The lake is currently at 1071.37 (.37 feet above full pool) with water temps between 61 and 64 degrees. The rivers and the backs of the major creeks are slightly stained while Hwy 60 to the river forks area on the Chattahoochee side and Toto Creek to Hwy 53 on the Chestatee side are slightly stained. South from these areas we have seen mostly clear water conditions. This month will see spring striper fishing getting into full swing. The first part of April is prime spawn time and the big girls will be up in the river system and in the backs of free flowing creeks like Flat, Gainesville, Wahoo, Little River, Latham, and Thompson. When they head to these areas the buck Stripers will be right there with them to do their thing. The go to techniques this month will be flat lines, Capt Mack’s Perfect Planer boards, and stealth trolled Capt Mack’s Mini Macks. We will be fishing four flat lines and two 10 inch CM Perfect Planer boards while we are up the river. The bigger board works vey well with big baits and lots of current. The flat lines will be two with ¼ oz of weight in front of the swivel, 4 feet of 15# flouro, to a #2 to 4\0 Gamakatsu circle hook depending on bait size and be fished 30-40 feet behind the boat. The other two will just lack the weight and be fished 50-75 feet behind the boat. The planer board rods, with the same tackle set up as the unweighted flat line rods, will be 30-50 feet behind the boards that will be run 25-50 feet away from the boat. For bait this month we will be using herring, medium threadfin shad, and large gizzard shad. As the month moves on most of the females will move out of the river systems and will stage up at prominent points and flats close to the mouth of Little River, Ada Creek, Toto Creek, and Bald Ridge. The creek spawners will move half way out of the creeks to the same areas to fatten up for the spring and the long summer grind. At this time we will put the 7 inch CM Perfect Planer boards in front of four lines (two on each side) and spread our baits out over a wider area by running the first board on each side 75 feet away from the boat and then the second board about 30 feet away. The smaller boards work better with the smaller baits and will allow you to see the pesky Spotted Bass bites a lot easier as the board is lighter and more sensitive to light bites. The wider spread of four boards will allow you to cover a lot of different water depths as the outside board will be running close to the bank in 10 feet of water and the outside board on the opposite side of the boat will likely be in 80 plus feet of water. When we move out to this open water we will increase the amount of line behind the boards from 60-120 feet and the flat lines will also increase to 75-150 feet back and will have a split shot added. This is also when we will put the CM Mini Mack’s back in the water and resume stealth trolling. We will put the rigs down 20-35 feet and fish them at the front of the boat like a down line or even put them down and attach a 10 inch CM Perfect Planer board to get it away from the boat a bit.
Let us always try to pursue God. Jesus doesn’t need us to do things for him and be religious, but to be more like him, hold nothing back from him, and have a relationship with him.