One of the most common complaints made by visitors to Lake Lanier has been the lack of a successful bar or restaurant on the lake.

Forsyth County Commissioners may have solved that problem. Last week they voted to allow marinas to sell alcohol without the tight restrictions normally placed on restaurants.

Normally restaurants must prove that at least 50 percent of their income comes from food rather than alcohol. Forsyth already has exemptions for bowling alleys, cigar shops and golf courses.

The exemption was passed at the urging of Port Royale Marina. They have recently built a large new shop and restaurant facility which is actually floating on the lake. Because of the nature of boat traffic, most visitors won't sit down for a full meal - they're more likely to grab a burger and a beer. That would have made it very difficult for them to pass the 50 percent test.

Shane Watson Guide Service Report (12-01-09).

The stripers are moving back in the creeks as wintertime is here. We've had our boats out on trips everyday of the Thanksgiving week, scattered from down south to up north. Freelined and downlined trout and bluebacks produced best.

Look for the seagulls diving and you will sometimes see the stripers busting on top. White bucktails and freelines will produce best when the stripers are on the surface.

Capt. Mack's 4 arm u-rigs are also working well. Nothing much has changed, just keep looking further back in the creeks as the surface temps continue to drop.

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

After many years of hard work and research, a local author has finally released the first book about Lake Lanier.

"Lake Sidney Lanier" by Robert David Coughlin tells the story of Lake Lanier over 400 pages.

The book's subtitle is "A Storybook Site", chosen after the author read a story about how perfect the location was for a a lake. In 1946, Army engineers surveyed a narrow river valley at the boundary of Gwinnett and Forsyth Counties. Mason J. Young, then South Atlantic Division Chief, looked out over the open expanse from one hillside to the next and exclaimed:

"This is a storybook site for a dam ... I don't think I've ever seen a better site!"

The construction of Lake Lanier spanned nearly the entire decade of the 1905s. In the book you'll experience the development of North Georgia from the early 1800s to the sweeping post-war river and harbor legislation of the 1940s and on to the building of the lake itself, including the acquisition of over 50,000 acres of private land for public use; the ground breaking in 1950; construction of the dam, bridges and highways.

This book details the history of Lake Lanier using over 700 historical and contemporary photographs, official documents and letters, newspaper articles, maps, interviews and more.

The striper fishing remains good on Lake Lanier. Many things are working depending on what you see while you are out there.

We are still finding schooling stripers on top most mornings. Look for the seagulls diving with and without loons. Freelined bluebacks, trout, gizzard shad, and white 3/8 bucktails are all working if you are on active fish. Also keep a downline handy as your graph will load up with fish down 30 to 40 feet deep at times, when graphing around the birds.

Capt. Mack's 4 arm u-rigs trolled around the birds will also catch these fish. The north and southend are about equal right now. On another note, Candy wanted me to mention that the store will be open Thanksgiving Day from 5:00 am till 6:00 pm.

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

The Corps of Engineers is already planning for the impact of Georgia's loss in the water wars court case, according to the Atlanta Journal Consitution.

The Corps has spent time re-writing its operating manuals in case no agreement is reached between Georgia, Alabama and Flordia and Georgia loses its appeal against the original court decision. If that happens the Corps will need force Atlanta's water withdrawals back down to 1970 levels.

The public will have 45 days to comment on the Corps’ plans starting today.

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