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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.
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