LAKE LANIER IS 1.1 FEET BELOW FULL POOL, THE MAIN LAKE AND CREEKS ARE STAINED & MID 40’S

Water is 46.5 degrees, and is .71 feet below full pool.

Bass fishing on Lanier has been fair over the past week. There have still been fish shallow as well as in mid depth and deep ranges. The ditches with standing timber in 45 feet to 60 feet should still be your first check. They are not everywhere, but when you find them they are schooled up nicely, especially on sunny days. Check for bait in these likely areas. If there is no bait, move to the next ditch. In the early mornings, start shallower in 15 feet or less in pockets or the back of productive creek ditches with a Spro McStick or a 1/4 ounce SuperSpin. A spoon, a Chattahoochee Jig, a Shaky Head worm, and a drop shot are all good potentials out deep and have remained consistent producers for us. Focus on timber edges and work your baits SLOWLY! The cold weather this weekend should push the fish back a bit in their prespawn progress. This is still a great time to learn how to fish the deep timber on Lanier. How and where to find the most productive timber, how to fish it, and with what lures. This is also a great time to learn the art of fishing the winter to spring transition on Lanier. Here is what I have open the remainder of February: 19, 23, 24, 26, and 27. Give me a call and let's go bust some fish! The DVD's from my January 17th Seminar are now available. They are $39 each. Give me a call if you are interested in purchasing one: 770 542 7764.

This Lake Lanier Bass report is from Jimbo Mathley. www.jimboonlanier.com 770 642 7764

This Striper report is from Captain Ken West and Captain Mike Maddalena of Big Fish On Service 404 561 2564. www.bigfishonguide.com

Striper fishing is good. There is a shallow water early morning bite using Herring, Threadfin or Gizzard shad on free lines and planner boards. Once the sun gets up, weight your lines with several split shots, deploy your down rods in addition to your free lines and move to deeper water. Make sure you are fishing over bait fish or there is bait close by. The bait has been moving to a depth of 25 to 40 feet over 40 to 80 foot bottom. If you are not marking any bait; move until you do! There are fish in every creek with high concentrations of bait. However, Flat Creek, Balus Creek and Four Mile Creek are hard to beat this time of year. One of the questions we get asked is how long are the leaders on your free lines and down rods? As a general rule, in the winter we use five foot of 12 or15 pound test Seagar fluorocarbon line, depending on bait size and water clarity, as leaders on both our free lines and down rods. In fact the only difference in the set up of our down rods and free lines is the two ounce slip weight we use on our down rods. We always use a plastic red bead on the main line side of our swivel and tie our swivel and hooks to our leader using a Palomar knot. The red bead protects the swivel knot from the pounding it can get from a two ounce weight and serves as a stop for planner boards. We use Gamakatsu Octopus hooks from size #6 to 8/0 depending on the size of the bait. Typically we use a #1 hook for a small and medium Herring and a 1/0 for larger Herring. Over the years we have tried various line types, lengths, size and knots. The key is confidence in your terminal tackle. Use quality hooks, line, swivels and tie a knot you know will hold and you won't have to talk about the big fish that got away because of equipment failure. The lake temperature is in the mid to high 40's and the water is lightly stained on the main lake with heavy stain in the backs of the creeks. The lake is less than one foot below full pool.

This Lake Lanier Crappie report is from Dan Saknini, Member of the Lanier Crappie Angler’s Club. See our club’s website, www. laniercrappieanglers.com

Water temperature is still about forty five degrees. We are targeting docks on river channels and on creek channels. Locate the bait, and you will find the fish. We are starting to catch numbers, but not the larger fish. If you are wondering where the bigger fish are located, they are on the move, chasing bait and fattening up for the spawn. Trolling could put bigger fish in the boat, however our favorite method right now is still shooting docks using soft body jigs. Crappie Assassin, Mr. Crappie and Bobby Garland jigs, all with straight tails are working well. Our favorite jig head is one twenty fourth ounce, with one sixteenth ounce on a windy day. Every time we are out on the water, we are keeping an eye on our brush piles, but are not yet finding large numbers of fish on them. They should begin moving to the brush piles in the next few weeks, pending the rise of the water temperature. Expect the fish to begin moving to more shallow docks ranging from fifteen to twenty foot depth or less. Always target the darkest part of the dock. If you are fishing with crappie minnows, your bait should be suspended five to ten feet below the surface. If you find a school of fish and you catch a few, you will notice that the entire school will rise in the water column, so make adjustments to the depth of your bait. Be safe on the water and wear your life jacket, it can save your life!

Call Ken Sturdivant about the ON THE WATER SCHOOLS for Sonar or the Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass or a full day STRIPERS School. Call 770 889 2654 for details. Send an e mail to [email protected]