Lake level is 1070.58’ (.42feet below full pool) with water temps 84-86 degrees and clear water conditions from the south end up thru the middle of the lake. Historically, July striper fishing on Lanier means huge schools of fish in deep water on the south end of the lake, and it is setting up this way for sure as we go into July. These fish are really starting to group up and they will readily eat a herring on a downline. The thermocline is finally setting up in these areas and the herring are not living very long down past 35 feet. When you find these schools of fish and they are near the bottom you can drop your bait down to them, but if they don’t eat then you will have to change out your bait within a few minutes to keep a frisky herring in front of them. Be prepared for this the rest of the summer and plan on taking lots of herring because you will be changing baits out a lot and if you do not have a frisky bait on the hook you will likely not get bit. Look for large schools of fish from Brown’s Bridge to the dam in deep drainages, creek channels, and the river channel in 40-60’ of water early in the day to 80-100’ later in the afternoon. The best way to look for these schools later in the morning is to troll with lead core or Cannon downriggers and a 1.5 or 2oz Striper Tackle Super Spin Shad with a white head and white shad on sunny days or a chartreuse/ chartreuse glitter combo on cloudy days, or a Nickel/ Silver Fat Hawg or Jr Hawg spoon. Lead core will be best pulling at 2.5-3 mph with 6-8 colors out and when using your downrigger put your baits 50-75 feet behind the ball that is set 20-30 feet down. Once you find a school of fish, downlines will be the go to live bait technique. Your setup should be a 1.75 oz pencil weight, available at Oakwood Bait and Tackle or at StriperTackle.com, 6-8’ of 10-12# fluorocarbon leader, finishing with a #2 Gamakatsu Circle or Octopus hook. This setup will get your fragile bait down thru the hot water fast and allow him to swim around without dragging around an oversized hook and heavy leader. The best baits will be herring, but if you can get small to medium gizzard shad they will get the attention of some larger fish. Power reeling a Boss Hawg spoon or 2oz Capt Mack’s Chipmunk with a shad or u-tail trailer will also be very effective when you get that school of fish to stack up under your boat. July stripers are really hungry and on the move so be prepared to move around as well so that you can keep up with them.
When God calls us he already knows our weaknesses and strengths he has given us. Take a look at Judges 6 and see that even though we test God when he tells us to trust him, he will be with us. God is patiently persistent and when we put our trust in him, worship him, and do as he says, he will make us an unlikely hero and bring us thru any dire situation in our lives. Judges is a great read to show how when we turn from God he will always be there for us when we trust in him and return to him.
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