The Southern Fishing Report” by Ken Sturdivant 10-7

By Ken Sturdivant

106 Hickory Ridge

770 889 2654

Cumming, Georgia 30040

www.havefunfishing.com

October 7, 2011

LAKE LANIER IS DOWN 9.2 FEET, THE CREEKS ARE SLIGHTLY STAINED AND THE MAIN LAKE IS CLEAR AND 71 DEGREES. THE UPPER LAKE IS TURNING OVER.

This Lake Lanier Bass report is from Jim Mathley, www.jimboonlanier.com 770 542 7764

Bass fishing is good. We continue to focus on the lower lake as the upper lake is turning over and the bite has not been as good up north, especially for the bigger spots. The spotted bass in the lower lake continue to school heavily around creek mouths as well as over the river channels and standing timber near both long running steep points and humps. Topwater baits, swimbaits, flukes, and a Fish Head Spin will catch these schooling fish. Focus on points and humps in the mouths of creeks and work your baits over brush or rocky areas where the fish are schooling. When the sun is out, the fish will relate more strongly to the brush. This is the best case scenario as when the fish are in the brush, they are easier to target and they will come up for your baits. When the weather is cloudy, the fish tend to roam and sometimes become bottom locked. In addition to the schooling fish, there are some good 2 to 3 pound fish available on rocky secondary points in cuts off the main lake as well as in the mouths of the major creeks. A buzzbait or spinnerbait early in the morning when the wind is blowing into the structure is the best time to fish these areas. The weather has been stable for the past few days and is forecast to remain stable for the remainder of the week. The full moon is next week so we anticipate a very good rest of the week and a super week for big fish next week. Be flexible on the water and experiment with different presentations. The fish are in and will remain in your favorite creek mouth areas until the water dips into the mid 60’s. See our web site for Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass DVD on sale.

This Lake Lanier Striper report is from Captain Ken West and Captain Mike Maddalena of Big Fish On! Guide Service, 404 561 2564. www.bigfishonguide.com

Striper fishing is fair. With the cold morning temperatures the lake temperature has dropped into the low 70’s. Consequently, the bait has moved has moved up in the water column to the 10 foot level. The stripers are also comfortable in the low 70 degree water temperature and have also moved up with the bait. The turnover is in full swing and the fish are chasing the bait to the surface and have started moving into the creeks and north. The shallow top water bite has started and the old reliable Red Fin, Zara Spook and Chug Bug will work. However, we have had great luck this week with a new lure from Capt. Mack called the GAME CHANGER. It is ideal for throwing to surfacing fish. You can cast it a mile and the spotted bass as well as stripers will hammer it. Pick one up and keep it tied on. Running and gunning points with top water, bucktails and the game changers will keep you busy with spots as well as stripers. Because the fish have moved up in the water column, it’s time for free line herring behind the boat and on planner boards. Start with herring about 40 foot behind the planer boards and 80 to 100 feet behind the boat. The bait stores are starting to carry trout and this would be a good idea for a bigger fish. On bright sunny days, the stripers will move out of the shallow water and into 30 to 40 feet of water so switch to the down rods. Umbrella rigs are also working but they are getting a little difficult to pull due to the trees and brush which are 10 feet closer to the surface. The mouth of Young Deer, Bald Ridge Creek and Shoal Creeks continue to be good places to start. We have also had reports of stripers on the north end in Wahoo Creek and Little River.

October 7, 2011

WEST POINT LAKE IS DOWN 10.8 FEET, STAINED & 83 DEGREES BY CHRIS BELL

Bass fishing has been good. There has been little change over the last week. More fish are beginning to concentrate themselves near shallow cover lake wide. A few more cool nights and the lake should really turn on. Continue to cover water with shallow crankbaits until you approach cover such as a lay down or brush pile. The best crankbait has been Bandit 200 series in a shad pattern of any type. Once you approach cover switch to a shaky head rigged with a Zoom green pumpkin finesse worm. This little worm can truly catch big fish that have been pressured. The spinnerbait bite has picked up a little this week when wind is present. The spinnerbait must be fished close to cover to get bites. The 3/8 ounce War Eagle spinnerbait in the spot remover color is producing best.

Hybrid and striper fishing is good. Fish are schooling on humps first thing in the morning. Use ¼ ounce rattle traps in chrome black back and popping corks with fly. Once the sun is high, down line live shad on these same areas on schools of fish. In a few more weeks, warrant we have cooler temperatures, schooling should be lake wide and more consistent.

Crappie fishing has been poor. It is going to be a few more weeks before crappie fishing picks up. Fishing at night underneath a floating light seems to be the best pattern. Down line live minnows in eight to ten feet of water beneath lights near bridge columns. The best bridges have been the 109 and Yellow Jacket bridges.

October 7, 2011

LAKE ALLATOONA IS DOWN 8.17 FEET, 74 DEGREES AND CLEAR

Bass fishing is excellent. This month temperatures are cooling and the winter drawdown is under way. Bass are really feeding up and getting ready for the cold winter months. Fish can be caught pretty much any way you like to fish. My top choice is topwater and shallow cranking. Start the days off with a buzz bait right against bluffs or rip rap in the Etowah River arm of the lake. The rest of the day, fish shallow crankbaits in creeks and on secondary points. Use baits like the Spro Little John and the Fat John in natural shad or crawfish patterns. Make sure to hit all visible cover. Shaky head worms tipped with Big Bite Shaky Squirrels in green pumpkin with a chartreuse dipped tail and brown finesse jigs will also work great for numbers or when the bite gets tough. See our web site for the Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass DVD on sale.

This Lake Allatoona striper and hybrid fishing guides report has been brought to you exclusively by Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service, 770 827 6282. www.firstbiteguideservice.com Lake Allatoona, Georgia email: eidson6260@comcast.net

Line side fishing is good mornings and afternoons and all day on cloudy days. Look for hybrids and small stripers busting the top in the Fields Landing and Delta area at the island in front of Kellogg Creek and Harbortown between Bartow Carver and Illinois Creek. The biggest school is between Bethany Bridge and Stamp Creek. Fish a big white Rooster Tails, Jr. Flukes and anything on a popping cork. Use 6 or 8 pound test or you won’t get bit. If they’re not coming up, pull umbrella rigs and this rig will out fish live bait 5 to 1. Use the Mack Farr four arm umbrella rigged with nine 1/2 ounce white bucktails. Chartreuse or white trailers seem to be working equally well. If you don’t like trolling, try dropping a white with chrome Flex It spoon on top of fish you see on the graph.

October 7, 2011

LAKE HARTWELL IS DOWN 7.51 FEET, CLEAR & 74 DEGREES

Bass fishing is good and should get even better as the week progresses. Bass are up to the shallower water as well as the schools of shad. Fish the smaller points and secondary points is where the bass are going to feed as the wind is blowing the shad there. Use the Shad Raps, Chug Bugs and Wildeye Swim Shads. Work the surface on the back side of these smaller points first thing in the morning and look for submerged structure in water about three to four feet deep. One small stump is holding several bass and the Chug Bug is just the bait to bring them up. Throw the bait past the area to be fished and give it a good quick jerk or pop then slow the bait down to a medium retrieve. Shad Raps are working best on the points and around the first few dock just off the points. A steady to slow retrieve seems to be working best. Also throw the smaller version of the Wildeye Swim bait in the same areas. The Bass Fishing Lake Hartwell guide is for sale. Lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA

October 7, 2011

CLARKS HILL IS DOWN 7.3 FEET, 74 DEGREES WITH MOSTLY CLEAR

Bass fishing is good and the fish are feeding. Pop R’s and Ito Vision 110 hard baits are good as well as the soft lures. So set up a variety of sizes and colors of Shad Raps, a Manns shallow crank bait and try the light lines this week line the ten pound test Sufix Elite line. Fish the islands, points and the edges of the drop offs. Up in the rivers and creeks where the water will show you a little bit of color, use the darker colors. Fish the rocky points with the Bandit 200 in shad and try a parrot colors as well. The bass will be feeding so covering and fishing a lot of water might work. Keep a Zoom baby fluke ready in case the fish are feeding and not taking the big baits. Some of the bass are small spots but a big largemouth may grab a bait. Many of the bass will be small, so keep fishing. If all else fails, tie on a blood fusion worm and fish the ditches and drop offs. Fishing an area thoroughly will be a must this week. All Georgia lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA Georgia lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA

October 7, 2011

LAKE RUSSELL IS DOWN 2.6 FEET, CLEAR & 73 DEGREES

Bass fishing is good as the water temperature dip. Many anglers are using those Carolina Rigs along rocky banks and points to bag a limit of two pounders daily. Numerous larger Bass and suspended Bass can be found out in deeper water ranging from ten to twenty feet deep. DT16’s DT14’s and Minnow Raps along with Rattlin’ Raps are all excellent baits to use while fishing the ledges and main lake points. Rocky River is still a favorite place to fish this week. However, don’t overlook the mouth of Beaverdam Creek, especially where the brush piles are right against the bank. Lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA. See our web site for Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass DVD on sale.

October 7, 2011

LAKE SEMINOLE IS DOWN ONE FOOT, CLEAR AND 82 DEGREES

Bass fishing is slow lake wide. Fish a floating jerkbait on grass lines on the main part of the lake. The best grass lines are the ones that have shad, bream or needle fish present. Use a Spro McStick 110 in old glory color, but try a couple of things to the bait to trick it out a bit. The bait suspends as it is coming out of the package, but if you change the hooks and split rings to a smaller size, it will float slowly back to the surface when fished. Change the hooks to Gamakatsu #6 EWG treble hooks and the split rings to a smaller and thinner size to give the jerkbait less weight. This makes it more appealing to late summer, early fall bass on Seminole. Use 14 lb. Sunline FC Sniper Fluorocarbon with the McStick in order to get the best action out of the bait. Another pattern that is working this year is to flip hydrilla lines in 10 to 15 feet of water. When flipping, use 22 lb. Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon, a 1 1/2 ounce Tungsten sinker, a Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Flipping Hook in 3/0, and a 4 inch Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog in Vegas flash.

All Georgia lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA

October 7, 2011

LAKE GEORGE IS DOWN 3.04 FEET, 79 DEGREES & CLEAR

Bass fishing is fair. Fish the backs of creeks flipping soft plastics to shallow lay downs. Use the smaller darker creature baits like the Sweet Beaver. Running the banks around the points and up into the creek mouths with a small, shallow running crank bait is another good October pattern. Another bait that should soon begin producing in the creeks is a square billed, shallow running crank bait fished through brush tops. Picking apart wood structure up the river with a jig is fair to good. Try swimming a 1/4 ounce white and silver War Eagle jig under dock floats back in the creeks. With the low water docks and shallow a ditch running near it is going to have a bass feeding on the smaller baits looking for shallow food sources. After you finish up on the docks, then go out and follow the ditches farther out and cast a natural pro blue Yo Zuri 3D flat crank to pick off the fish that are roaming. See our web site for Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass DVD on sale. Georgia lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA

October 7, 2011

LAKE WEISS IS DOWN 1.66 FEET, LIGHT STAIN & 67 DEGREES BY COLLINS GUIDE SERVICE

Now available for sale 50 of my proven GPS waypoints for off shore structure for Bass and Crappie fishing on Weiss Lake, Alabama. E mail ken@havefunfishing.com

Bass fishing is good and a lot of bass have moved shallow in the coves and bays as the water cools and the Shad migrate shallow. Shallow running crank baits, spinner baits and Rat L Traps in shad patterns are working well. Look for the bite to really get hot when the water gets below 70 degrees. Some good bass are showing up on secondary points also.

Crappie fishing is good and a lot of crappie are under the deeper docks. Look for larger older docks that create a lot of shade. Use a 1/24 ounce jiffy jig in colors JJ13 and JJ17. A lot of crappie are starting to show up on the old river channel ledges, spider rigging with minnows is starting to produce some good fish with a ton of under size fish. Over the last week a lot of crappie have shown up on the old river channels 10 to 12 feet deep, any where there is cover. Look for more to move to the ledges as the water cools more.

Striper fishing is fair and they are showing up in the main lake on river channel ledges 8-14 feet deep. Live Shad down lined and free lined, trolled slowly on the old Coosa river channel is producing best

October 7, 2011

LAKE SINCLAIR IS DOWN 1.58 FEET, 78 DEGREES, MOSTLY STAINED.

Bass fishing is good and there are schooling fish down the lake on main lake points and humps. Use the Zoom Fluke in albino color a Sammy and a 1/2 ounce chrome and blue Rat L Trap. Fish these areas again after leaving them with a spinner bait and a buzz bait. Fish these areas and look for bait. If you see bait, stop and work all three baits over the point, and you should get fish to come up. Small Bandit crank baits will work but use light 8 pound test around the lower lake docks. See our web site for Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass DVD on sale. Lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA

LAKE OCONEE IS DOWN 2.24 FEET, 76 DEGREES AND CLEAR.

Bass fishing is good. Up the rivers and major creeks the fish are staging on wood structure. Work the blow downs with a Zoom u tail worm in a dark green or black Texas rigged. Down lake, look for the fish in the coves just off the main lake. They are starting to move. As the water cools they will move further back in the coves. Start with a buzz bait on the sea walls as you come into the cove. A white or a chartreuse and white Old Nelly buzz bait has been working over the past few days. As the sun gets up switch to a #7 Shad Rap and work the docks in the same area. Start at the mouth of the cove and work to the back. There are also some schooling on the south end of the lake. When moving from cove to cove keep an eye on your Lowrance for a school to show up and then run your Shad Rap through the school.

Lake Oconee Line Side report brought to you by Mark Smith at Reel Time Guide Service. 404-803-0741. wwwreeltimeguideservice.com

Line side fishing is fair and the fall bite is starting up. Look in the river bend area of the lake and have a bait tank full of live bait like threadfin shad, shiners and gizzard shad. All will work on most days. A good way to locate the schools is to pull a Capt. Mack umbrella rig in the mouths of the creeks and coves until you find the schools. When you find the schools drop a live bite down and hang on. This will be some of the best fishing of the year and will last until the late winter. As always keep an eye on your Lowrance for the schools. Sugar Creek has the Capt. Mac u-rigs in stock along with Okuma line counter reels and Okuma striper rods. They also have a complete line of Zoom baits on hand. If you like to see the Lowrance HDS units in action give me a call and I can show you how it works. You can have an on the water demo. 404-803-0741

Crappie fishing is good. As the water temp drops into the lower 70 the spider rig bite will start to pick up. Right now the fish are showing up in the mouths of the creeks. Some fish are showing up in brush piles from 5 to 10 feet. Look for the fish to show up on your Lowrance and drop you live shiners down the depth they are holding at.

October 7, 2011

JACKSON LAKE IS FULL, CLEAR, 74 DEGREES

Black bass fishing is looking up and the bass are now on the move. It is just a few weeks away before the first bass lock tight on the beds. The lake is still a little stained but this is nothing new for Jackson. Anglers are now working spinnerbaits in the shallows along with crankbaits. Shad Raps is a favorite this time of the year and the new Glass Shad Raps are really doing a good job. With the water showing a little color, the black glass color is really working. Fish the coves and secondary points up in the creeks and rivers and make several casts to each location. Crawdad and perch colors in the DT6’s is another good choice while throwing cranks. Fish the banks with Ito Vision 110 shad color and DT10’s. Try the number seven and eight Shad Raps. Georgia lake levels are from www.lakelevels.info/?StateID=GA See our web site for Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass DVD on sale.

Our DVD, Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass is now on sale for only $ 25.00 including shipping. Send a check payable to Southern Fishing Schools Inc. to: Southern Fishing Schools Inc to 106 Hickory Ridge Drive, Cumming Georgia. Please allow 14 days for delivery.

Ken Sturdivant, Lowrance Professional Fishing Staff will be conducting FREE! Sonar Seminars at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Lawrenceville Georgia. The BASICS OF SONAR seminars are held on the last Saturday of each month at 2pm. All seminars are subject to change without notice.

If you would like to have a free set up sheet for your sonar, send me an e mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net and ask for the Sonar Setup Quick List.

We have these BASS FISHING books for sale: BASS FISHING LAKE LANIER, BASS FISHING LAKE ALLATOONA, BASS FISHING WEST POINT LAKE, BASS FISHING LAKE RUSSELL, BASS FISHING WEST POINT LAKE and BASS FISHING LAKE HARTWELL. These books are written exclusively for Bass and each book covers every week of the year. Each book $ 39.00. If you would like a sample of any book, send us an e mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net. Our mailing address is: Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 106 Hickory Ridge, Cumming Georgia 30040.

Copyright 2011, Southern Fishing Schools Inc. calls us to set up a school, Maps and Depth Finders or Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass. www.havefunfishing.com 770 889 2654