Look for busting stripers and spots from Chestatee Bay down to the Dam. Keep moving until you see the fish for best success. We have seen them busting on the surface out on the main lake and in the mouths to the middle of southend creeks. Mornings and afternoons have been about the same. Cast Spro Dawg’s, Sebile’s, Redfins, Spooks, and Sammie’s to these surfacing fish.

If you can’t find them on top, fish freelined bluebacks on as many points and humps as you can. Expect a mix of stripers and spots on the freelines, so I would invest in some of the Eagle Claw pre-rigged stinger hooks when fishing with bluebacks. If you can't find them up shallow, you will need to fish downline bluebacks 30 to 40 feet deep, just off the bottom on main lake and secondary points. Capt. Mack’s u-rigs are also a good choice if the fish are deeper. There are some stripers up the lake in both the Chattahoochee and Chestatee Rivers.

I would freeline and pull planerboards with trout or gizzard shad when fishing up north for a big fish. There are also a lot of smaller size stripers up the lake in Wahoo, Little River, and in Gainesville creeks. Downlines and u-rigs will work best on these smaller fish. Down the lake, when the fish have been on top, they have ranged in size from 5 to 20 pounds on our guide boats. There is nothing like seeing an acre of stripers busting on the surface. We've also caught and released some really big spotted bass that are mixed in with these surfacing stripers. We've also caught some bigger spots that have been up on points in five to ten feet of water while live bait striper fishing.

This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service www.lakelanierstripers.com. Hammond’s Fishing Center, and Carolina Skiff Boats. Good Fishing.

The stripers are busting on top early and late most days. Cast Spro Dawgs, Sebile Magic Swimmers, Spin Shads, and Flex-it spoons to these surfacing fish. These are just several of my favorites, but many other lures will work. This combination of lures will have it covered if they are feeding on small threadfins or larger bluebacks.

Leadcore continues to produce, 9 colors out at 3.0 mph. Use a white 1 oz jig and a paddle tail trailer for the most bites. If they will wad up under your boat, downlines will also work. Keep moving until you find fish.

One day you will find them in the mouths to the middle of creeks biting leadcore and downlines, and the next day they will be out in the main channel on top.

This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service www.lakelanierstripers.com, Hammond's Fishing Center, and Carolina Skiff Boats. Good Fishing and We Appreciate Your Business.

Shane Watson Guide Service Report.

The leadcore striper bite continues to be great on Lake Lanier. We are seeing many 10 to 20 pound fish on chartreuse and blue 1 oz jigs tipped with a chartreuse paddle tail. We have also had some great downline fishing over the last week or so, but leadcore has been best. There are fish out over the main channel and in deeper coves and bays just of the main lake.

The mouths of creeks have also been good. We are catching some on top water as they have been a few stripers up busting at times. Look for big schools of surfacing stripers over the next 4 to 6 weeks and cast a Spro Dawg, a Redfin, a Spook, or a small bucktail to these surfacing fish. Freelined bluebacks will also work on these topwater fish.

This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service www.lakelanierstripers.com, Hammond's Fishing Center, and Carolina Skiff Boats. Good Fishing and We Appreciate your Business.

The late summer striper bite continues on Lake Lanier. I saw some 79 degree surface temps at daylight this morning. Since my last report the striper fishing has been strong most days. The last 2 days have been exceptional on leadcore and on downline bluebacks.

The boat traffic has been low and the fishing pressure has been lower. The fish have been bunched up and biting well. We are still catching many fish out over the main channel and as you can see on my graph from today, we are getting on some nice schools over a 50 to 60 foot bottom. Many of you have e-mailed and called wanting to see what jig set up I am using, so here is photo of the chartreuse one.

The other setup is a white jig with a Shadalicious paddle tail. We have also got on a few schools of busting stripers and caught them on Spro Dawgs. We expect a great topwater bite over the next 2 months as the surface temps continue to drop.

This report is brought to you by Shane Watson Guide Service www.lakelanierstripers.com, Hammond's Fishing Center, and Carolina Skiff Boats. Good Fishing.

Don Carter State Park will be Lake Lanier's second state park and construction will start next year. That's according to a report in today's AJC that say despite budget cutbacks the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is going ahead with the park on the north end of Lake Lanier.

DNR has owned the land for 15 years and last year Governor Sonny Perdue set aside $14 million to design and build the park.

The park will feature camping, cottages with lake views, a boat dock, boat ramps, a swimming beach, hiking and horse trails and picnic areas.

Income from the 20 cottages should eventually help the park make a small profit. Two similar lake-based parks with cottages – Richard B. Russell and Tugaloo – make profits of $60,000 and $23,000 a year, respectively.

The state will select a contractor for Don Carter State Park in November, and construction should begin early next year.