We are rapidly approaching a holiday weekend. If you have plans to head to the water, be sure to check out these reminders about boating safety from the Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division. And, as you can surely expect larger-than-average crowds on the water, be sure to pack your patience and to pay attention. Oh, and y’all – wear your life jacket! 

NEWS TO KNOW

  • National Fishing and Boating Week (June 5-13): Make it an extra special opportunity to celebrate the outdoors with friends and family during National Fishing and Boating Week. Whether it is taking someone new on their very first fishing trip, visiting a new location or taking out the boat for the first time this year, the water is waiting! #getonboard #thewaterisopen 
  • Kids Fishing Events: Make plans to head out to a Kids Fishing Event – find one near you HERE.
  • Road Work at Ocmulgee PFA: If you are headed to Ocmulgee PFA over the next few weeks, be sure to note that road work is scheduled to begin. On June 1, paving crews will be installing a French drain at the main road (starting at the Kids Fishing Event pond) making the western part of the PFA, including the boat ramp, inaccessible. However, this should be for just the one day (June 1). Visitors are still welcome and may park in the office and group shelter parking area and walk to fish along the banks, or from the upper fishing pier, or even carry in a craft – if that is an option for you. After installation of the drain, getting access across the area should be fine as crews can pave one side of road while visitors travel on the other. 

This week we have reports from North, Southeast, Southwest and Central Georgia (that’s the whole state y’all!). Be careful out there this weekend and Go Fish Georgia!

NORTH GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of Anthony Rabern, Region Supervisor and Fisheries Biologist with the Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)

The unofficial kick-off to summer begins this weekend with the observance of Memorial Day.  Many dedicated men and women fought and died for our nation’s freedoms, and we have them to thank for the privilege of freely enjoying the great outdoors to pursue our fishing passion with family and friends.  So, I hope you enjoy the long weekend this Memorial Day.  As a young boy, my grandma taught me that bream bite best during the full moon around Memorial Day.  I have great memories of fishing with her – rolling dough balls from loaf bread, watching my bobber twitch on the surface, and catching a mess of bream for me and her to eat that evening at the dinner table.  Good times and great memories….. that’s really what fishing is all about.  My friends, the McDuffie family, also knew about the Memorial Day bream bonanza as they nearly limited out this week on magnum-sized bluegills and shellcrackers (check out the photo!).  Although the full “Super Moon” just passed, anglers can still find bream lingering in the shallows.  Look for their circular depressions in shallow water on sandy and other soft-bottom substrates.  Simple baits like crickets and red wigglers are all you need to have a great day of bream fishing like the McDuffie family.

Our reservoir staff have also been busy stocking walleye, white bass, hybrid bass, and most recently striped bass into many of our North Georgia reservoirs.  More than a million of these little guys hit the water this spring (two Lanier striped bass stocking photos) .  These efforts will provide great fishing opportunities and tons of enjoyment over the next few years.  As for bass, the best tactics right now are to target the topwater bite in the early morning and evening using a “walk the dog” style retrieve over long points and around docks. The best docks will be isolated near deep water and surrounded by woody debris.  Once the sun comes up fish deeper structure with a Shakey Head, drop shot, or Neko rig. Other productive tactics are to skip a whacky-rigged Senko or Yum Dinger into the shade of a dock or overhanging tree limb.  With the weather heating up, catfish will become more active at night.  Check the underwater topo maps to see where the underlying river channel bends and creates a hole.  Fish the flat adjacent to this hole with live or cut bait and HANG ON!

Kids Fishing Events Bring Out the Smiles! Carsyn and Robert Dills

Mark your Calendars for the following upcoming opportunities:

RESERVOIR REPORT

Although fishing reports did not roll in for most of our North Georgia lakes, the patterns highlighted in the following reports should be similar to most of our reservoirs.

Below are some more tips from the experts who fish for a living.  These reservoir fishing tips are courtesy of Ken Sturdivant’s Southern Fishing Report.  You can sign-up to receive Ken’s free weekly fishing report by emailing him.

Striped Bass From Richmond Hill Hatchery Hitting the water at Lake Lanier

Loading up Lake Lanier With Striped Bass

LAKE LANIER IS FULL, MAIN LAKE IS CLEAR, CREEKS STAINED 70S

(Report From Phil Johnson is a Lake Lanier Bass fishing guide. Pjohnson15@hotmail.com (770) 366-8845) — The combination of the weather changes and the bass being in post-spawn have created a fishing situation that takes some patience and work. The topwater bite has slowed since last week but should be increasing quickly with the warmer weather. Work a walking bait such as a Spook or Sammy on long points, reef marker poles and over brush piles submerged at 15 to 20-feet. If the fish don’t want to come to the surface work a Sebile or Kitech over the same areas. Move up on the brush utilize a drop shot to catch these bass. On windy days, change up to a noisy bait such as a small Whopper Plopper, Chug Bug or Pencil Popper.  The chrome color pattern is working better on bright sunny days, and the bone or white colors are working better on cloudy days. When you move away from the brush, a Carolina Rig worked on 20-ft deep humps will draw some strikes. A small green pumpkin lizard has been a very steady bait to use. When you are looking at dock fishing, work the docks that are 15-ft deep or less with a Shakey head.

LAKE LANIER CRAPPIE

(This Lake Lanier Crappie report is by Captain Josh Thornton to book a trip (770) 530-6493) — Crappie fishing is good. The water temperatures are in the low 70s. The hot bite target zone is 10-15 feet deep. The crappie are on the docks and also can be found on open water brush piles and blow downs. I always put out a Crappie minnow. If you have live scope or active imaging set the minnows just above the fish. Right now, I am setting the minnows around 10 to 12 feet deep. For best results use a live minnow. Look under docks that are in 20 to 40 feet of water near a main channel and have brush or structure use your electronic charts to locate these areas. Remember crappie love the shade so cast into the shadows of a dock. Try different jig colors and jig styles. When dock shooting, the biggest fish are usually the first to hit. Let your jig sink and give it time to get down to the fish and retrieve your jig slowly. The most productive jig colors are chartreuse and green (blue grass) and the White with chartreuse tail (monkey milk). Find me on Facebook and like my page @crappieonlanier

LAKE HARTWELL IS DOWN 1.4 FEET, 70S

Bass fishing is good. Fish are roaming the banks as well as on the ends of points. The bass are shallow around wood.  Cast baits to shadows all day. During the heat of the day, drag Carolina-rigged worms over the ledges. Try a long 3 to 4-foot leader. Watch for baitfish activity to find the concentrations of fish. Also use a gourd green Zoom U-tail worm on a Texas rig. Look in the mid-lake half way back in the creeks and hit any dock or on points. Brush is a must and the fish are on the shady sides. Up the river the fishing is still fair and use a ½-ounce Stanley spinner bait and add a large trailer. Berkley worms in the U-tail style in red and gray can be worked slowly on wood and docks. Use a Texas rig and fish all lures slowly and let them fall.  Zoom trick worms in pink or yellow are also good around the shadows in the creeks.

LAKE ALLATOONA IS FULL, CLEAR 70S

Bass fishing is good. The topwater bite has started and will only get better as the month goes on. Use Sunline 30 pound braid to make long cast to schooling fish so as not to spook them. There are small areas of Shad spawn scattered around the lake and will get better the closer we get to the next full moon. Many fish are in open water in areas near Shad spawn locations. The top water bottle will last for about two hours after sun and once it ends find shallow brush and work a jig or jig head to catch fish. The magic depth is between eight and 12 foot of water. There have also been a few fish caught off blow downs using big bite trick sticks/Senkos and BB jerk minnows.

LAKE ALLATOONA FISHING GUIDE REPORT

(This Lake Allatoona Fishing Guides Report has been brought to you exclusively by Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service) — Line side fishing is good. The lake is back down to normal level and there is very little debris. The fish are starting to set up on a summer pattern. Big schools of hybrids can be found anywhere from the S turns to as far south as Tanyard Creek. The down rod bite is the most productive bite going on the lake right now. Fishing live shad at depths from 20 to 30 feet is producing for our boats from one end of the lake to the other. Our bait of choose has been big thread fin shad. These fish can be found on or around most points, humps and flats. Good electronics can be a big help during the summer months. Summertime is awesome for numbers on Lake Allatoona give us a call at 770 827-6282 and let’s take the kids fishing.

WEST POINT LAKE IS DOWN .64 CLEAR, 70S

(Report from WRD Fisheries Biologist, Brent Hess, and his buddy who fished for bass this week on West Point) — We started out fishing the shad spawn in shallow pockets with swimbaits and spinners.  We were able to catch few small largemouths and several even smaller spots.   Once, the sun reached the water, we switched to shaky heads and fished brush piles in deeper water with similar results until hot temperatures drove us off the lake around noon.   Overall, the fishing was a little slow but we both reached double-digits (barely) and had an enjoyable morning of fishing.

FROM KEN STURDIVANT (Southern Fishing with Ken Sturdivant) —

Ken Sturdivant reports that bass fishing is fair. Fish will be on offshore humps, rocky points, and road beds. For these offshore areas use shaky heads, Carolina rigs, and crank baits. For both shaky heads and Carolina rigs use a green pumpkin Z Man floating worms. Use a Strike King 6XD in a sexy shad pattern. Do not expect many bites, but will produce larger fish. Do pay close attention to generation schedules as this will position fish on top of these offshore locations to feed. During the heat of the day dragging Carolina rigged worms over the ledges is working. Try a long 3 to 4 foot leader. Watch for baitfish activity to find the concentrations of fish.

WEISS LAKE IS AT 0 FEET 2 INCHES BELOW FULL POOL AND STAINED AND 69-72 DEGREE’S

(Report by Mark Collins Guide Service) —

Bass: Bass fishing is fair and most fish have spawned or still on bed, spinner baits and chatter baits in and around the grass beds are producing fish.

Crappie: Crappie fishing is fair and they have spawned and started moving to deeper brush. Spider rigging with live minnows over brush near the spawning areas is the way to catch these post spawn fish.

TROUT REPORT

Working For You! Our trout hatchery folks worked extra hard this week to pave the way for you to experience some outstanding trout fishing.  Our guys and gals loaded nearly 100 of your favorite trout fishing spots with a whopping total of nearly 41,000 catchable-sized trout scattered throughout 20 North Georgia counties.  Looking for trout info, including a weekly stocking report? Click HERE.

Keeping it Cool: With this week’s blazing hot heat wave, trout anglers should focus their efforts during the cool morning hours and then shortly before sunset.

Boggs Creek Trout Fishing: Pautzke Outdoors recently released a new trout fishing video, this one highlighting Boggs Creek.

Trout News From Trout Biologist Sarah Baker:

They’re here! Brood X Sightings — Corson Teasley has been on the Brood X Cicada trail in Georgia. He’s been using this USFS map to locate the emerging cicadas, though he has observed many in Lumpkin and Dawson counties. Thank you for sharing Corson!  To read more about these critters, check out this article. If you want to track the emergence of the Brood X cicadas, download the free Cicada Safari app for iOS or Android, and then, when you see a cicada, snap a photo and submit it to have your cicada added to a live map.  Keep in mind that “match the hatch” certainly applies here! In Fly Fisherman, Blaine Chocklett says, “Every day those cicadas are buzzing in the trees, we have shots at trophy bass on topwater flies that imitate these bugs”. Cicada imitations will be a good bet throughout the summer, especially if you’re fishing mid-day. Experiment with different popper patterns and fish them slow. Want to tie your own? Steve Hudson has his recommended recipe on NGTO. Give it a try! 

William managed to access a nice little pool and have some great success!

The heat is here too! William, a relative newbie to trout fishing, cooled off in a north Georgia river and caught a mess of trout while he was at it! William’s swimming/wading abilities allowed him to navigate safely across the river and access a section of pool that was unoccupied by other anglers. His strategy proved successful – check out that photo – way to go William!

Grasshopper Dreams– NGTO storyteller, eyeflyfish, describes his spectacular, recent trout fishing trips here.

The Rivers are Calling — Planning a trout fishing trip? My top five recommendations for places to go fishing for trout during the summer are:

  1. The Tallulah River (in Towns County)
  2. Rock Creek (Fannin County)
  3. Toccoa River (Union County)
  4. West Fork Chattooga River (Rabun County)
  5. Amicalola Creek (Dawson County)

You can locate places to fish along these streams by visiting our Trout Stream Interactive Map. Zoom into an area and pan until you locate a highlighted section of stream. You can catch Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, and Brook Trout in Georgia! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at sarah.baker@dnr.ga.gov. While you’re fishing, please be courteous to those around you, and leave the place better than it looked before. We appreciate your help in keeping our Georgia’s beautiful mountains, beautiful. In case you don’t know how to clean and cook your trout, here’s a couple of how-to videos: How to Clean and Gut, Clean & Cook.

SOUTHEAST GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of Bert Deener, Region Supervisor and Fisheries Biologist with the Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)

All the rivers have produced great catches as they drop out and warm up. You can catch fish about wherever you WANT to catch fish this holiday weekend.

Last quarter moon is June 2nd. To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website HERE. For the latest marine forecast, click HERE.

ALAPAHA RIVER

Stan Rhodes and his uncle, Dave McGlamry fished the upper Alapaha River Friday and had a great catch. Dave pitched crickets and Stan flung Satilla Spins, and the spinnerbait caught many to one over the live bait. Stan tried the crawfish first with little success, but when he switched to bumblebee (black/yellow) he said it was ON. They caught a ton of throwbacks and ended up keeping 35 big redbreasts, bluegill and stumpknockers. Stan said that the artificial caught more and bigger fish. The river fishing should be GREAT for the holiday weekend! The river level at the Statenville gage on May 27th was 2.6 feet and falling.

ALTAMAHA AND OCMULGEE RIVERS

A Fitzgerald angler fished the middle Ocmulgee River this week and caught 11 bass up to 2 1/2 pounds by banging shoreline vegetation and blowdown trees with plastic worms. He said that the river was still pretty stained and cool, but that will change this week. The river level on May 27th at the Abbeville gage on the Ocmulgee was 3.5 feet and falling. The Doctortown gage on the Altamaha was 7.5 feet and falling.

OGEECHEE RIVER

Tyler Finch fished with his daughter, Sandy on Wednesday, and the pair landed 46 panfish, mostly nice-sized redbreasts. They also had some bluegill and a few crappie. They had trouble finding crickets at the shops, so they used worms to tip their white Satilla Spins. They said the water was still pretty muddy but the slow presentation with the 1/8-oz. lure fooled them. The river level at the Midville gage on May 27th was 1.2 feet and falling.

OHOOPEE RIVER

Ronnie Kemp fished the Ohoopee on Sunday morning. He fooled about 20 panfish by flinging crawfish Satilla Spins. He fished about 3 hours in the morning and left them biting. He lamented that he couldn’t stay longer. The river level at the Reidsville gage on May 27th was 2.9 feet and falling.

SATILLA RIVER

Dane Clements and a friend fished the middle river this weekend and whacked the fish. He doesn’t know how many they caught and released (he guessed over 100), but he kept about 60 fish. Red/white hues of Satilla Spins produced his fish, and the heavier 1/8-oz was better to get deep in the cooler water. You don’t have to worry this week, as it’s warmed up and pushing 80 degrees now. Gilbert Ellis, Jr. fished some of the upper tributaries to the Satilla this weekend from the bank and caught lots of panfish. On Saturday he 31 fish of 6 different species. Most were small, but he had 4 bigger than hand-sized fish. On Sunday he caught 28 bluegills. Red wigglers produced his fish on both trips.  If you can manage a float trip this weekend, you should catch a bunch of fish. The river level on May 27th at the Waycross gage was 5.5 feet and falling (77 degrees). The Atkinson gage was 4.9 feet and falling.

ST. MARYS RIVER

Hunter Smith fished the middle river last weekend and caught 26 panfish and 7 catfish. He and his fishing partner fooled them with worms fished on the bottom. Some of their warmouth were really nice-sized. The Shady Bream Tournament held out of Traders Hill Landing on May 22nd saw some good catches come across the scales. The winning team was Hunter and Shawn (9.17lbs). Michael and Michael brought 8.22 pounds to the scales for second, while Daniel and Tamara had 7.96 pounds for third. Tamara had big fish at 0.95 pounds. Check out the Shady Bream Tournament trail on Facebook for more information on upcoming tournaments. The river level at the MacClenny gage on May 27th was 2.2 feet and falling.

LOCAL PONDS

Davis Summerlin is excited about the bass stacking up on the deep water summer haunts. He should be excited, as he caught a 10-lb. 14-oz. bass this week fishing big worms offshore. He likes targeting underwater points, brush piles, and ditches that run off the banks. Deep is relative. In most of the ponds he fishes, deep is 6 to 10 feet. Now that the fish are post-spawn he will throw one bait the rest of the summer – a 10-inch curly-tail plastic worm. He Carolina-rigs one with a 1/2-oz. weight and another Texas-rigged with a 3/16 to 3/8-oz. weight. He caught several 6-lb, an 8 1/2-lb, and a trophy 10-lb., 14-oz. bass this week. A Waycross angler fished a Brunswick pond after church Sunday and figured out the bass. He caught 34 bass up to 5 pounds during the evening. The fish were just offshore on points and scattered brush, and he caught them with a 1/2-oz. copperfield-colored vibrating jig and a 3.5 and 4-inch perch Keitech Easy Shiner trailer until the sun dipped below the trees. From then until dark, he fooled several bass with a SPRO Little John Crankbait fished around shad schools. He also managed 3 hybrids up to 7 pounds on the crankbait. The hybrids were mixed in with the bass around the shad schools. His biggest 5 bass weighed 22 pounds. Ron Altman had a couple great trips this week in a Brunswick pond. He caught about 20 to 25 bass per few-hour trip, and his biggest was a 6.4-pounder. Vibrating jigs were the ticket for him, and color didn’t seem to matter. He caught them on both dark colors and shad colors. Bream fishing has been great for anglers pitching bugs around shoreline vegetation and tree-tops early in the morning. Those that found beds wore them out. Expect some good panfishing around the full moon this week. If you have a good catfish pond, this week’s heat will get them chowing.

Charlie Turner caught this nice warmouth and a bunch more on the east side of Okefenokee Swamp on Wednesday. This one ate a worm.

OKEFENOKEE SWAMP

Fishing was good again this week. The warmouth bite provided the best reports I heard. Matt Rouse took his father-in-law, Charlie Turner, to the east side on Wednesday morning and caught a bunch of warmouth (they kept 30 of them). Matt used blue bomber Bert’s Bugs on his bream buster pole and white jigs for his fish, while Charlie caught his with worms. Matt also flung a chartreuse Satilla Spin for a little bit and caught a jackfish. On the west side, catfish were tops. It is hard to beat a piece of shrimp on the bottom for whiskerfish. The yellow fly reports were mixed. One group said they were bad, and another fishing the canal said they were non-existent. Typically, if you get in a shaded area with a dense tree canopy the flies are bad, and in the open sun they are not. The latest water level (Folkston side) was 120.58 feet.

SALTWATER (GA COAST)

Capt. Greg Hildreth had a good day sight-fishing tripletail on Wednesday. His charter caught several. The big sharks are behind the shrimp boats, and folks are hooking up with some monsters. This warmup should get the flounder thinking about inshore and push some bait up our coast. I love fishing for trout on the beach this time of year. Trout will be pushing around to the oceanside all summer to spawn in the surf. Structure and current breaks in the sounds (like the St. Marys Jetties) is a good place to look for them as they come and go. For guide trip information, call Capt. Greg Hildreth at (912) 617-1980 or check out his website. Check with the Jekyll Island Fishing Center (912-635-3556) for the latest on the Jekyll Island Pier or St. Simons Bait & Tackle (912-634-1888) for the latest on the St. Simons Pier.

SOUTHWEST GEORGIA 

(Fishing report courtesy of Emilia Omerberg, Fisheries Biologist with the Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts) 

LAKE SEMINOLE

As the air temperature increases and the overnight temperature keeps the water warmer Shad spawning is taking off. This presents a good opportunity for bass fishing at Lake Seminole. Throw your line just off the grass beds. Use spinnerbaits, topwaters and swimbaits to target those bass feeding on the shad spawn. If you are not getting a bite try changing up the color of your lure or the blade to get it to match the shad. If you are having trouble finding the water where the bass are hanging out try using a buzzbait to cover water and find their location.

LAKE BLACKSHEAR

Bream are about the hottest (no pun intended) thing going right now. Anglers are mainly using crickets and worms, although with the recent full moon, the bedding should be wide open and many artificials like Beetle Spins and topwater popping bugs are also working and are a really fun way to catch them. We are starting to get some Mayfly reports so dust off those flyrods and poppers!

Catfish are the second hottest thing right now. Some whoppers have been weighed in at Flint River Outdoors lately. Channel cats can be caught relatively easily with a wide array of baits from worms, to cut bait, to rooster liver, and stink bait. Appaloosa’s want a small live fish (almost any species will do) on the bottom around natural or man-made structure.

As always happens about this time of year, the crappie bite is fading on us, but some are still being caught. Good electronics that enable you to find them are key, then bounce a minnow or a jig on their nose.

The bass are post-spawn so they are scattered and finicky. Dragging around a black plastic worm or power fishing with something you can fish fast and get a reaction bite on (like a chatterbait or crankbait) have been working and, as always, shiners will get you a few.

 SILVER LAKE PUBLIC FISHING AREA

Try your luck fishing Frog Pond at the Silver Lake Public Fishing Area this week. We put out about 50 large and hungry channel catfish this past week. All of them were over 8 pounds. They will react to a large variety of baits, anything that has a “nice” smell to it. Chicken liver, stink bait, and worms are a favorite.

 

CENTRAL GEORGIA

(Fishing report courtesy of Steve Schleiger, Region Supervisor and Fisheries Biologist with the Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division, with help from Region Staff and Local Experts)

Reservoir Fishing Reports Courtesy of Southern Fishing with Ken Sturdivant.   

LAKE RUSSELL IS FULL, 70’S

Bass fishing is good.  Keep a Zoom Super Fluke ready all day.  Bass are after herring and small Shad Raps and small swim baits are a favorite this week.  Most of the bass seem to be relating to water in the 5 to 8-foot range.  Also, this week try the shad McStick ready.  The way to fish this bait is to use it like a crank bait.  A medium to fast retrieve will work and jerk it fast some to get the best action from the bait.  Windblown points still seem to be a favorite place for the bass now.  During the heat of the day dragging Carolina rigged worms over the ledges is working.  Try a long 3 to 4-foot leader.  Watch for baitfish activity to find the concentrations of fish. 

CLARKS HILL IS 1.1 OVER FULL, 70’S

Bass fishing is good.  Fish shallow early with a trick worm.  Mid-day go a little deeper with Zoom Finesse worms on a jig head.  On the docks with brush try a small ¼ ounce mini jig.  Use a matching Zoom Trailer and green pumpkin trailer.  Remember the many long points as well; back off a bit and throw a Carolina rigged lizard in green pumpkin.  Try slow rolling a spinner bait after dark across those long main lake points, but again throw right to shore as well.  A lot of fish are hanging right on the banks.  Be sure to make a few casts everywhere with a Zoom pearl Super Fluke. 

LAKE OCONEE IS FULL, 70’S

(This Lake Oconee fishing report is by Captain Mark Smith of Reel Time Service, 404-803-0741) —

The temperature is 70-74 degrees.  The lake is stained up the river and down to Salem campground, clear to the dam and up Richland creek.

Bass: Bass fishing is good.  The shad spawn is slowing down but there is still a good spawn pattern going.  First light head to the rip rap.  White spinner baits fished on the rip rap will produce.  Keep a small crank bait as a backup.  You can also find spawning shad on sea walls and around lights.  A 6-inch green pumpkin lizard fished on a Texas rig in brush around and under docks will also produce.  There are still some bass spawning as well as post spawn fish moving out of the back of the coves and pockets.  Get ready, the buzz bait bite is about to start up any day.

Striped Bass: Striper fishing is good.  Its live bait time.  The fish are moving away from the dam area and staging all over the south end of the lake.  Down lines have been the best method over the past week.  Use your Lowrance to locate the schools on the south end of the lake and drop a live shad down and hang on.

Crappie: Crappie fishing is good.  Most of the fish are starting to move into the timber and setting up for the summer pattern.  Long lining over the timber has been the best producer.  Live bait dropped into the timber will also produce. 

LAKE SINCLAIR IS DOWN 1.5 STAINED 70’S

Bass fishing is good.  The bass are moving shallow early and late and back off during the day.  Use a top water Spook and a fluke and cast the bank on mid lake points and pockets.  Mid-day go a little deeper with Zoom Finesse worms on a jig head.  Fish the blow downs with the Strike King ¼ ounce jig and use it with a matching Zoom trailer in green pumpkin.  Remember the many long points as well; back off a bit and throw a Carolina rigged lizard in green pumpkin.  Slow rolling a spinner bait on the points will work.  Try it across those long main lake points and throw right to the banks as well.  A lot of fish are hanging on the bank. 

LAKE JACKSON IS FULL, CLEAR 70’S

Bass fishing is good.  Go up in the rivers and work the docks and channel ledges with everything that resembles a red or green crawfish.  Start of the morning with the crank bait.  Crawfish will need to be the color of choice here.  The Fat Rap in the brown crawdad is a good choice.  Use the smaller number five size for best results.  While cranking the channel ledges move up to the larger sizes but the docks and shallow water will work better with the smaller ones.  Perch is another great color.  Later, in the day, move out and throw a Carolina rig six-inch worm in the green pumpkin or pumpkin seed color.  Added scent will help the bass to hold on to the bait a little longer so use it often.  Use the JJ’s Magic chartreuse dye to color the tail. 

FLAT CREEK PUBLIC FISHING AREA (More Info HERE)

The hot clear days of late May have moved the fish into deeper water creating some tougher fishing at Flat Creek PFA.  We have had a few folks find bream beds that has produced nice catches.  The bass have been hitting with reports of boats catching numbers of 15 to 20 fish per boat with several fish in the 6 lbs.+ range.  We continue to see fair catches of crappie with most of the fish seen caught early morning and at night.  The fishing pier continues to produce catches of fish around the dock lights at night.  We have seen good catches of channel catfish along the dam.

Bass:  After talking with our bass fishermen that have been seeing successful catches, here is the list that they suggested – Shad colored crank baits, plastic worms- green pumpkin seed worms; plum colored ‘Ol Monster worms by Zoom.  Watermelon or motor oil colors have worked well.  Fishing around the air diffusion heads- anything shiny with a white body when the bass are hitting the shad.

Bream:  Fishing for bream has produced good catches when you can find the bream beds.  Crickets have produced good catches on the bedding fish,  Redear and bluegill with the usual catches of good size fish with a mix of smaller fish being caught – try crickets, worms (Red Wigglers and Pinks)  fished around structure, on bottom with slip lead rigs or with slip corks.

Channel Catfish:  We had reports of successful angler fishing with shrimp and chicken livers, the best location was from the dam in deeper water.

Crappie:  Crappie are biting well, especially in the early hours before daylight around the fishing pier. Also casting to cover- brush piles and fish attractors, fishing from the dam has worked very well using the Jiffy Jigs With black head and green bodies in 1/24 oz.