The water conditions mean it’s down line time. The lake level is 1069.4 which is 1.6 feet below pool. The water temps are from 80-82 degrees and there are clear water conditions throughout the lake. Given these conditions, the fun is over. The fun of watching Capt Mack’s Perfect Planer boards skipping across the lake and drag screaming flat lines bent double behind the boat is gone for now. It’s time for new fun – the down line time fun on Lanier with the excitement of four to six rods buried under the boat and Humminbird SOLIXs looking like someone threw a can of Spaghetti Os on the screen is just ramping up.
Down lines are very simple rigs to set up. We use 7.5 foot Okuma Striper Rods that have a very fast action and Okuma Coldwater 203 line counter reels with 17# Hi Seas mono main line. Attach a 1.5-2oz Capt Mack’s Swivel Sinker to 5-6 feet of 10-12 pound Seagar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader and tie on a #1 or #2 Gamakatsu circle hook. We will be adjusting leader length and line test as the summer progresses, but this will be THE rig for bait fishing till November.
We will see bigger schools of stripers this month as they start to move to the south end looking for cooler, better oxygenated water. More fish on less water means bigger groups. The fish are looking for feeding areas like main lake and major creek pockets that have big bowls towards the back of them that have 40-60 feet of water. The stripers will use these areas to push bait into and essentially trap the herring and shad in these bowls so that bait cannot escape back to the big water. Move around in these pockets with your Minn Kota Ulterra I-Pilot Link at .4-.6 mph looking for multiple fish with your Humminbird electronics with your down lines 20-30 feet down. Once you see a few fish hit your Spot Lock button and dangle your herring in front of them and start tapping the deck with your thump stick and get ready. Take a look back at last year’s Lanier Striper Report at www.gon.com/fishing/georgia-fishing-reports/lake-lanier for what a thump stick looks like. Heck, look back at those for great historical info as well.
Don’t put your herring pitching rods away either. Put a small #7 split shot on your main line in front of the swivel and drag these behind the boat about 50 feet back with your down lines. These flat lines will get you an extra bite or two on the fish that haven’t gone deep yet and will drift down when you hit Spot Lock and give you a couple more baits in the water. Remember, today all you need to do is ask for forgiveness for all of the ways you have messed up in your life and Christ will forgive it all.
Call us today at 678-300-4865 to book your Striper Experience!