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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.
“SONAR WITH KEN
STURDIVANT”
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. All seminars are the last Saturday of each month. All seminars are
subject to change without notice.
February 9, 2012
LAKE OCONEE IS FULL, 55 DEGREES.
Bass fishing is fair and the main lake is clear, stained to muddy up the rivers.
Small crank baits are still the way to go. The fish are tight to cover. Wood
cover is the best. Some fish are showing up on rock but wood is a better
alliterative. There are some fish starting to stage outside of the creeks and
coves. With the water temperatures in the high 50’s some fish are acting like it
is time to spawn. So do not over look the points going into creeks and coves.
These fish will move up on the points to feed and then retreat back into the
deeper water if it cools. If the water temperatures drop, then back off into
deeper water and slow down. If the temperatures increase, then look for the fish
to move up on the banks.
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 good. The stripers and hybrids are starting to move into a
spring pattern. They are not stacked up at the dam yet but they are showing up
on the lower end of the lake at the mouth of Richland creek. Use your Lowrance
to locate the schools of bait and drop your bait in the schools. The Stripers
may not show on the Lowrance but they are close to the bait. Keep a Cat. Mac
spoon tied on. There are times that it will out produce the live bait.
Crappie fishing is good. Over the next two weeks some of the biggest crappie
will be put into coolers. They are starting to show up in the back of the major
creeks. Lick creek, Sugar Creek and up the rivers. This is the time of year to
fill your cooler with big slabs. Spider rigging in the back of these creeks will
produce the most fish. Tip your jig with a minnow for the best results. The best
jug color has been the blue black, or the green black. This should last until
the end of spring. But the biggest fish will be caught over the next few weeks.
The weather is good and the fish are feeding so now is a good time to take a
child fishing. Sugar Creek Marina has a complete line of striper gear, crappie
jigs and all the bass tackle you will need. The spring striper bite is on the
way now is a good time to stock up. We teach On the Water Schools for Sonar and
Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass. Call for Ken details at 770 889 2654 for
details.
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.
Lake
Oconee is located mainly in Greene County, near the towns of Madison and
Greensboro. The 19,050 acre reservoir is operated by Georgia Power Company with
Lake Sinclair as a pump storage (pump back) hydropower generation facility. This
unique operation in combination with the lake’s long, narrow shape produces
noticeable water current throughout the lake during power generation and pump
back. Fish tend to be more active and feed more aggressively when water is
moving through the dam. Fifty plots of timber topped off below water level and
1,250 acres of standing timber were left along creek and river channels to serve
as fish attractors and provide fish habitat. Public access is readily available
through eight Georgia Power and U.S. Forest Service boat ramps and parks.
Several lakeside marinas also offer lodging, food, bait, tackle and other
fishing related services. Lake Oconee’s slot limit is intended to improve bass
growth by encouraging selective harvest of smaller bass. Under this 11 14 inch
protected slot, largemouth bass less than 11 inches and over 14 inches may be
kept, while bass between 11 and 14 inches must be released. Removing smaller
bass will improve bass growth by increasing the food supply for the remaining
bass. Continued harvest of small bass will be necessary to improve bass growth
at Oconee. The removal of small bass is essential for slot limits to work, while
harvest of larger bass is optional. Spinnerbaits and crank baits fished around
riprap and rocky areas are popular for bass all year long. During the summer
months, most fish are caught on main lake points, around deep bridges and steep
banks, or up the Oconee and Apalachee rivers above I 20. Deep diving crank baits
fished around main lake points produced many excellent catches of largemouth
during the summer. Drop shots and jig head worms on points and offshore humps
has produced good catches as well.
Good numbers of harvestable size crappie should be available again this year.
For large numbers and large fish, anglers should be on the water from February
through April, with the biggest slabs usually caught on warm afternoons in
February. Fishing around standing timber in Sugar Creek and the upper end of the
lake is a good bet for crappie in the spring, as are the upper ends of other
major creek arms such as Richland, Sandy and Lick creeks. Stay out toward the
mouths of the creeks, near the main lake, in early February and gradually move
back towards shallow water as the temperature increases in the spring. Bedding
crappie can be caught around shallow cover when water temperatures reach the low
60s.
White bass and hybrids will make spawning runs up the Oconee and Apalachee
rivers in March and April, and the fishing can be great on the right day. Little
George’s, rooster tails, small crank baits and curly tail grubs are the best
lures for white bass on the spawning runs. Hybrids can also be caught in April
and May in the middle and upper end of the reservoir around bridges and other
rip rap feeding on spawning threadfin shad. Hybrid fishing was excellent in 2007
for numbers of fish, and quite a few hybrids in the 5 – 10 pounds range were
caught. Hybrids will often school in the middle third of the reservoir
throughout the summer, and then move to the lower end of the lake throughout the
winter. The Oconee River arm from Lick Creek down to the dam is especially good
for hybrids in the winter. Anglers may begin to see more striped bass this year.
The young stripers will likely be mixed in with hybrids and white bass. In
addition to hybrids, WRD has been stocking striped bass over the last few years
and some of these fish should enter angler’s creels this year. If striped bass
perform well in Lake Oconee, the long range goal is to phase hybrids out of the
Altamaha River basin reservoirs, which includes Lake Oconee, Lake Sinclair, Lake
Jackson and several other smaller impoundments. WRD will stock a mix of stripers
and hybrids again this spring.
Catfish angling is excellent on Oconee, but the population is changing with the
expansion of the recently introduced blue and flathead catfish populations.
While there are still plenty of smaller channel and white catfish that can
consistently be caught throughout the lake, the number of small, 6 10 inch fish
has declined slightly and the overall size and quality of catfish has improved.
Blues and flatheads continue to expand their population, and numerous flatheads
over twenty pounds have been caught in the recent past. Live shad or bluegill
and cut bait are the best baits for flatheads, and hot summer nights are the
best time to catch them. Morning and night fishing is particularly good for all
species of catfish during the warm summer months, and the consistent bite makes
them a great fish to target when introducing kids to fishing. Worms or cut bait
fished on the bottom are best options for this species.
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 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.
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