Lake level is at 1067.3 (3.7 feet below full pool), water temps are 74-76 degrees, and the lake is starting to get cloudy with turn over starting up early this year. October fishing is all about being versatile. Turnover has already started up and the fish are doing their breakout of the south end of the lake and are above the GA Hwy 369 Bridge already. The fish below the bridge are really starting to get on top and the first few hours and the last couple hours of the day, especially when there is a bit of cloud cover, have been producing quite a few impressive schools of surfacing fish. One of the best baits to throw at these fish will be a StriperTackle Jr HAWG spoon in nickel or nickel/ silver scale on sunny days and pearl or pearl/ blue scale on cloudy days. Visit the StriperTackle Facebook page to watch our recent video on fishing with the Jr HAWG spoon. This casting spoon is a great bait because it can be fished near the surface like you would a magic swimmer, but it can also be fished deep by allowing it to fall and yo-yoing it back to the boat after the school has gone back down. This spoon can also be fished vertically when these schools of fish get under the boat. Drop it straight down about 20 feet below the fish you are marking on your Humminbird SOLIX or XPLORE and power reel it back up through the fish like you would the Boss HAWG. The Jr HAWG will cast better due to its thinner profile than the Fat HAWG with its wider profile, but the Fat HAWG has been catching fish as well in the same colors. The other artificial that continues to catch fish when these schools come up is a Capt Mack’s Mini Mack, but hang on as there is always the potential for there to be a couple on there at a time. If you find these fish in a pocket then make sure you keep a flat lined herring 75-100 feet behind the boat as you are chasing the top water fish with your Minn Kota Instinct. These fish are moving around very fast and you will have to run them down to get a shot at them, but a herring being dragged behind you at a couple miles per hour is often irresistible to those fish you have just passed over. The Humminbird 360 is an amazing tool to be able to watch which way these schools of fish are moving in relation to your boat. The transducers ability to look all the way around the boat without having to move the trolling motor or spin a pole around is an absolute game changer when you are searching for these groups of fish around the boat. The fish that are already north of 369 have not been coming up nearly as well, but that should change. The schools of fish we are seeing above the bridge up to the Hwy 53 bridges are in the 30-40 foot range in 60-100 feet of water and should stay consistent through the month and will be caught on down lined herring or small shad. Start shortening up your leaders to 5-6 feet, but stay with that 10-12# flouro and # 2 Gamakatsu Circle hook to keep your bait from having to fight to hard.
The last few weeks have been pretty tough in our nation as the evil one continues to divide us. Everything is easier for him when we are passive and God is calling us to get in the game. Eph 6:11-18 calls on us to put on the armor of God and to go out and fight evil. God gives us all his power and authority when we trust in Jesus as our Savior and he comes into us thru the Holy Spirit with all that power and authority. All we need to do is use those things to defeat evil in our lives, our families’ lives, in our church, and in our nation. Right now that is not happening because the enemy is working harder to pull people away from God more than we are working to lead them to God.
Get out there and catch em up!
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