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 Lake Allatoona Fishing Report

Meet Ken Sturdivant, Lowrance Professional Fishing Staff at Bass Pro Shops in Lawrenceville Georgia Saturday's. 

See samples of the New Lowrance HDS Structure Scan Down Scan at this address: http://havefunfishing.com/fishingreports/lowrance.htm

Ken Sturdivant, Lowrance Professional Fishing Staff will be conducting FREE! Sonar Seminars at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Lawrenceville Georgia. The 2009 Sonar Seminar dates: November 28 and December 26. All seminars start at 2pm and are subject to change without notice.

November 13, 2009

LAKE ALLATOONA IS FULL, STAINED UP AND CLEAR DOWN, 68 DEGREES

Bass fishing is poor to fair with the recent heavy rains and runoff. Stay down lake and get the drop shot rigs and the small swim baits on several rods. Concentrate on the creeks between about 1/2 way back to 3/4's of the way back as these creeks. Concentrate on any available wood cover from 2 feet deep to brush piles in 40 feet of water. Fish the shallow exposed wood with mini Me's and Flashminnow 110 jerk baits. Fish the deeper brush with drop shot tipped with a Flat Tail or Kuttail drop shot worm in blue pearl color. Rig your #4 Gamakatsu Split Shot hook with a 3/16 ounce drop shot weight and be sure to have some 6 pound Sufix fluorocarbon so you can detect those subtle bites in the deeper waters. For the next few months the drop shot rig will become very effective in the months to come. Lots of shad suspended on the graph but not a lot of fish chasing them so the deep water bite is sporadic if there isn't structure nearby. You can usually pick up a fish or two by fishing the suspended schools of bait but it will be a long wait unless you find the right spot.

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

Line side fishing is good and we spent the week fishing mid lake and had been doing really well before the rains hit. Clients have been catching good numbers of striped and hybrid bass on down lines, flat lines, spoons and umbrella rigs. The fish are starting to move halfway back into the creeks and up on the flats. We also seeing some limited top water action in the mornings.. The fish that are hugging the bottom are willing to eat almost anything. The suspended fish are a little more picking. If they don't bite within 10 minutes move on to another school. We are running a November Special. Book a six hour trip on Lake Allatoona or Carters Lake and receive and extra hour on me. You can also view our daily catches on www.lakeallatoonafishing.net under the thread recent trips with First Bite. Please stop by and take a look.


We have the NEW! Book: “BASS FISHING LAKE ALLATOONA” for sale $39.00 total.

If you would like a sample send an e mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net. Our mailing address is: Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 106 Hickory Ridge, Cumming Georgia 30040.

NEW BOOK! "BASS FISHING LAKE ALLATOONA" is now on sale. Get the full years fishing reports and locations exclusively for bass fishing this great lake. If you would like to see a sample, send an e mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net and ask for the sample of the BASS FISHING LAKE ALLATOONA book.

Stop wasting time, gas and Money! Learn how to Find the Fish with our On the Water Schools. Here s a course outline:

Southern Fishing Schools Inc.
106 Hickory Ridge
www.havefunfishing.com
Cumming, Georgia 30040
770-889-2654

“On the Water” Sonar School Outline

We will spend the day tuning the sonar, locating fish and structure and marking fishing locations where fish “live”. We will SEE the fish and the structure where they live.

1. Learn how sonar works. What is the cone angle? What do fish look like when we are sitting still and when we are moving? What are those long skinny lines coming off the bottom? What are those long horizontal lines? What does a school’s of bait look like.

2. How do I find the places where Bass live? Learn the technique that will eliminate water and hot to “find” the fish.

3. How to use the right bass lures at the right time. We will use the Fish and Game Forecaster and learn when to fish with what. www.moontimes.com

4. Tune a sonar from a to z. All the settings are there for the angler to customize their machine.

4. Learn how to use the Aqua Vu under water cameras. www.aquavu.com SEE THE FISH!

5. See the GPS features in action and load numbers into a GPS unit. We will give anglers a list of several locations at Lake Lanier where bass live. Learn how to load GPS numbers in machines.

6. How to run software updates.

COPYRIGHT Southern Fishing Schools Inc.

We have the NEW! Book: “BASS FISHING LAKE ALLATOONA” for sale $39.00 total. If you would like a sample send an e mail to kensturdivant@earthlink.net. Our mailing address is: Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 106 Hickory Ridge, Cumming Georgia 30040.

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 books for sale: “BASS FISHING ON WEST POINT LAKE”, “BASS FISHING LAKE RUSSELL”, “BASS FISHING WEST POINT LAKE” and “BASS FISHING LAKE HARTWELL”. These books are written by Tim White and Ken Sturdivant and each one has over 65 locations exclusively for bass and 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.

We have 3 books that cover all species in the lakes, “52 WEEKS ON LAKE ALLATOONA, “52 WEEKS ON LAKE LANIER”, and “52 WEEKS ON WEST POINT LAKE” on sale. Each book is $23.95. Our mailing address is: Southern Fishing Schools Inc. 106 Hickory Ridge, Cumming Georgia 30040.

Lake levels from http://lakes.southernco.com/

Lake Lanier Striper Survey: www.stripersurvey.com

You can see the feeding times daily with a Data Sport Fish and Game Forecaster on our web site.

We teach “ON THE WATER SCHOOLS”: “Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass or Maps and Depth Finders. Call 770 889 2654 for details or see the web site: www.havefunfishing.com.

Take a look at www.aquavu.com. You really need a camera. Copyright 2007, Southern Fishing Schools Inc. calls us to set up a school “Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass”. See our web site, www.havefunfishing.com for more details or call us right away, 770 889 2654.

ALLATOONA LAKE DNR 2008 Predictions: This 11,860 acre U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) impoundment of the Etowah River is 30 miles north of Atlanta on I 75. Numerous COE facilities and a Georgia State Park located around the lake provide anglers convenient boat ramp access and parking, as well as camping opportunities. The lake receives heavy use by boaters, skiers and anglers given its close proximity to Atlanta. Fishing early and late daylight hours, and at night, are effective ways to avoid the crowds and catch wary fish. Anglers fishing Allatoona from July September should concentrate their efforts in water no deeper than 30 feet, as dissolved oxygen is rarely satisfactory for fish at greater depths that time of year.
When it comes to black bass, angler catch rates in Allatoona continue to be better than most Georgia reservoirs, yet average bass size tends to be smaller. One reason is that spotted bass, which attain smaller adult size than largemouth bass, dominate the black bass fishery, making up approximately 80 90 percent of the black bass population. The average spot will be 10 12 inches in 2008, while older fish will measure out in the high teens and low twenties. The less abundant largemouth bass will typically weigh in at around 1.25 lbs, but a few more over 5 pounds may be caught in 2008. Target largemouth in the Little River and Etowah arms of the reservoir, as this is where the best largemouth habitat exists. You also may find largemouth in the 400+shoreline trees toppled into the lake last year for fish habitat a program that will continue in 2008. Spotted bass tend to remain in deeper habitats than largemouth. Drop shot and spooning are both good ways to target these fish. Anglers should try both techniques in and around the 36+ deepwater locations that WRD and COE has placed in the reservoir. These locations are typically in 25 30 feet of water at full pool and best fished from fall through spring. Updated fish attractor location maps can be downloaded and printed from the WRD website at www.gofishgeorgia.com. In April 2007, WRD tagged spotted bass to gather information on their abundance, survival and angler harvest rates in Allatoona. Anglers catching a tagged fish in 2008 should snip the tag off close to where it enters the fish and call the number on the tag. Callers will be asked for their 1) name, address and phone number; 2) date of catch and general location of catch, and 3) whether the tagged fish was released or taken home. Anglers also can mail or bring tag and information to the WRD Calhoun (706 624 1161) Fisheries Management Office. The average crappie should be around 10 inches and weigh about 0.5 lb., though larger crappie tipping the scales over 1 pound will be caught. Most crappie anglers focus their efforts during the spring spawn, when the fish concentrate in shallow water. Early spring is an excellent time to catch a trophy “slab” as the females will be laden with eggs and in excellent condition prior to the spawn. Besides jigging or live bait fishing over structure, anglers should try slow trolling small artificials in these same areas. Trolling is a good way to cover a lot of water and locate schools of feeding fish. Popular areas to catch spring spawn crappie include the Kellogg, Illinois, and Stamp Creek areas of the lake. During the summer months, crappie will concentrate in deeper water, where anglers can catch them by targeting brush piles and other fish attractors located on humps and channel ledges. Night fishing with the use of lights and light tackle around docks and bridges will likely be an angler’s best chance at consistently boating finicky summer crappie. As summer gives way to cooler fall and winter temperatures, crappie will begin feeding more actively. Target these fish near old river channel edges found in many of Allatoona’s coves. WRD annually stocks striped bass in Allatoona at a rate of 2.5 fish per surface acre. Severe drought conditions last summer may have reduced the number of large stripers that will be caught in Allatoona this year. On the plus side, additional striper fingerling stocking last year has created an abundance of young stripers in the reservoir for 2008. Overall striper fishing is best from October June and trolling live shad is an angler’s best approach to consistent catches. Stripers will be found in the main body of the lake in winter, but migrate to upper reaches of the lake on their spring spawning run. As summer heats up smaller stripers (<10 pounds ) will be found in the main lake, but larger linesides will likely migrate far up the Etowah River seeking cool water in which to beat the summer heat. Enticing a summer bite from these large fish can be extremely difficult as they slow their feeding rates during this time of year. With the onset of fall and cooling lake waters, these large stripers migrate back into the main lake body and feed voraciously as they pack on pounds lost during the hot summer months. Increased stocking rates of hybrid striped bass by WRD in recent years continue to be successful! Based on sample data, hybrid abundance in Allatoona continue to remain high, rivaling some of Georgia’s best known hybrid lakes. The average hybrid will be in the 2 pounds range this year but plenty of 5 8 pounds fish also will be caught. Hybrids can be caught year round, but summer is best for boating large numbers. Regardless of season, anglers seeking these hard fighters must locate their primary food source, shad. Using depth finders, locate schools of shad while keeping a sharp eye open for schooling hybrids “boiling” the water’s surface as they feed on shad in the morning and early evening. White spinners, spoons and crank baits will produce summer fish, but serious hybrid fisherman will slow troll with 4 6 inch live shad on simple free line or down line rigs. In the winter months live shad will continue to be effective, but anglers wishing to use artificials can try trolling umbrella rigs or vertical jigging with spoons. In terms of location, the mile of lake above and below the popular Galt’s Ferry boat ramp is a year round hotspot for Allatoona hybrids.
Bluegill, redbreast sunfish and redear sunfish are all present in Allatoona. Bluegills are the dominant sunfish species. However, they typically average 5 inches in length and few individuals over 7 inches are present. Anglers are encouraged to harvest bluegill to increase growth rates of those remaining. Redear are less abundant than bluegills, but tend to be larger. Redear will speckle the bottom of shallow coves with their nests from early to mid summer. These nests can be fiercely defended by hand size males that don’t think twice about jumping on a lure or bait passing close by. Channel and flathead catfish are available. While channel catfish are more abundant, flatheads tend to grow to a much larger size. Pursue channels and flatheads on the rocky bedrock banks in the Etowah River arm using chicken livers and live bait fished on the bottom. The numerous rip rapped shoreline banks are also good areas to hunt big Allatoona catfish.

We have these books for sale: “BASS FISHING ON WEST POINT LAKE”, “BASS FISHING LAKE RUSSELL”, “BASS FISHING WEST POINT LAKE” and “BASS FISHING LAKE HARTWELL”. These books are written by Tim White and Ken Sturdivant and each one has over 65 locations exclusively for bass and 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.