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NEW!  Fish & Game Forecaster
 
 While filming on Lake Oconee,
Have Fun Fishing stays at the
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The 251-room Lodge offers great dining options, plus a 26,000-square-foot spa.


 

 
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Lake Oconee Fishing Report

Al Bassett is a full time guide on Lake Oconee. Call Al at 706-473-7758

www.oconeeal.com

www.stripersurvey.com for Lake Lanier Striper Anglers.
 
Chek weather for lake allatoona fishing

Meet Ken Sturdivant Saturday's at
Bass Pro Shops "Outdoor World" in Lawrenceville Georgia. 


 “SONAR WITH KEN STURDIVANT”

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: July 25, August 29, September 26, October 31, November 28 and December 26. All seminars start at 2pm and are subject to change without notice.


Our NEW! DVD, FINDING FISH WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGY, is now on sale.


June 26, 2009

LAKE OCONEE IS FULL, 85 DEGREES BY AL BASSETT

Currently Lake Oconee is at full pool with a water temperature of 84 to 90 degrees. Most of the lake is clear but there is still a little muddy water in some areas. Bass fishing is good. The top water bite has slowed a little but still good. You may or may not find some mayflies but still use top water the first part of the day or just before dusk. Use the O’Nellie double blade buzz bait in white/chart has been a very good bait to use. Down the lake look for any grass you find in the water and work these areas real well with your top water bait. Use this buzz bait in the grass and work along the outside. Once this action slows, work a zoom watermelon fineness worm on a small jig head around the docks. Make sure to work all areas of the dock to see where the fish are holding. Try adding a few drops of the JJ’s Magic Juice to your worm as this will also help to increase your catch ratio. There are a lot of fish on deep water points and under water islands. Start looking for fish to be on the long points and under water islands around the lake. Also, deep water docks or docks that are very near deep water are great places to concentrate. On the points a crank bait or a Carolina-rig would be a good method to use. On the deep water dock flipping a large worm has been work well.

Crappie fishing at night with lights off the side of the boat is a great way to catch a number of fish and beat the heat. Setting up under a bridge or in the timbers is the place to be. When fishing for crappie during the day look for brush piles in 10 to 15 foot of water, and fish with live bait over the top of the pile. Also look for fish on the sharp drop offs. When you find fish in these areas work that area really good as you most likely have found a school of fish. There are also a good number of fish moving in and around the deep water docks. Shooting a Jiffy Jig under these docks can bring you some good size fish. Be sure when out on the water during these hot summer days drink plenty of fluids and use your sunscreen. Safety is number one!


The Lodge on Lake Oconee is a great retreat and resort area and it right on the shores of beautiful Lake Oconee in Eatonton, Georgia. Take a look at the resort on the internet and see what they have to offer. www.thelodgeonlakeoconee.com


Our new DVD, “FINDING FISH WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGY” is now on sale! You can see a FREE! sample on www.havefunfishing.com

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.

Take a look at www.aquavu.com. You really need a camera. Copyright 2008, Southern Fishing Schools Inc. calls us to set up a school “Maps and Depth Finders” or “Rods, Reels and Lures for Bass”. See our web site, www.havefunfishing.com for more details or call us right away, 770 889 2654.


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 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 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 2008, 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.