Fishing Reports

This archived fishing reports are courtesy of Shane Watson Guide Service. To find out more about them, please click here. The very latest fishing report is available by clicking here.

Springtime Means Bigger Baits for Trophy Lake Lanier Stripers

Tuesday, 10 February 2009 05:49

Water Temperature: 45
Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater

Shane Watson Guide Service Report (2-9-09). Everything is about the same on the stripers. We've ran trips north and south since my last report and found stripers and surface temps in the middle 40's. We are suppose to have warm weather for the next 2 weeks and the surface temps should get back up into the 50's. Down south we are seeing small groups of boiling stripers in pockets from the mouths to the middle of southend creeks. If you can hit these fish in the head, they will bite a leadhead fluke or a flex-it spoon. We have also caught fish down south on freelined medium shiners and bluebacks. Mid-lake you will find stripers in the usual, popular winter-time creeks. We have had great trolling at times in there, during the week when the boat traffic has been lower. Down south, expect to cover alot of water and the loons are a distraction. Up north the creeks are much shorter, but the fish can move in and out quickly. Our boats have found fish up north somedays in the very backs of stained creeks and the next day they will be out in the main narrow channels. Up north we have done best on downline medium shiners, u-rigs, and beating the banks with bucktails. Somedays, the fishing has been wide open both north and south. Somedays, they have been easy to find but finicky and harder to catch. The key thing right now is to keep moving until to you get on some fish. Downsize your leader and hook sizes and use smaller baits for now. As the surface temps warm over the next 2 months, you will see the bigger trophy size fish up shallow, roaming banks, points, and on shallow flats. When the water gets back up in the 50's, pull big trout, big gizzard shad, and bigger bluebacks with planerboards and on freelines. This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service and Hammond's Fishing Center. Good Fishing.

The Lake Lanier Trolling Bite is as Good as it Gets

Tuesday, 27 January 2009 19:00

Shane Watson Guide Service Fishing Report. Trolling for Lake Lanier stripers has been very good. Our customers have caught many fish on Capt. Mack's 4 arm u-rigs fished 120 feet out at 3.0 mph. We are catching our fish in the middle to the rear of most creeks.

We have been on some huge schools of fish that are down 20-40 feet deep. Our fish have ranged from 5-20 pounds the last few trips. When you mark them on your graph, if you are halfway close to the right depth, you will double up in every big school you come across. U-rigs have out produced live bait 10 to 1. The action has been fast and the fish have stayed active for 3 to 4 hours at a time. Overall, the Lake Lanier trolling bite is as good as it gets. This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service www.lakelanierstripers.com and Hammond's Fishing Center. We appreciate everyone's business. Good Fishing.

Slick Water and Rolling Lake Lanier Stripers

Water Temperature: 52
Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater

Shane Watson Guide Service Friday Report for February 9th. The striper fishing has been very good this week. They are continuing to roll on top every morning and freelined bluebacks, ice flies, flukes, and Capt. Mack's 3 arm u-rigs are all working well. It's the same old thing, look for the birds diving and the fish boiling. The lake has come up alot this week and it's great to have more ramps open. This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service and Hammond's Fishing Center. Good Fishing.

This report is brought you by Shane Watson Guide Service and Hammond's Fishing Center. Good Fishing.

Lake Lanier Stripers, North and South.

Friday, 23 January 2009 19:00

Water Temperature: 45
Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater

Shane Watson Guide Service Report (1-24-09). The striper fishing on Lake Lanier has been good, but a little unpredictable with the changing weather patterns. We've had some 20 to 30 fish mornings, only to return the next day and work for 3 or 4 hookups. That's just the nature of wintertime striper fishing. You can expect great fishing when the fish are up rolling on the surface and the birds are diving, slower conditions when they are not. I will say that you will catch your bigger, single, trophy fish on these slower days and more of the 5-20 pounders on the more active days. We are catching most of our better fish on leadhead flukes, and on freelined bluebacks and small trout. We've had boats both north and south, and it's like fishing 2 different lakes. Down south, you will find bigger singles and small groups of fish rolling on top most mornings, with and without birds. Up north you will find better numbers of smaller size fish and you will have to downsize and fish smaller baits to catch these fish. Small trout and medium shiners will produce up north on a downline and on a freeline. Capt. Mack's 3 arm u-rigs or a Flex-it spoon will also produce well when your graph is loaded with these smaller fish. This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service www.lakelanierstripers.com and Hammond's Fishing Center. Good Fishing

Sight fishing for Lake Lanier Stripers

Monday, 05 January 2009 19:00

Water Temperature: 52
Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater
Lake Lanier Fishing
The stripers are rolling on top most mornings and we have caught fish on freelined bluebacks, medium shiners, Capt. Mack's 3 arm u-rigs, leadhead flukes, and on spoons. We've had our boats north and south and the numbers have been about the same. These rolling fish are doing the same thing they did this time last year. Just keep riding and looking for boiling fish and cast leadhead flukes. If there are enough of them and if they are sticking around, put out your freelines or troll u-rigs. Many of these fish are singles and when you catch that fish or it goes down, you will have to move on. The birds are on a lot of these fish, but not on all of them. Yesterday, I ran a 9 to 1 trip and we got on rolling fish with and without birds. They were on top in many places and the boat traffic was low. If you have the patience you can blind pull planerboards with big trout, trying for a big fish, but expect this to be a much slower pattern. Most of the fish we are catching are from 5-20 pounds, but the action is better on these rolling fish. It will be interesting to see how much the lake comes up. Our rain gauges over here show 3 1/4 inches of rain overnight. I hope we get to keep the water.