Georgia Fishing Report: October 21, 2022

If you had to get your kids out of bed at 5:30 am on a Saturday morning…do you think they would be happy and excited about it? What do you think would motivate them? Chris Daniel knew EXACTLY what would get his two sons, Mason and Logan, out of the bed - participating in a youth fishing tournament (sponsored by the North Georgia Crappie Club) with him and their granddad. Chris reports that the crew wore out the bluegill and bream, catching over 30 of them. But the catching of two bass got them across the "finish line" and helped them secure 1st and 2nd place for bass. Chris even said that after fishing all day, the boys still wanted to throw out a line from the boat ramp before leaving. Three generations on the water together, making memories to last a lifetime!

NEWS TO KNOW:

SOUTHWEST GEORGIA

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

RESERVOIR REPORT

WEST POINT LAKE IS DOWN 3.1 FT, 70S

Bass (courtesy of Ken Sturdivant's Southern Fishing Report): Bass fishing is fair. Big cold front this week. With the temperature drop of more than a few degrees it affects fishing whether it's good or bad. As these cold fronts over the next few weeks roll in fishing is great on the own set. Bass are holding on main lake points in the lake due to the consistent water generation. A mixture of whites, spots, and hybrids are schooling below Hwy 109 Bridge on the west bank in 6 to 8 feet of water. Fish the mouths of the coves using a popping cork, Rat L Trap, or Shad Raps. Some fish are still hitting top water early and late watch the gulls and that is where the top water action is taking place. Try a white buzz bait later in the day on the lead in banks to the coves for large mouths and spots.

Crappie & More (courtesy of Fishbrain's Uncle Jay): The crappie bite has been on fire at West Point reservoir and anglers are loading down their tailgates with slab crappie. While minnows on a downline will do the trick to pull crappie out of shallow brush in most instances, sometimes they prefer jigs. GON's Krappie Krane goes with both, and recommends a Bobby Garland Monkey Milk and Sugar Bugs hair jigs tipped with crappie nibbles or minnows. Expect to land an occasional blue catfish, striper, or white bass as well.

WEISS LAKE IS AT 0 FEET 7 INCHES BELOW FULL POOL, CLEAR AND 72 - 75 DEGREES

All species (courtesy of Ken Sturdivant's Southern Fishing Report): Bass fishing is good and they are still on the creek and river channel ledges. Deep running crank baits and Carolina rigs are catching fish. A lot of Bass are starting to move shallow on secondary points. Crappie fishing is good and they are moving to the Coosa River channel 14 to 20 feet deep. Use the spider rigging techniques with minnows and Jiffy Jigs, Some Crappie are still being caught shooting docks with jigs. Striper fishing is poor and no reports in the last few weeks. Catfish are biting well. Fish in the bays and creeks in 8 to 15 feet of water and cut bait is working best.

LAKE HARTWELL IS 4.8 FEET BELOW FULL, 70's

Bass (courtesy of Ken Sturdivant's Southern Fishing Report): Bass fishing is good. As the water gets cooler bait fish are becoming more active. Big cold front this week. With the temperature drop of more than a few degrees it affects fishing whether it's good or bad. As these cold fronts over the next few weeks roll in fishing is great on the own set. With this front the bait will start piling up in the creeks in search of warmer water. The morning bite has been tough to figure out. Large single shad ae roaming around the banks in the coves. Use the shallow running Shad Raps when fishing in tight. Skeet Reese Redemption spinner baits are also working early and then again around mid-day. There are some real shallow water fish, but they are smaller bass. The bigger quality bass are coming from five feet of water and deeper. Use the #5 Shad Raps on the windblown points and rocky banks. Follow the wind and find the fish. Make long casts and use a slow but steady retrieve. Slow cranking a #10 Husky Jerk, working mid depths with a Zoom Super fluke or the Ito Vision 110 jerk bait will also work. Try to find areas where either a channel or ditch runs close to the points or banks. Bass are using these deep-water channels as highways on roads to get to their feeding grounds. Use your GPS to mark the sharp drop offs. The Lowrance Structure Scan and Down Scan technology will make finding the bait, the structure and the bass.

Note: With the early arrival of winter-like weather, maximize your chances of success for shallow largemouth on Hartwell by fishing shallow ditches during the during peak sunlight hours between noon and 3 pm.

LAKE CHATUGE (courtesy of GON Fishing reports): Level: 3.5 down. Temp: mid-to-low 70s. Clarity: Clear.

Bass: Guide Eric Welch, of Welch's Guide Service,reports, "Fishing is good. TVA has been lowering the lake for the winter, and the cooler weather we've been having is dropping the water temp. We've been seeing more fish breaking in the mornings and throughout the day. This time of year, I like throwing a Berkley Cane Walker, a Strike King Sexy Dawg Jr. and a Lucky Craft Gunfish. The baitfish we've been seeing is only 2.5 to 3.5 inches long, so if you are throwing swimbaits around this size, you're going to get more bites. There are a good number of fish out on the offshore structure. I'm using my Garmin LiveScope to find the fish in these areas and will drop a drop-shot rig down on the fish I see. You can run this pattern and catch fish on a shaky head. We've been catching fish in and around laydowns throwing a Texas rig and a 3/8-oz. jig. Anything in green pumpkin has been working. With October on us, you should start to see a lot of topwater action on the main body and in the pockets. They normally will be pushing bait hard. One great thing about forward sonar is that you can keep contact and follow the baitfish after they have gone down. Good luck."

LAKE ALLATOONA IS DOWN 6.2 FEET, 70S

Bass (courtesy of Ken Sturdivant's Southern Fishing Report): Bass fishing is fair. Big cold front this week. With the temperature drop of more than a few degrees it affects fishing whether it's good or bad. As these cold fronts over the next few weeks roll in fishing is great on the own set. Running main lake and secondary points where wind is blowing in is the best deal right now. Find a blowdown tree or break in the wind. Use a 1/2- or 3/4-ounce spinner bait with a white or chartreuse painted blade and cast it as far as possible and burn back to the boat will draw good bites. It's also becoming the perfect time to throw a larger swim bait such as this Spro BBZ or gliding gizzard baits in 6 in models fished on Sunline Sniper 20-pound test fluorocarbon and a Cashion 7-foot swimbait Rod. Find a concentration of fish several dates will work such as a Shakey head worm Drop shot and even a jerk bait. Continue using the buzz bait first thing in the morning and even a popper style bait. Have fun and remember keep moving and looking for active fish.

LAKE LANIER IS DOWN 3.8 FEET, 60S

Bass (courtesy of guide Phil Johnson via Ken Sturdivant's Southern Fishing Report): Bass fishing on Lake Lanier is fair. Finding the bass on Lake Lanier has not been hard to do but getting them to commit to a bait has been the challenge. The water temperature has been hanging in the low seventies to high sixties for the last week with the water level continuing to drop. The shad are starting to school up and there is some top water action happening, but it is scattered and often just a single fish chasing bait. We have been able to draws strikes on the moving baits but often it just a swing and a miss. I had one bass this week hit a Gunfish six times on one retrieved without hooking up. The fish we have caught have come on a variety of lures. The Jerk shad has been steady for drawing strikes all week. A Slick Stick, Sebile and Gunfish have also caught fish. When you see suspended fish the Spotchoker with a three three Keitech is a good bait to count down to the depth of the fish. We have been working these baits over humps and long points for most of our bites. There has been a jig bite on shallow rocky points as well as around brush. Don't forget to try the drop shot around the deeper brush piles and humps using a Sweet Rosy or a Morning Dawn color. With the colder weather forecast to come in there should be some changes coming to the lake. The true fall schooling activity should be steadily picking up as well as the shallower jig and worm bite. The shad will continue to migrant to the backs of the creeks so be prepared to follow them. It seems that there is turnover going on across the lake so if you are in an area that you are seeing bubbles, or the water is a dark dingy color move to a different area for more success. It is scattered so there are still clean areas to fish. Look for it to pick up by the end of this week and Go Catch 'Em!(Zach Nolan LMB photo accompanying)

Stripers (courtesy of angler Jack Becker): Fishing for Stripers on Lake Lanier again this week-the wind challenged me, but I found success a number of times. Water temperatures are hovering around 70 degrees F. I did better this week in the early evening a couple of hours before dark when the wind died down. Seeing a lot of bait balls coming up to feed on the plankton late in the day. Free lining live, "small bait" on a redi-float worked best for me drifting with the wind or moving very slowly with my electric motor. I'm catching fish in the 12 to 14 lb range. I don't know why, but I did not catch a single fish on down lines this week. Thanks to GA. DNR for their efforts to help restore this striper fishery after a few years of rebuilding. (Two Becker Lanier photos accompanying)

Water Quality (courtesy of WRD Fisheries Biologist Hunter Roop): The summer temperature-0xygen squeeze is long gone and surface temperatures are dropping rapidly and mixing with deeper water layers. If this cold weather sticks around, we can expect fall turnover to occur earlier this year than its typical completion date near Christmas. If you want to gauge the progression of turnover in the reservoir, you can actually look to the USGS gauge at the Chattahoochee River below Lanier and monitor the water temperature trends there. I run the calendar back a year or two (i.e., Jan 1, 2020) to get an idea for the temperature trend I'm looking for. The inflection point where the water temperature at the bottom of the reservoir begins to drop again tells us turnover is fully complete. A warm and wet Autumn requires more for time Lanier's surface waters to cool and sink to the bottom of the lake. Conversely, a dry, cold Autumn like the one we are experiencing speeds up the turnover process a bit. This impacts your fishing by shortening the "fall transition" window for many gamefish, and we will likely see species likes spotted bass, largemouth, striper, and crappie settle into winter patterns a few weeks early this year if the cold trend continues.

Crappie (courtesy of Captain Josh Thornton via Ken Sturdivant's Southern Fishing Report): The water temperatures are in the upper 60s and the fishing is good we are catching a lot of fish and they are getting bigger. Crappie are suspended 12 to 20 feet. Any structure, blow downs, and brush piles are producing well. If you are using jigs, I would try bright colors in clear water and dark colors after the rain. I have had success the ATX monkey milk this week I am setting minnows 10 to 12 feet deep most of the time just above the suspended fish. This week 90% of my catch came on minnows Crappie love the shade so cast into the shadows or shaded areas of dock. When dock shooting the biggest fish are usually the first to bite. I use ATX lure company's jigs on a lip thrashing lure jig heads. I use 5-pound test high visibility yellow k9 braid for my line unless I am using a bobber then it's the k9 6 pound high vis line k9fishing.com and a Acc crappie stix. I use Garmin Live Scope and the Navionics Boating app.

LAKE BURTON (courtesy of GON Fishing reports): 0.5 FEET DOWN AND 70S

Bass: Guide Tyler Clore, of Georgia Cast & Blast, reports, "With the lake turning over, fishing has been hit and miss. We have had the most luck using a drop shot in 20- to 25-foot brushpiles. We have been rigging the drop shot with a morning-dawn Roboworm. Also, we have been catching them on the deeper ends of points with a Spro McStick jerkbait and a Mini Me spinnerbait. I prefer a white spinnerbait with double willowleaf blades. As the turnover ends and water quality stabilizes, look for fish to be chasing pods of bait as they fatten up for the winter. I prefer throwing the McStick or a white fluke into the schooling fish. We have caught a few trout deep in the channel off the points using blueback herring. October is a great month to fish. The water has cooled down and the fish are feeding for winter."

TROUT REPORT

Lanier Tailwater Trout (courtesy of Orvis Fishing Reports): Fishing Report for 10/14/22 Reservoir stratification continues in Lake Lanier and it is causing the Chattahoochee river to be cloudy and off-color. The further south on the tailwater you go, the more fresh water will be provided to the main stream from feeder streams. The wild brown trout are beginning to feed more actively as the days become shorter and we approach fall spawning season. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has discontinued their weekly stocking program for the year and will only stock the tailwater once per month until spring. Delayed Harvest stocking should begin in November south of Morgan Falls Dam if the rain does not make the water unfishable for an extended period of time. If you have any questions at all, feel free to come in and we will be happy to get you set up! For the Chattahoochee, state regulations require a certified personal flotation devise be worn by all anglers from Buford dam south to highway 20. Pay special attention to water release info online or call the number below for release schedules. Make sure to call the Corp of Engineers release hotline at 770-945-1466 before making your trip.

Tailwater Trouting Tips (courtesy of RTA's Chris Scalley): With murkier waters due to Lake Lanier being stratified all summerlong, fly fisherman should bump their average size nymphs by one or two hook sizes to gain a larger profile that's easier for the fish to see. With limited water visibility, anglers can get away with heavier tippet allowing for stronger breaking strength for their line. As the days get shorter and the evenings cooler, water temperatures will start to drop, making the fish more active during the day. Fall is brown trout spawning season, so look out for some better-than-average brood fish to come out of the woodwork for a good streamer bite.

Toccoa Tailwater Report (courtesy of PFS onlinefishing reports): We received two good reports from customers fishing this past week. Discharges and stream levels are near a normal level and the river in good shape. There are still a lot of insects hatching.

Recommended Trout Flies:

• Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
• Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
• Blue-winged Olives: size 16 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
• Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
• Midges: Blood, Creamsizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adults
• Cinnamon Caddis, size 16/18, pupa and adults
• Great Autumn Brown Sedge: size 10, pupa and adults
• Green/brown sandwich hoppers, 4,5,8,10,12
• Japanese Beetles, size 14/16
• Carpenter ants, size 16/18

Strategies, Techniques and Tips: Be sure to check the TVA release schedule shown above. Different species of Blue-winged olive nymphs are very plentiful and available for the trout and various species can hatch on warmer, cloudy days. Still, a good strategy is fishing a tandem Midge rig under a small strike indicator with the midge lava as the bottom fly and the midge pupa as the top fly. Fish the adult midge only when you observe trout feeding on the surface. Fish the Brown Sculpin, White Belly Sculpin and articulated streamers anytime during low light conditions or higher water levels. Aquatic worms are working. Cinnamon caddis are hatching. Great Autumn Brown sedge caddis are hatching.

Stocking Update: Though we are well beyond peak trout stocking season, there is still an opportunity or two to land some recently stocked trout, especially if you are leafing in the North GA mountains this weekend. Be sure to check this week's weekly stocking report to narrow down your options, and if you want to receive this stocking report as a regular communication, be sure to subscribe. Delayed Harvest season begins November 1^st and runs through May 14^th annually, so get ready to stow away your stringers and break out your favorite single hook artificial lure for catch and release trout fishing opportunities throughout the fall and winter. Delayed Harvest regulations apply on the following trout waters:

• Amicalola Creek from County Road 192 (Steele Bridge Road) downstream to GA Hwy 53.
• Chattahoochee River from Sope Creek (off Columns Drive) downstream to US Hwy 41 (Cobb Parkway).
• Chattooga River from GA Hwy 28 bridge upstream to the mouth of Reed Creek.
• Smith Creek on Unicoi State Park from Unicoi Dam downstream to the Unicoi State Park property boundary.
• Toccoa River on U.S. Forest Service land from 0.4 miles above the Shallowford Bridge upstream to a point 450 feet upstream of the Sandy Bottom Canoe Access.

Guide Report: The Unicoi Outfitters blog is fresh every Friday and can be found HERE. Unicoi's "Moment of Chill" post from Thursday might deter cold-averse anglers from trout pursuits this weekend, but if you "look to the bright side" (i.e., the opposite side of the road) you'll surely be encouraged. The views clear skies, crisp air, and spectacular fall foliage are definitely worth the extra layer required to stave off the cold. Here are some tips from former UO's Jeff Durniak to help your prepare for mountain trout fishing this weekend:

"We thought we'd borrow a concept from the Orvis main office. Here's a southern version of their "Moment of Chill" social media posts. May y'all find it relaxing.

And for trout prospectors, here are your "current" conditions. Our waters are low, clear, cold, and leafy, so you'd better bring your best summer drought game with you this weekend. That means drab clothes, a stealthy approach, long leaders, light tippets, and small, soft-landing bugs. And a warm hat and gloves for the early risers among y'all…"

If you're planning to visit Ye Ole town of Helen this weekend, read up on this great article by Jimmy Jacobs to ensure you don't drive past (or, walk over) a nearby trout fishing adventure.

Parting Trout Note: Want to do more to support trout fishing in Georgia? Consider upgrading to a Trout Unlimited license plate this year. Aside from being a great looking tag, each purchase or renewal of a Trout Unlimited license plate goes directly toward trout management in Georgia.

SOUTHEAST GEORGIA

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

Fishing was great just about everywhere before the strong cold front mid-week. The best reports I received were from the rivers and saltwater.

River gages on October 20th were:

• Clyo on the Savannah River - 4.0 feet and falling
• Abbeville on the Ocmulgee - 0.4 feet and falling
• Doctortown on the Altamaha - 3.4 feet and falling
• Waycross on the Satilla - 6.6 feet and steady (65 degrees)
• Atkinson on the Satilla - 5.5 feet and falling
• Macclenny on the St Marys - 3.4 feet and falling

New Moon is October 25th. To monitor all the Georgia river levels, visit the USGS website HERE. For the latest marine forecast, click HERE.

ALTAMAHA/OCMULGEE RIVERS

The river ticked up a little with the heavy rains last week, but they fell right back out and stayed clear the whole time. It will be tough getting around, so be careful navigating. A Fitzgerald angler went to the lower Ocmulgee on Thursday and fooled 41 bass up to 7 1/2 pounds. Junebug Texas-rigged worms worked best in the slightly stained water, but they also caught a few on crankbaits. He and a friend went to another Ocmulgee River landing on Sunday and stopped fishing mid-afternoon after they had caught 54 bass. Their biggest that day was 6 1/2 pounds. The water had cleared, and they caught essentially all of their fish on Texas-rigged worms (green pumpkin primarily, but they caught a few on other colors). Lester Roberts and Hunter Strickland won a bass tournament out of Altamaha Park on Saturday with a 5-fish limit that weighed 18.9 pounds. They also had big fish - a 4.2-pounder. A couple of Waycross anglers fished the Baxley area of the Altamaha on Sunday afternoon and caught 7 bass up to 3-lb., 5-oz. Their two biggest bass ate white-chartreuse River Rat Spinnerbaits, and their other 5 bass ate green pumpkin candy Keitech Mad Wag Worms and speed craws (green pumpkin with orange).

SATILLA RIVER

Last week's rains brought the river up enough that you should be able to get around in a motorboat if you want to, or it's still low enough to float. The lower river produced some good reports of anglers catching crappie on both minnows and jigs. I'd fish the oxbows in the Burnt Fort area if I were going to the Satilla this weekend.

ST. MARYS RIVER

Matt Rouse fished the upper St. Marys on Monday for a half-day and had a blast. He caught some giant bluegills, a few redbreasts, and some nice channel catfish. The panfish ate white Satilla Spins, while the catfish bit shrimp fished on the bottom.

OKEFENOKEE SWAMP

Fishing on the east side was slow, but the west side has been producing good catches of pickerel, bowfin, and catfish. Darren Sexton fished out of Stephen C Foster State Park this past week and did well. He flung crawfish Dura-Spins on Thursday evening for two hours and caught 5 pickerel and 4 bowfin. On Friday, he fished for 4 hours and landed 5 pickerel, 9 bowfin, and a largemouth bass while using crawfish and jackfish Dura-Spins.

DODGE COUNTY PUBLIC FISHING AREA (near Eastman, more info HERE)

The crappie bite was strong this week with the cooler weather. The best report was from an angler fishing off the pier on Wednesday evening. He caught 8 crappie averaging about 3/4 of a pound apiece. Anglers reported catching a few bass each trip this week, but nothing big was reported. Plastic worms worked best. Expect the peak bite to be in the afternoons and evenings after the water warms.

LOCAL PONDS

The crappie bite was wide open in ponds and lakes. A Baxley angler fished a local lake a couple times this week and caught his limit each time by spider rigging 1/16-oz. Tennessee shad Specktacular Jigs tipped with minnows. His biggest crappie this week was 2.9 pounds.

SALTWATER (GA COAST)

Trout fishing has picked up this week. Jody Gill fished with a friend at Crooked River on Friday and caught 20 seatrout (7 keepers) up to 20 inches (most of their keepers were 16 to 17 inches). They caught a couple on gold Fighter jerkbaits, but the vast majority of their fish were on 4-inch Keitech Swing Impact Swimbaits under Equalizer and Cajun Thunder cigar-shaped floats. Their biggest fish ate a sexy shad color, but they caught most of their fish on rootbeer and rootbeer-chartreuse back versions. Don Harrison and Rob Weller fished the Crooked River area on Friday and caught 10 trout (4 keepers to 17 inches) and a keeper flounder. Most of their fish ate a Texas roach Assassin Sea Shad suspended under an Equalizer Float. They returned on Saturday and had a better bite. They landed 24 trout (7 keepers) using electric chicken Sea Shads under Equalizer Floats. Andy and Susie Heisey fished out of Crooked River on Friday and fooled 8 trout (4 keepers) with Keitech swimbaits under Equalizer Floats and live shrimp. Capt. Tim Cutting (fishthegeorgiacoast.com) had a great day trout fishing around Cumberland Island on Monday. They were mostly throwbacks, but his charter set the hook a bunch using live shrimp under a Harper Super Striker Float and also Gulp lures on jigheads. They did manage some keepers and also keeper flounder, sheepshead, and reds. On Tuesday, his charter fished around St. Simons and caught almost 50 redfish (all small slot-sized fish). Live shrimp and Gulp fooled those fish, as well. On Wednesday, they fought the wind for 6 bull redfish fishing cut bait in deep holes along the Intracoastal Waterway. All anglers didn't do well, as I heard 2 reports of folks getting skunked for trout this weekend, as well. A Waycross angler fished the Jekyll Island Pier with several friends on Friday and had a really slow day. The four anglers only caught 2 short flounder and a stingray during their trip, and they didn't see other folks around them catching fish either. For the latest fishing information or live shrimp in the Brunswick area, check withJ&P Bait and Tackleon Hwy 303 (912-282-9705).

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