy girls basketball team
edged Paideia, 47-45, at the
Providence Christmas Classic
on Thursday.
Also for the Lady Lions (9-2),
Sadie Thrailkill had four points
with 10 boards. Lakeview Acad
emy plays either Lakeside or
Memphis for the tournament
championship at 7 p.m. today.
EAST HALL GIRLS 62,
WALTON (FLA.) 52: Ivey Shad-
burn poured in a team-high 18
points, while two additional
starters scored in the double
digits to lift the Lady Vikings
(4-8) to victory during the Beach
Bash holiday tournament in
Panama City Beach, Fla. Also
chipping in, Maggie Griffin and
Ashante Peoples had 10 points
apiece, followed by Alexis
Burce with eight and Jenny
Lopez with six.
East Hall plays Marianna
(Fla.) at 4:30 p.m. today.
Compiled by Diana Lewis
High school scores can be
reported by 10:30 p.m. each
day by calling 770-718-3409 or
email sports@gainesvilletimes.
com
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Crean thinking big as the
first-year Bulldogs coach
Associated Press
Tom Crean can put a positive spin on
pretty much any conversation.
Sure, it’s been a bit of a culture shock to
go from hoops-crazy Indiana to a state that
treats the sport with a collective meh. But,
without batting an eye, he’ll tell you that
Georgia has everything it needs to become
a basketball powerhouse.
“Coaching is coaching,” Crean said. “I
don’t view it as being different.”
But Georgia’s resume is undeniable.
The Bulldogs haven’t won an NCAA
Tournament game since 2002. The most
significant highlight in the school’s largely
forgettable basketball history came way
back in 1983, when its first NCAA appear
ance resulted in a run all the way to the
Final Four (that was the year N.C. State
beat heavily favored Houston in a memo
rable title game, so Georgia’s participation
is a mere footnote).
No problem, in the World According to
Crean.
“There is tradition in basketball,” he
insisted. “Have they won? Can they win?
Did they have it rolling with people when
they had it going? Because then you have
a chance of getting it back. ”
Obviously, they’re not back yet.
The Bulldogs (6-4) were dealt an embar
rassing 24-point loss by Georgia State, a
far less prominent school from their own
backyard. Last weekend, they squandered
an 18-point lead at home against No. 18
Arizona State, denying Crean the first sig
nature win of his new tenure.
JOSHUA JONES I Associated Press
Georgia coach Tom Crean yells out from
the bench during a game against Oakland
on Dec. 18 in Athens.
“We just have to learn how to win,”
Crean said, never straying too far from
optimism.
At 52, Crean is on a comeback in his own
career.
He started out at Marquette, restoring
that program’s faded luster with players
such as Dwyane Wade. He moved on to
Indiana, one of the sport’s glamour jobs
but severely tainted when he arrived in
2008.
The Hoosiers were dealing with an
NCAA scandal that cost Kelvin Sampson
■ Please see GEORGIA, 2B
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL
Peach Bowl
pleased with
its matchup
BY TIM TUCKER
Atlanta Journal Constitution
The Michigan Wolverines and Florida
Gators are scheduled to arrive in Atlanta
on Sunday to begin the buildup to the
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl six days later.
It’s a pairing of top-10 teams that bowl
officials are excited about -- but had no
input into putting together.
As part of its deal to become a rotating
host of College Football Playoff semifinal
games, the Peach Bowl ceded authority to
determine its matchups to the CFP selec
tion committee, even in seasons, such as
this one, when the bowl doesn’t host a
semifinal.
“It’s one of the things I miss the most,
frankly, doing the research on matchups,”
said Peach Bowl Inc. president and CEO
Gary Stokan.
“But the trade-off is that we get two top-
10 teams pretty much on an annual basis
and get to host a semifinal every third
year. That is more than worth it.”
Peach Bowl officials don’t even get
advance notice of their matchup, finding
out which teams will meet in their bowl
when the playoff committee makes its
annual “Selection Sunday” announce
ments from Grapevine, Texas, on ESPN.
■ Please see PEACH, 3B
