March 2020 Lake Lanier Fishing Report
The weather is warming up and the fishing is good! Now is time to break out your Capt. Mack’s Perfect Planer Boards and fish your herring and small to medium gizzard shad much higher in the water column. The bait will begin to relate more to the upper 10 to 15 feet of water versus the 10 to 15 feet of water closest to the bottom as the weather warms up. For planer board setups, we are using Okuma Cold Water 153 or 203 line counter reels, 15- to 20-lb. mono or braided main line, attached to medium- or medium-heavy action rods. The main line is tied to a quality Hi Seas Mighty-Mini crane swivel with a bead above the swivel to prevent the board from sliding down the line to the hook and knocking off the fish. depending on the size of the bait you are using, you can attach 5 to 6 feet of 12- to 14-lb. Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon to a No. 2 to 3/0 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hook. Late winter and early spring put your bait 50 to 75 feet back, attach the board to your line with the rear pig tail clip, attach line to the pinch clip, and let out another 60 to 70 feet of line. The board will pull out to the side of the boat and allow you to repeat the process of letting out another bait 50 to 75 feet on a second rod, attaching your second board, and then letting out just 30 to 35 feet this time. Repeat this process on the other side of the boat and then put two flatlines back 75 to 100 feet straight behind the boat. Pull these six rods at 0.9-1.2 mph wherever you are seeing concentrations of bait on your Humminbird Helix or Solix graph in the backs of the creeks, over secondary creek points or even deep water creek and river channels. This technique will allow you to cover a lot of water, which will be the ticket in March as the fish will be moving around the lake a lot looking for food. Continue to look for the birds that are diving on bait that have been forced to the surface. If you are only looking for big fish, try pulling a large herring or medium shad very close to sandy or rocky banks on sunny afternoons. This water will warm quicker than other areas, which will attract the bait, and the big fish will be looking for a big meal as they begin getting ready for the spawn that will begin in late March through late April.
Call us today at 678-300-4865 to book your Striper Experience!