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WARM SPELL BASS TOP TROUT WATERS PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB MOORE VOLUME 26 • ISSUE 310
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ach year, millions of collectors and silver stackers around the word secure freshly struck American Eagle Silver Dollars. Minted in one Troy ounce of 99.9% pure U.S. silver, these legaltender coins are perhaps the most widely collected silver bullion coins in the world... and they’re about to change forever.
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Since 1986, the design of the “Silver Eagle” has remained unchanged: Adolph A. Weinman’s classic 1916 Walking Liberty design paired with former U.S. Mint Chief Engraver John Mercanti’s stunning eagle reverse. But in mid-2021, the U.S. Mint plans to replace the original reverse. This initial release is the FINAL appearance of the U.S. Silver Eagle’s original design! $27 $26 $25 $24 $23 $22 $21 $20 $19 $18 $17 $16 $15 $14
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10:41:29 AM
AN AMBITIOUS 2021
BUCKET LIST
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By Gary Turner
T
his year has not been my best fishing year. I did end up doing a little fishing, just not nearly as much as usual. So, this is the list of fish I want to catch in 2021. Some of these will not be very impressive to some of you, but some of them might seem worthy of adding to your own bucket lists. Here is my list, in no particular order: 1) Swordfish: With my friend Jimmy Dean’s help, I hope to land a swordfish out of the West Palm Beach area. This will not be easy, but hopefully I can get a shot or two. 2) Salmon Shark: This smaller cousin of the great white weighs up to 1,000 pounds and can measure 10 feet long. I plan to fish out of Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska. As of right now, I don’t have a captain selected, so kindly e-mail recommendations. 3) Halibut: I’m hunting a halibut heavier than 300 pounds. This will also most likely be out of Seward, Alaska. I have several friends who fish out of Seward for halibut, and it might take several years to find this fish, but every halibut is an adventure. 4) Blue Catfish: I would like to catch a 100-pounder or better. I like the Tennessee River in the Guntersville area for good odds of making this happen. 5) Snakehead: Why? Because I’ve never caught one. The Miami area is where I plan to look for these fish. 6) Oscar: I’d like to catch a very large Oscar. I love these fish, and years ago I used to raise them. The fact that they grow wild and big in south Florida makes me want to catch them, and they are supposedly very tasty. 7) Alligator Gar: This is a trip I have talked about for years and haven’t
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been able to pull off. A friend and I have talked about fishing for giant alligator gar, so I just have to get out to the Trinity River in Texas to make it happen. 8) Tarpon: I have caught tarpon but never one of great size. Hopefully, on one of my trips to Florida, I will catch the right time and place and make it happen in 2021. 9) Bluefin Tuna: This one might be on the list for a few years, but I’m giving it more and more thought. A friend has been telling me about catching tuna in the Prince Edward Island area. The more we talk, the more I want it. My other choice of locale is North Carolina. 10) Goliath Grouper: I’d like to reel one up and take some awesome pictures before release. Again, this is a Florida trip. I have several friends who want to do this, too, so it should be a great trip. That’s my list for now. If you have time, email me and tell me about your list for 2021. Contact Gary Turner through email at gary@purgeright.com.
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THE TENDENCIES OF
BIG TROUT PHOTO COURTESY OF KNOCKIN TAIL LURES.
By Capt. Michael Okruhlik
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ow that we are in the clutch of winter’s grip, let’s talk about how if affects speckled trout and what you need to do to catch them on the coldest of days. Several years ago, I fished a south Texas trip with my brother and brother-inlaw. We planned it with one thing in mind and one thing only: big speckled trout! As luck would have it, the coldest front of the year blew in the day before our three days of fishing began. We had anticipated a wade-fishing event on muddy bottom in waist-deep flats, but with the water temp at 38 degrees when we reached our spot, we had to adjust. The muddy shallows were no longer waist deep as the tide was blown out by stiff north winds. They were also void of visible baitfish. With hands so cold they refused to move without assistance, we decided to grind it out in a deep channel in the vicinity of our original spot. When most would have stayed in the hotel, we decided to give it a try since we had driven hours to get there. We threw slowsinking lures and soft plastics on a jighead. When we decided to call it a day, we had one small red and an 8-pound trout, which made it all worthwhile. Anytime I see a fish of that magnitude, it doesn’t matter what else was caught. On day two, the weather warmed only slightly, but the wind had died down considerably. Rather than make the long run to mostly barren grounds, we decided to fish closer to the ramp in an area with multiple deep dead-end channels in close proximity to each other. In these channels, we bounced soft plastic off the bottom and had a banner day. The three of us easily landed 40 to 50 trout. Most of these fish were solid 2- to 4-pound fish with a few 5- and 6-pounders and one heavier than 7 pounds. The bite was very subtle, and the jig had to be on the bottom. The sun came out in the afternoon, and the water began to warm considerably. The wind also shifted to the south, and the evening temps didn’t drop nearly as low as they had been. The next day we went back to the exact same location and only caught a few trout. The lesson from this trip is the trout don’t want to be in those dead-end channels, but that’s where they need to be during cold snaps. They did not go in to feed; they were there to survive. Once they knew the threat of the freeze was over, they left and went back to the open bay. Although these canals can be a great place to fish when it’s cold, timing is everything. Capt. Michael Okruhlik is the inventor of Knockin Tail Lures, Controlled Descent Lures, and the owner of www.MyCoastOutdoors.com.
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING THE RABUNITE THERMOMETER Contributed By: Jeff Durniak www.unicoioutfitters.com Unicoi Outfitters, Orvis 2018 Fly Shop of the Year
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A great place to stay when visiting the North Georgia Mountains
As a professional fisheries biologist for more than three decades and an avid trouter for five, I’m convinced that water temperature is the most important environmental factor controlling the behavior of our cold-blooded quarry, mountain trout. My hillbilly clan, the Rabunites (www.rabuntu.org) thinks so, too. They developed their own, highly effective fishing thermometer. Let me decipher it for you! • Under 40 degrees and falling. Rabunite definition: “watch the icebergs.” Interpretation: 40 degrees is your first key number. Below it and our cold-blooded critters are frozen and getting even colder, so anglers should expect few strikes. But the air is clean, streams are uncrowded, and you’re just happy to get out of the house. Fish 11AM to 3PM. • <40, but rising: “bring hope.” Trout are acclimated to very cold water, but rising water temperature feels like a warming trend and can key a bit of feeding activity. • 40-45: “bring a net.” Trout begin to stir, and they stir a bit more with each degree of warmth. It’s a good time to dredge the bottom of deep, slow pools with egg, stonefly, and mayfly nymph patterns. • 45-50: “bring a net and a camera.” Action increases and really takes off when temperatures near the next key, the MAGICAL 50-degree mark! Most action is still subsurface, but it can be consistent, especially when there is a warm spell that increases water temps several degrees. Try drifted nymphs, but also give streamer-stripping a shot. • 50-55: “bring some dries, too.” Early spring bugs start hatching and
trout are all over the water column, wherever the groceries are. They’re sipping nymphs in the drift and looking out for midday hatches of Gray Caddis and Quill Gordon and Blue Quill mayflies. It’s a good time to consult online “hatch charts” to know which dry flies to carry. • 55-62: “bring a friend with a camera.” In angler terms, It’s On! Trout are ravenous and chowing down in bug buffet lines. Again, watch those hatch charts and bring the right bugs. You might catch a bunch, some big ones, or a bunch of big ones. Bring a witness with good photography skills so you’ll both have lasting memories of your great trip! • 62-68: “bring supper and a flashlight.” Waters warm and clear as spring transitions to summer. Daytime fishing is dead, but the last hour of daylight can be great. We call it Dark30 and we won’t miss it, as both bugs and trout come up to play right before slap-dark! • >68: “bring breakfast and an iceberg.” Trout fishing is really over for the season. Temps over 70 are often lethal to trout, especially if angling stress is added. Streams are coldest in early mornings and you might have a brief shot at dawn, before the hot sun rises. Put a $15 stream thermometer in your vest and save a copy of this article to your iPhone notes page. Let the Rabunite thermometer guide you to trouting success in the new year. Good luck!
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING JANUARY FLY FISHING REPORT
Contributed By: Henry Cowen www.henrycowenflyfishing.com The last 4 weeks have been terrible for fly anglers as the fish and the bait remain DEEP for the most part. Anglers chasing busting fish on the surface that are up for twenty seconds and then down again makes for some frustrating fishing. This should change as the weather gets colder. Most of the poor fishing had been due to the bait being in smaller groups and not as high on the surface as previous years. The changes in the weather seems to have made our water temps slightly warmer than normal again (same as last year). January normally could be a very iffy month on all our area lakes if the weather turns super cold and remains cold. Last year, January proved to be the best month of the entire year. If the water temperatures continue to hover around 50 degrees or go just a tad lower, fishing will probably be very good, and we will continue to see fish feeding near the surface and on the banks for a few more weeks. However, if the water temperatures drop into the mid-forties, the fishing will shut down. Due to the cold unstable weather pattern this year, the likelihood is that January fishing will continue to be good! It is best to start looking far north in all the area lakes as the shad migrate north and especially into the backs of the coves looking for warmer water. As the surface water temperatures drop, the shad will go to the backs of the cove seeking to find the warmer water temperatures. Mornings can be exceptionally productive as the stripers come searching for an easy meal in the skinny water. Small flies and intermediate fly lines are called for in this instance. Anglers need to just find the coves that are stacked with shad. During low light levels there is a good chance you will find stripers blowing up on the surface and running shad up and onto the banks in fear of their lives. Anytime you toss flies to shallow feeding fish, your chances of hooking up are greatly increased.
If you do not find fish in the backs of the coves, then you need to look at the mouths of the coves for large schools of fish bunched together in about 15-25 feet of water. Now is the time to employ a fast sinking line and use a countdown method in order to elicit a strike. If you see fish 15 feet down on your fish finder, you need to allow your sinking fly line to go down for 30 seconds in order for the fly to reach the feeding zone. This is an extremely effective method used to take stripers in the dead of winter. Our most effective flies will still be the Somethin’ Else as well as a small Polar Fiber Minnow. These two patterns tied 1 ½” to 2” in length will out fish all other artificial baits you can throw. Another pattern you can count on in January is dock light fishing. In-the-know striper anglers can wear out fish on dock lights either after dark or in the wee hours of the early morning. Give it a try next time you are out prowling the northern breeches of our area lakes. Happy New Year to all our Angler Magazine readers. If you need a fix on stripers, consider buying my new book “Fly Fishing for Freshwater Striped Bass”. It is available at local fly shops and Hammonds Fishing Center as well as Amazon. See you on the pond!
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING JANUARY ~ TO FISH OR NOT TO FISH? Contributed by James Bradley Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide www.ReelEmInGuideService.com (706) 273-0764 Looking forward into January, some anglers will give up their fishing gear to settle close by the fireplace enjoying that hot cup of coffee. Many will do this for the next couple of months ahead. Will you be asking yourself, “should I fish or stay home”? Keep in mind, as we turn toward the New Year, knowing when to fish is what we should be deciding on. Let’s look further into this. This time of year, many anglers put their gear up, and this leaves more room on our streams. We have no more of those “elbow to elbow” days, so to speak. Less anglers on our streams mean less pressured trout. This is always a bonus for those that venture out to wet a line. Normally, there is no need to be the first on the stream bank. Sleep in and enjoy that hot cup of Joe by the fireplace! This is a perfect time to bring your gear in to let it warm up too. Those trout will be waiting on you when you arrive at 10 or 11 AM, and chances are, they may be more apt to take your offering if the water warms up by a degree or so. Pro-tip: pick your weather patterns carefully. High pressure brings beautiful skies, but is a terrible choice to be catching. Picking a day when a front is heading in can bring many trout to the net. Fishing on those low-pressure days in the rain or snow normally produces very well. Enjoy these less crowded days! The Delayed Harvest streams like the Amicalola in our area have been fishing well. The Toccoa DH section has been tough on foot, but it has been fishing well by boat. For most of last month, the Toccoa has been very tough to wade due to the water flow. We have been seeing wade anglers try to fish it at crazy levels like 500+ CFS. This is dangerous for most unless you are very accustomed to that section of river. It only takes one slip and either down or off you go! We feel most anglers are more comfortable on the Toccoa DH when water flows are below 300 CFS. You can get the average inflow from the TVA website for Lake Blue Ridge, which will be very close to 4 ATLANTA
JANUARY 2021
THE CASTING CORNER ON THE OTHER HAND
Contributed By: Rene J. Hesse Certified Casting InstructorFederation of Fly Fishers & Atlanta Fly Fishing and Camping Meetup Organizer
Frank Banks, one of the guides for Veterans Fly Fishing Co. LLC, came to me on the steam a few weeks ago and asked if I knew the country song, ‘On the Other Hand’. ”Nope”, was my response, “but I bet you are going to tell me about it since you came downstream 30 feet to ask that question.” Frank gets to watch a lot of fly fishers as a guide. He pointed out that most of the focus as an instructor is on the ‘casting hand’ and that more focus should be, you got it, on the other hand. So here are some tips and thoughts to consider with that in mind. Make sure you have stripped enough line off the reel to make the cast. Otherwise, you will come up short on your cast. Do not strip line off as you cast. It can create all kinds of problems. Yes, you can backlash a fly reel. I’ve done it. Before starting a cast, separate the rod and line hand with the rod in one hand and the line in the other hand. Too often, a caster will start with the line tucked under a finger on the rod hand as they start the casting sequence. We want an the flow at the DH section. If you are a beginner wanting to unobstructed path for the line to learn how to fly fish, we have a great staff of instructors who have been schooled in the art of fly fishing. One of the best ways to learn about fly fishing is to spend time with those of us who are professional full-time guides. Don’t forget to ask us about our float trips! Currently, we are doing floats on the Toccoa Tailwater and on the upper river as well. Give us a call to book your amazing trip on the water, and don’t forget that we offer gift certificates! Reel ‘Em In Guide Service operates as an Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Outfitter in North Georgia’s Historic High-Country region. They have been offering their services to fly anglers since 2001. They have permits 201 Kelly Mill Rd. • Cumming, GA 30040 for guiding in North Georgia and North Carolina, offer over 7 miles of private trophy waters across Georgia, and operate float trips on the Toccoa River in GA and the Tuckasegee River in NC.
travel between the line hand and the first guide. Keeping the line hand close to the reel will give you more options like hauling, and it helps remove slack from the line. Keep tension on the line with ‘the other hand’ so you can bend the rod against the weight of the line. Use ‘the other hand’ to keep tension on the line until you stop the rod on the forward and the back cast by pulling on the line in the opposite direction the rod is going. If you want to pull on the line to accelerate it, that is hauling. These last two tips are easy to do, but very often not used. When the cast is sent off to the destination, let the line slip through your fingers by making a ring or even just palming the line as it shoots out. Then, as the line is about to land, capture the line with ‘the other hand’ (line hand). Many times, there is fish just waiting to take the fly as it hits, and if your other hand is trying to find the line, it will just be a story of the one that got away. ‘On the other hand’, you don’t have to use any of the tips above, but it is worth consideration.
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING OCONEE ON THE FLY-JANUARY FORECAST TIMING FOR FLY FISHING ON LAKE OCONEE
Contributed By Capt. Wayne Moore USCG www.oconeeonthefly.com I met four young anglers from Athens (Go Dawgs!) for their trip on Sunday morning, November 22nd at the Long Shoals boat ramp just before first light. In less than 10 minutes, we were near the dam. Two anglers were using fly rods, and two were using spinning rods with spoons. The first fish was taken on the fly rod right away. It was a nice largemouth. Moments later, a nice hybrid was on. Then the guys casting spoons both hooked up with hybrids. All of this happened in the first 20 minutes. Why was the fishing so good? Was it the flies or lures matching the baitfish, moon phase or the fact that it was overcast? All the above helped, but the most important thing was that Georgia Power was pumping water up from Lake Sinclair. This causes the baitfish to be pushed to the surface and an incredible topwater bite will occur. Moving water is the most important factor for success in fishing for hybrid bass and stripers on Lake Oconee. There is no published generation schedule, because the demand for power from the dam is variable on demand, but there are some general things I can share. The “pump back” bite, when water is pumped up from Lake Sinclair, usually starts in the 2:00 AM range. The key is when they stop. If they stop at 5:30 AM, you will have 2 hours of good fishing afterwards. Usually by October, this bite is over because there is less power demand. In December, January and Feb-
ruary, look for generation in the late afternoon. At that time, they are pulling water, and this can trigger a bite anywhere south of Highway 44. Look for birds (gulls) dive bombing the bait, and you will find the fish. January Forecast Hybrids/Stripers – The birds will be chasing shad from the 44 bridge south to the dam. Be careful not to rush right into the feeding frenzy and quietly work with your trolling motor into the area making long casts from a distance away. You can cast a 7/8-ounce War Eagle spoon a long way. Just vary your retrieve back to the boat and know they will sometimes hit right next to the boat. You can also cast a Sassy Shad on a DOA jig head into the feeding fish. If you have a blue-sky day, use bass minnows and long line them behind the boat on 12-pound line with a swivel, a #4 sinker above the swivel, a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader and a #4 circle hook. January Forecast Crappie – The start of the long line trolling bite happened late this year. By January, this bite will still be happening, but by mid-month, the fish will begin migrating above highway 44 to shallower water. This is when it’s time to get out your pushing rods and go after the huge females in their pre-spawn. Final Words - All the guides here on Oconee have been blessed with lots of requests for trips. Book your trip at least a month ahead of time if you can. Email me at wmoore1700 @outlook.com or call 404-317-9556 and lock in your dates.
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Und enough going t either. is upon have hi ready t catch fi of fly fi Win right n tures d river w low 40’ weathe the wa 30’s wi fallen look fo winter is snow ing, wi
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING CHATTOOGA RIVER
Undoubtedly, everyone has heard enough about 2020, and we’re not going to say a whole lot of anything either. What is good is another year is upon us, and here at the shop we have hired a new guide team who are ready to take you out on the rivers to catch fish and teach the ins and outs of fly fishing. Wintertime fishing is how it goes right now. Below freezing temperatures during the night have brought river water temperatures down to the low 40’s, and with the trend of colder weather lurking, the temperature of the water will probably dip into the 30’s without question. No snow has fallen here as of yet, although we look forward to the return of the winter wonderland. Fishing while it is snowing is actually quite rewarding, with numerous large fish being
landed. Actually, getting to the rivers for most is the only issue, with travel being unthinkable and roads being impassable. Please use the utmost caution getting to your river destination and home. As many fishing folks do not care for wintertime fishing, solitude and great rewards will be in your pocket for venturing out. Dressing for the weather elements is key to having a great day or an extremely miserable day. It is essential to layer clothing with a wicking material and wear no cotton as it retains moisture and will make you cold. Longer leaders in the crystal clear winter water will be beneficial not only for spooky fish, but for lobbing heavy flies to get to the river floors. The trout will be holding primarily along the depths of the river, as this is where the warmest waters are. Occasionally on warmer days, the fish will be found out and moving. As the sun starts going down and the temperatures start to drop again, the fish will move back to
the depths and dredging the bottom becomes necessary again. Great fluctuations in temperature will have a great effect on the day of fishing as well. A large storm with warm rain raising the river temperature, and then numerous days of below freezing temperatures and river temperatures dropping like a rock will have the fish hunkered down, so presenting flies directly to the river bottom, behind rocks, and along seems will be ideal. A bit of warmth in the air, a sink tip leader, and a box full of steamers makes for an enjoyable day along the rivers as well. Sink tip leaders help in keeping the baitfish pattern longer in the strike zone. Remember that the fish will be lethargic, and slower strips and pauses will aid in catching fish and giving them more of a chance to eat. We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year from all of us at Chattooga River Fly Shop. Let’s re-
member to “leave no trace”, bring out of the woods a little more than what you went in with, and the outdoors will be a better place for years to come.
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING KAYAK FISHING ESSENTIALS Contributed By: William Reed Nucanoe National Pro Staff Writer IG: @wde_will, will@nucanoe.com Most anglers can agree that shopping for new tackle and gear is a favorite. Secretly, we all are shopaholics who quite possibly spend more time buying gear than fishing. For kayak anglers with limited space, it’s easy to have your space feel overwhelming. Making informed choices about not only the best rods and reels but also apparel, accessories and storage beforehand is the ticket. I’ll cover some essentials for the 2021 year. Kayak angling requires minimizing your fishing arsenal to only the “must haves”, making it to where it can fit in limited storage. The YakAttack BlackPak is by far one of the most versatile storage solutions for a kayak angler. It is customizable and locks down to most track systems where in an unfortunate event, wont separate from your kayak. The BlackPak is able to hold 10 rod tubes (comes with three), has pre-drilled holes for drainage and mounting ad-
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ditional accessories, a latching lid, and is capable of holding multiple tackle boxes inside. There truly is no better storage solution on the market. Depending on what type of fishing you are doing, either YakAttack or Nucanoe has your back when it comes to rod/reel storage. Most newer fishing kayaks come with preinstalled track systems. For conventional fishing, the YakAttack Omega Pro or AR Tube can’t be beat. They quickly latch onto most track systems, allow 360 degree rotation and height adjustment. For fly fisherman, Nucanoe manufactures the Fly Reel Dock, which is a flat molded reel dock that securely holds any fly reel flat to the deck. Fly rods are notoriously long and prone to breaking. Nucanoe thought of the safest way to hold a fly rod and flat on a gunnel or floor is the best option. Some kayaks come with horizontal rod tip holders that pair perfect with the Fly
Reel Dock. YakAttack and Nucanoe are both proudly manufactured in the USA. When it comes to my personal recommendation for rods and reels, Daiwa’s Kage lineup is a great fit for conventional fishing. The Kage series is one of the lightest set-ups on the market and super responsive. The 2021 Kage MQ LT reels Zaion body shrinks size while allowing larger gears, more torque and better drag. As for bait casters, the Daiwa SV lineup of reels feature anti-backlash technology and an air brake allowing further casting distance. Both of these innovations drastically help when fishing from cramped kayak spaces where the optimal cast is not always available. The YakAttack Leverage Landing Net allows one handed operation by utilizing its built in arm
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brace. This net has a hinged design for storage and features safe release net material. With the weather cooling, proper clothing not only keeps you safe but comfortable. A clothing item that is a must have in my arsenal is the Under Armor Shoreman lineup. It is 100% wind and waterproof. They pack easily in a kayak or are comfortable enough to wear all day. I prefer wearing pants over bibs but the Shoreman bib is a great option for these cold wet days. The soft interior, paired with bottom layers is a highlight. With Christmas approaching and sales still advertising, there is no better time to properly gear up for the new year. Having the right gear keeps us safe, comfortable and allows us more enjoyment on the water.
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THE GUIDES ANGLE MATCHING THE WINTER HATCH
Contributed By: Chris Scalley River Through Atlanta Guide Service January is the beginning of winter bug hatches. Blue Winged Olive mayflies hatch year-round on the Chattahoochee, but our heaviest hatches occur in the coolest months of January and February. We will also see good midge hatches with mostly cream colored adults. Fish will begin podding up to rise to these small insects any time of day. We typically keep a 9 foot, 4 or 5 weight rod locked and loaded with a single dry fly to head hunt fish with a steady rising rhythm. If there are no fish visibly rising, it’s a good idea to fish small nymphs in the ultra-clear water usually dropped off of other medium to large nymphs to get them down deep. Small nymphs to imitate BWO’s or black fly larvae are extremely effective in sizes #20 down to a #26. As we approach February, many anglers mistake Little Winter Stoneflies for Caddisflies because
both species have horizontal wings. Winter Stone adults fly in a steady path through the air, whereas Caddis fly very erratically like a moth. These Little Winter Stone adults are commonly in size #18 to #20 hook sizes with a transparent wing and black slender bodies. Fish will sporadically rise violently to these adults as they buzz the surface of the river to deposit their eggs.
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LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING JANUARY FLY FISHING TIPS Contributed by David Hulsey International Federation of Fly Fishers Master Certified Casting Instructor http://www.hulseyflyfishing.com 770-639-4001
Fly fishing in winter in the Southern Appalachians can be 20 degrees or 60 degrees, sometimes in the same day! Thirty or forty degree temperature swings can happen at any time. Normally, we’ll have a couple of January days here in North Georgia or Southwestern North Carolina that’ll push 70 degrees. On those special days, you are required to drop everything including work and school and go fishing. The fish will normally be going nuts! Dressing in layers is crucial, not only to comfort, but also fishing success on the river. I have lots of folks that show up to fish in the winter with a good attitude, but not nearly prepared for the cold. No kidding! I’ve had a couple of folks show up in flip flops and no socks in the freaking winter! If you are more worried about your freezing
hands or feet than seeing the micro indication of a strike on a nymph, your day might not be a fish producing event. Get some fleece fingerless gloves. They will keep your fingers from turning into icicles and allow you to stay in contact with your fly line. Full fingered hand coverings are useless in that you can’t feel your fly line. Get some good long wool socks. All of the modern fabrics are cute, but they can’t hold a candle to good old fashioned wool. Over the calf socks are so much better than the hiking type that it’s unreal. Insulated fleece pants will take the hassle out of constricting insulated underwear. Above all, take a tip from nature and just slow down while fly fishing in the winter. Walking slowly and carefully will not only keep you dryer in the cold seasons, but will
also get you closer to the fish. Being that the strike from a trout in icy water is sometimes almost undetectable, the closer you are, the more likely you are to see or feel it. Using yarn as a strike indicator in winter will let you see a few more hits than a plastic bobber on the surface. Using a piece of yarn as a strike indicator under water will get you even more fish in the net. If you can get the sun at your back in a nice slow pool with a piece of yarn, or better yet, an egg pattern about 16 inches above your favorite nymph pattern, you can track that fly down deep. If the yarn stops or moves in a funny direction, set the hook. It might be the bottom or it might be the trout. A lot of the time, the difference between an ok fly fisher person and
a great one is a piece of split shot! So get your flies down deep. That’s where the fish are in cold temperatures. Czech nymphing in the winter is hard to beat being that you are connected to the nymph pattern with no slack line in your leader, and the strike is registered by the sighter or by feel. Learning these techniques isn’t difficult, but a class will help you learn the skill. We give classes on a variety of fly fishing skills at the Blue Ridge Fly Fishing School. Our website contains great information about streams in the Blue Ridge area and how to fish them. We also have a regularly updated blog with all kinds of tips! It is time well spent to prepare for the warmer temperatures of spring when the living is easy!
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LAKE NOTTELY KNOWS HOW TO PLEASE! by Dickelsby Dickg@Theanglermagazine.com
You just got to know the right guide service that has the experience and perseverance and know how to deliver heart stopping action even when it is cold and foggy and nothing is happening and nobody is on the lake except us! Well that was pretty much what was going on for us this past midNovember when the Angler Magazine Publisher, Bob Rice, joined by his fiancée, Lynn Edwards and your humble correspondent were out there with our good friends from Big Ol ‘Fish Guiding Service. The early morning efforts were not very rewarding for quite a while. Head guys Shane Goebel and Darren Hughes working together soon discovered some water temp changes and baitfish movement that gave them a clue as to where and how deep the downlines should go. We were using lively blueback herring and the planer boards were brought in and off we went to the new location! The sun was warming us up a bit by now, but it was still pretty
chilly until the rod that Bob was watching suddenly doubled down and the heated battle was on! A real nice striper! Bob produced the first fish as he frequently does and really appreciated the admiring glances of fiancée, Lynn! Not to be outdone, I soon weighed in with another nice striper and again right to the photo op we go! Oh boy, the action was really starting to heat up, and before long it was Lynn’s turn at the reel! She looked like an experienced fisherperson deftly handling the rod movement and reeling smoothly till the beast was spotted at water surface and Shane expertly handled the net and retrieval completed! Hope you dear readers enjoy the photo of these three catches as they also became delicious fillets that the Big Ol Fish guide service provides for its fishing clients. We continued with the action as the morning grew closer to noon and some more really beautiful fish were returned to the lake to swim again and hopefully be caught in
the future a few pounds heavier by you after reading this! Ok, let’s talk about Lake Nottely for those of you who have never been here before. Located in Blairsville, GA, and just a few miles from Murphy, NC, the lake itself was formed in 1941 by the TVA and soon became a noteworthy fishery. Its records show catches of a 53-pound striper and 7-pound spotted bass in the 1970’s and more recently an 11-pound hybrid in 2017 and a 3-pound crappie in 2014. It also shows populations of brown trout and walleye! Yes, a trip with Shane and Darren could result in a fantastic day for you and your guests. We also took interest in the only other boat on the lake. It was the great Georgia Dept of Natural Resources (DNR) boat out doing some game fish research by using a temporary fish shocking charge near the boat and then quickly netting and recording their health stats before returning the fish to the water. So in closing, we at The Angler Magazine highly recommend a visit to WWW.BIGOLFISH.COM or a call to 828-361-2021 that will get you a lake date that you will very much appreciate! Dickelsby can be reached at dickg@theanglermagazine.com.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST JACKSON LAKE By Brian Lee leebrian16 @yahoo.com Water temperature: 45-50 degrees, lake level: full, clarity: stained. The winter drawdown has come and gone. The lake was fishing like it used to when the lake was low and muddy. January can be very productive, but it can also be very tough. Cranking shallow water is generally the ideal pattern for this month, but it can be a very tough bite to get. Look for fish in the 8-15 foot depth as the fish have had time to bunch up on humps and rocky points. Don’t abandon the shallow
water crankbait bite. You can still catch them, but you may just have to cover more water. Color choices will be determined by water color. Ideal locations are rocky banks close to deep water. Add wood to these areas betters your chances. Shad Raps and a Bandit 300 in Shad/Crawfish patterns are good choices. Docks on these banks are ideal locations to flip a black/blue jig in dirty water or a green pumpkin in clear water. Deep fish can be caught on a Fish Head Spin or a Hopkins jigging spoon. Don’t waste your time on these fish if there’s no bait present. You’ll have to rely on your electronics to find these deeper schools. Bundle up as it can be cold this month, but the fishing can be on fire.
The winter drawdown has come and gone. The lake was fishing like it used to when the lake was low and muddy.
LAKE BURTON Forecast by: Capt. Wes Carlton Georgia Lake Fishing 770-318-9777 www.georgialakefishing.com Water temperature: 52 degrees, clarity: clear, lake level: 5 feet below pool. Bass: The bass bite has been consistent the last couple of weeks. We have been catching most of our fish in and around docks close to steep rock ledges. Spro crankbaits have been working best. The fish are feeding on the blueback herring close to these areas. Midmorning seems to be the best time to catch the bigger largemouth on the bank lines. The spotted bass are still surfacing mid-morning to mid-afternoon. We have caught some really nice spots on jerk baits
The bass bite has been consistent the last couple of weeks. We have been catching most of our fish in and around docks close to steep rock ledges.
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in a herring color working main lake points. Trout: The brown trout bite has slowed a little. We are still catching some fish trolling YoZuri Pin’s Minnows 10 to 15 feet deep over the main lake channel. Most of the bigger schools of fish have broken up and spread throughout the lake. Looking for surfacing action shortly after daylight can be a very successful technique for catching a bigger brown trout on a spinnerbait. We have even caught a few on small topwater plugs and jerk baits while bass fishing. This pattern should continue for the next several weeks as we head towards the end of January. The spoon bite should pick up as the water temps dive toward the 40’s. Good luck!
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST DITCH PICKLES ON LANIER IN JANUARY Contributed By: Jim “Jimbo” Mathley www.jimboonlanier.com
Many anglers underestimate the viability of winter fishing. While the outside elements are not always favorable, January can offer some outstanding angling on Lake Lanier. Lanier offers some great winter fishing if you are willing to go outside of what may be your comfort zone. And, if you find the right ditches, you may find some big spotted bass, affectionately known as “Ditch Pickles”. Let’s now explore some tactics with which you can approach Lanier in January. Ditches: As we discussed in a recent installment, a ditch can be defined as a significant depression which offers a sharp depth change of 2 feet or more from the surrounding structure. Ditches can be naturally occurring or can be man-made. An example of a naturally occurring ditch would be a creek channel that feeds a pocket, cove, or creek arm. A man-made ditch could result from a trench that was dug during the construction near the lake. These features exist many places on Lake Lanier, and they hold fish during the winter months. Ditches can be shallow or deep, and sometimes both depending on the length and location of the ditch. I shared a comprehensive article in December that focused completely on ditch fishing. If you missed it, take the opportunity to go back and review this information – it could continue to play a key role in January this year. Your Search: Use your Lowrance
HDS electronics to find creek arms or pockets just off of the main creek channels that offer a deep vein extending back into the arm or cove/ pocket. The farther the deep water extends back into the creek arm, the better for wintertime fishing. When you enter these areas and are searching for productive water, search for the presence of baitfish in and around the timber which you will find in the deeper water portions of the ditch. If you do not find bait, you will not find fish. Leave and check other similar areas. Also, look for the ditches that do have timber at the mouth. The presence of the timber represents the appropriate depth for a potentially productive ditch. Also, key in on special features within the ditch, such as a point or secondary ditch that may intersect with the main ditch. Technique: While our focus is on fishing deep, understand that a shallow bite often exists in these same ditches, even in the dead of winter. Often, these shallow fish in the winter mornings are monsters. Try these areas with a GA Blade Underspin, SPRO jerkbait, or SPRO crankbait. Also, a Keitech swimbait on a ¼ oz swim head can be a good option. Your presentation speed with all the above should vary directly with the water temperature. The colder the water, the slower your presentation should be. Also, with the SuperSpin, crankbait, and Keitech, your bait should maintain contact with the
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bottom as much as possible. Begin your search shallow in the backs of the creek arm, as this will be the warmest water in the lake and will often attract baitfish. Often the active fish will be in 10 feet of water or less right at daylight, so get out early and be ready for some action right away! After the early morning bite, switch your focus to the deep areas of the ditch. Start with the first area of naturally occurring timber you find as you move from shallow to deep in the ditch. An isolated tree can be excellent, but thick timber can hold fish as well. Obviously, the former is preferred, as the latter is normally more difficult to fish and potentially less efficient. If you can, find the more isolated cover when possible. The timber edges are often the most productive, so focus on those areas first. Cast and drag a Georgia Jig through the timber the same way as you would work shallower cover. Slow and methodical is the key. Develop a keen sense of feel as the bites are often very light. If the jig is not productive, fish a Georgia Blade shaky head tipped with a finesse or
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trick worm in the same fashion. Another option is to jig a spoon vertically over fish you see on your Lowrance electronics. A drop-shot can also be an effective presentation. Experiment daily as fish preferences change like the wind. Stay open in your approach and remain flexible. Make sure to check out THE SOUTHERN OUTDOOR SHOW on Friday, January 15, 2021 from 5 PM – 9 PM and Saturday, January 16 from 8 AM – 7 PM. The event will be held at the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, GA. This year, we will have a GIANT Expo as well as our traditional high-level Fishing Seminar. Check out Jimbo’s website (jimboonlanier.com) for more details, or visit the Infinite Energy website directly for tickets. We look forward to seeing ya’ll there!
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST CHATUGE & APALCHIA HYBRIDS AND SMALLMOUTH By: Darren Hughes Owner: Hughes General Store & Bait Shop The Angler Magazine Fishing Team & Big Ol’ Fish Guiding Service www.bigolfish.com 828-361-2021
Fishing has been awesome out here lately. The smallmouth bass and hybrids have settled into their winter patterns on both lakes. If you can deal with the cold, it’s a perfect time to be on the water, especially if you want to catch some hard fighting smallies and hybrids. Give the area’s #1 guide service Big Ol’ Fish a call and shake off that cold winter chill by reeling in some of the best trophy fish around. Smallmouth on Lake Apalachia have been very active, and we are catching a ton of nice fish. You can still find these bass schooled up all over the lake from shallow to deep. Focus on shallow humps and points around the lake that hold a lot of bait, then work your way out to deeper water, although most of our nicer fish have been caught closer to the spillway below the dam. Pulling planer boards and free lines with live bluebacks will
work great for covering good ground and catching quality fish. Watch for an early morning topwater bite. Casting jerkbaits, spoons and Spooks will also produce quality results. We’ve also had an extremely good downline and ultra-lite bite. This bite should get even better in the upcoming months. The hybrid bite on Lake Chatuge has also been pretty good. These hard-fighting North Georgia hybrids have been on the move and headed for the mouths and backs of creeks in search of warmer water. Pulling planer boards and free lines with live blueback herring should land you some nice fish. Vary your lines behind your boards. Set your bait about 20 feet behind your outside boards along the banks and 30 to 40 feet on your inside boards. Keep your free lines around 80 to 100 feet behind the boat and maintain your trolling speed at .5 mph. It’s also a great idea to set out a few down lines as you troll. January fishing on Lake Chatuge and Lake Apalachia is always exciting. The bigger fish start feeding more aggressively, and for us, it’s a great time of year for some great topwater action. Remember, live bait on this
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lake can be the difference between a successful day of fishing and a horrid one. Hughes General Store in Blairsville, GA carries a wide range of bait and tackle, and it’s the only place around for quality live blueback herring. For guided fishing trips on Lakes Chatuge, Apalachia, Hiwassee or Lake Nottely, call Darren Hughes or Shane Goebel at Big Ol’ Fish Guiding Service. And whether you’re a seasoned angler or just starting out, give Chatuge a shot for some of the best smallmouth bass and hybrids in the area. Good luck, and get hooked!
Ingredients • 1 (2 pound) venison backstrap, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices • 2 cups milk • 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce • 2 eggs • ½ cup milk • 3 cups all-purpose flour • 2 tablespoons salt • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper • 3 cups vegetable oil for frying Directions: Step 1 - Place the venison slices into a shallow bowl and pour in the milk and hot sauce. Stir to coat, then cover and marinate for 1 hour. Step 2 - Heat the vegetable oil in an electric skillet to 325 degrees F. In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt and pepper. Step 3 - Dip the venison slices into the flour, then into the egg and milk, then back into the flour. Shake off excess flour. Fry in the hot oil until lightly browned on each side, about 3 minutes. Remove with tongs and drain briefly on paper towels before serving.
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Stripling’s Peachy Smoked Chops
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LAKE EUFAULA
WEST POINT LAKE By Capt Sam Williams hawk184@earthlink.net 334-687-6266 Bass: Fair – The shallow bite for bass is only fair right now but could improve quickly in late January, especially with a warm rain and extended warming trend. Stained water, higher than normal lake levels and water temps in the low 60’s will turn things on quickly. Baits such as crawdad Shad Raps, Rat-L-Traps and chatterbaits will produce on these shallower fish. Try to fish these baits in coves and pockets with small feeder creeks or around schools of baitfish. Keep a jig or shaky head handy to pitch around any wood cover. Fishing rip-rap can also yield good results this time of year. The rocks warm quickly and retain heat. Yellow Jacket and Whitewater Creeks should continue to produce. On the other hand, a snow or ice storm in January could shut the shallow bite down completely! Water temps in the 30’s and 40’s make it super tough. If the lake stays cold and clear, go deep! Big schools of spots mixed with hybrids, white bass and stripers can be caught on jigging spoons, drop-shot rigs and shaky head rigs on humps and drop-offs. Target deeper offshore structure like brush piles and old road beds in 20-30 feet of water near the mouth of most major creeks for the best results. Linesides: Good - The downline bite with shad or bass shiners has improved as the water has cooled off and in most years stays good all winter. Most of the fish seem to be holding 20 to 30 feet deep when they are not schooling on the surface. Expect the topwater fishing to be sporadic. It’s usually best very early and very late, or on overcast or rainy days. Gulls and loons are here now, which makes it easier to pinpoint schooling stripers and hybrids. Keep your eyes open! The popping cork rig has still been working on schooling 1 to
20 ATLANTA
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3-pound fish with an occasional bigger one mixed in. A 3/8 or 1/2-ounce white Rooster Tail, a chrome C.C. Spoon and a number of other small shad imitators have also been producing, and the colder it gets, the better the fishing usually is (within reason of course). In cold water, a bucktail jig becomes very effective as well. The mouths of most creeks anywhere south of the Highland Marina area all the way to the dam and Maple Creek have been holding fish. Trolling with mid-depth crankbaits and Alabama Rigs also continues to produce some linesides in these same areas. Crappie: Fair - Try tightline fishing with minnows or a 1/16 or 1/8-ounce jig around bridge pilings, brush piles, and blow downs in 15 to 20 feet of water. Concentrate on trees and brush that are close to the old creek channels. Pitching or shooting deep water docks with small tubes or feather jigs around or under the docks can still produce this time of year. As usual, crappie seem to love shade and cover. Yellow Jacket, Wehadkee and Whitewater Creeks are still producing some crappie. Spider trolling usually works well in January as well and can be very effective. If January turns unusually warm and wet, the crappie can show back up surprisingly shallow very quickly!
Water temperature: 50’s, lake level: 188.48 msl, clarity: slight stain to clear. The fish have begun to transition into their winter pattern. They are moving off the shallow covered flats to the first drops seeking warmer water. The normal patterns are reversing. You begin the day working the deeper areas with crankbaits, lipped and lipless. Minnow shaped jerk baits are drawing attention. Carolina rigs pulled through the deeper cover are also getting attention. Spinnerbaits worked slower in the deeper water will get some action, especially when the sun is up causing a better flash off the blade. As the sun warms the shallow covered areas, watch for the shad and bird action. Work these areas with shaky heads, Texas rigs and blade baits. Soft bait colors are still watermelon, candy, green’s and black with chartreuse tails work deep and shallow. Match the hard
baits to the shad color and size of the shad in your areas. As the water cools, presentations need to be slower and deliberate. Crappie have moved from 12 feet to 17 feet or deeper in manmade and natural trash piles and tree tops. Use your electronics to locate these spots, drop anchors, and place your minnows just above them. If the bite is slow, work the areas casting a jig or work a vertical jig to aggravate a hit while the minnows are working. Catfish are doing well on jugs again in the creeks. Cut bait is still the better bait. Hot dogs and chicken livers work also. The same bait is also good for the bottom fishermen. Work the creek drops for the bottom fishing. Please visit www.alclassic.com and sign up for our newsletter. We want to thank ALFA Insurance for coming onboard and becoming our title sponsor for our June tournament and guaranteeing our first place team a $5,000.00 check. Total purse is now $15,000.00. Details and sign up information are on the site, and applications are available at local stores. Pray for one another and our country. God is still in control. God bless and good fishing.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST ATLANTA SALTWATER CLUB CARRABELLE TOURNAMENT By Doug Hutwagner, Vice President ASWSC This inshore tournament at Carrabelle, FL. is a good example of the challenges and rewards of being an inshore saltwater fishing club. My plan was to meet Captain Steve Smith at his Cumming home at 5:30 am Thursday to beat the Atlanta rush hour traffic as we headed down to the ASWSC fishing tournament in Carrabelle, Florida, but trailer lights not working threw that plan out the window and delayed us until the middle of rush hour. Things weren’t going so well either for Tournament Director Mike Ball who keeps his boat in Mexico Beach. When Mike went to pick up his boat, he couldn’t get it to run, but Mike had a tournament to direct, so he rented a boat, and it is fair to say that the boat Mike rented had seen better days. Fortunately, things started
looking up. The accommodations at the Moorings in Carrabelle were reasonably priced and nice (for a fish camp) with a good-sized room; breakfast included, and the boat slip was only $10.00 per night. None of the Captains nor crew in this tournament had ever fished Carrabelle before. Friday morning, the 1st day of the tournament, our boat, Krabby Patty, headed out the pass towards Dog Island. Once in the pass, we were met with high winds and a brisk 47 degrees. This weather kept the other boats inside the pass to fish in the river, but Mike Ball on Sashimi Seeker and Krabby Patty headed out to sea. Mike and his 1st mate Jessie Hunter chose to troll while Steve took advantage of the spot lock on his trolling motor to concentrate of bottom fishing. Mike and Jessie had a couple of big hits but didn’t boat any fish on
day 1 until he returned to the river, then started catching a lot of mostly undersized trout. On day two, they stayed in the bay and caught numerous redfish, trout and a few black drum. Meanwhile Krabby Patty found the spot and had a triple hook up, which at first, we thought were sharks, but when Keith Hoston brought the first fish to the boat, realized we were into a school of bull redfish. All three redfish were landed and then another three before the bite shut down. All six fish were over slot ranging from 34” to 39” and were released. We went back for more the next day and hooked up on about 6 while getting three more to the boat for release. Chris Brogdon, Captain of Knot Working, was fishing his first ASWSC tournament along with his crew Shawn McCourtney and Russ Spence and caught an over slot redfish and a flounder on day one and sheepshead, trout and drum on day 2. Ward Woody and his son on Amped Up stayed busy on mostly undersized trout and redfish both days. John Shipp and George Burkhart on Reel Famous had a different plan from everyone else and chose to go
up the river. Using a red jig with a soft plastic body was the ticket to catching 50 plus fish. They went back at it Saturday and it was wash, rinse and repeat. They had such a good time they decided to fish half day on Sunday. Krabby Patty took first place, with Reel Famous second, and Sashimi Seeker third, and every boat caught fish and had a great time. The tournament schedule for 2021 isn’t finalized as of this writing but will be on the ASWSC website shortly after the first of the year. The Atlanta Saltwater Sportsman Club (ASWSC) is the largest inland saltwater fishing club in the US, active since 1987, and today is accepted as the foremost authority on saltwater fishing in the Atlanta area. For more information about ASWSC: www.aswsc.org, info@aswsc.org, and like us on Facebook “Atlanta Saltwater Sportsman Club”.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST MY 2021 FISH BUCKET LIST By Gary Turner
To say 2020 has not been my best fishing year would be a major understatement. I did end up doing a little fishing, just not nearly as much as usual. So, like when people write down the goals for the New Year, this is my list of fish I want to catch in 2021. Some of these will not be very impressive to some of you, but others will seem worthy of pursuit. I did get to check one off in 2020. My friend Jimmy Dean took me fishing several times, and I caught a couple of sailfish this year. As far as I can remember, that is the only fish I checked off my list for 2020. Here’s to hoping 2021 is a lot more successful! Now to the list in no particular order. 1. The Swordfish. With my friend Jimmy Dean’s help, I hope to land a swordfish fishing out of the West Palm Beach area. This will not be easy, but hopefully I can get a shot or two at it. Catching the next couple of fish on my Fish Bucket List will depend on whether I make it back to Alaska to fish in the summer or not. My grandson, Dax, being born in the third week of July, has wrinkled my Alaska schedule for a few years as I loved to fish the last of July and early August. One day he will be big enough to go with me though, and
we can celebrate his birthday there. My hit list for Alaska still includes: 2. The Salmon Shark, the smaller cousin of the great white. I plan to go out of Resurrection Bay, Seward in hunt of the salmon shark. As of right now, I don’t have a Capt. selected for this, so if you have a recommendation, kindly email me the info. At up to 1000 pounds and 10 feet in length, this fish will be a worthy opponent. 3. The Halibut, a 300 pound or bigger halibut to be exact. This will also most likely be out of Seward, Alaska since I have several friends who fish out of there for halibut. It may take several years to find this fish, but every halibut is an adventure. 4. The Blue Catfish. I would like to catch a 100 pound or better blue catfish. I like the Guntersville area for good odds of making this happen, although now Georgia has a 110 pound record recently set by Tim Trone. I still think my odds are better in the Tennessee River. 5. The Snakehead. Why? Only because I have never caught one. The Miami Dade area is where I plan to look for these fish. 6. The Oscar. I would like to catch a very large oscar. I love these fish, and years ago I used to raise
them. The fact that they grow wild and big in far south Florida sounds like something I want to catch, and they are supposedly very tasty. 7. The Giant Alligator Gar. This is a trip I have talked about for years and just haven’t been able to pull off. Dawson Hefner and I have talked about fishing for the giant alligator gar, so I just have to get out there to the Trinity River and make this happen. 8. The Tarpon. I have caught tarpon but never one of great size and would like to make that happen this year. Hopefully, on one of my trips to Florida I will catch the right time and place and make that happen. 9. The Bluefin Tuna. This one may be on the list for a few years, but it is getting more and more thought. My friend Mitchell Vandiver has been telling me about catching tuna at the Prince Edward Island area. The more we talk about it, the more I think that one is going to move up the list. My other choice of locale may be North Carolina if I don’t make it to PEI this year. 10. Last, but not least, The Goliath Grouper. I would like to just manage to reel him up and take
some awesome pictures and release him back to his deep retreat. Again, this is a Florida trip for me. I have several friends that want to do this too, so it should be a great trip when we pull it off. That’s my list and there are a ton of other fish to catch out there. If you have time, email me and tell me about your list for 2021. I want to also thank some people who make my fishing better: Troy Soukup at the Happy Hooker, Damon Melco at Xtreme Bait Tanks, David Ashby at Bottom Dwellers Tackle, the people at Columbia Sportswear, and my captain and fishing friends Dewayne Proffit, Santee SC; Joe Dipietro, McCaysville GA; Jimmy Dean, West Palm Beach FL; Eric Crowley, Ellijay GA; and Chad Smith, Eatonton GA. Make 2021 your best fishing year yet! Who knows where I’ll end up next, on a boat or lake? Hopefully my next article will be about all of the fish we caught, so remember, if you have an empty seat on your boat that needs filling, shoot me an email and maybe I will come fishing with you. If you want more information about fishing, you can reach me at gary@purgeright.com.
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LAKE MARTIN Provided By: David Hare Alex City Guide Service 256-401-3089 Water temperature: 55 degrees, lake level: 484.00 (full pool 491.00), clarity: clear. Happy New Year! 2020 was very challenging for most people due to the pandemic and numerous other things brought on by the pandemic. It’s my hope that we will have all that behind us this year, and we can get back to safer and healthier times. Our prayers go out to everyone that this virus has touched. This January, we as a guide service are going to be available to be on water guiding every day due to indoor boat shows that we normally are vendors at (Atlanta & Birmingham) have been canceled. Even though we love seeing our clients and meeting new potential clients at these shows, we know we are missing some of the best wintertime fishing that Lake Martin has to offer. In January 2 years ago, we set a record on my boat by boating 92 stripers and bass combined in a 5 hour time frame with our clients. We are looking forward to the opportunity to be on the water everyday this month. In January, you can get in trouble quickly if you are not prepared for cold damp weather, so always wear a good PFD. Frigid water can overtake you quickly if you end up overboard. Keep extra batteries for your trolling
motor remotes as the cold weather drains them quickly. Last, but not least, always let someone know where you plan to launch and the area of the lake you think you’ll be fishing. Stripers are on fire this month. You will be able to locate them in most any area of the lake. You will see more than the normal number of sea gulls this month, which will help you find huge schools of bait and the stripers somewhere close by. The baitfish are so plentiful in Lake Martin that sometimes they will be so thick it’s hard to see the stripers in them with regular sonar. Switch over to down imaging and you should be able to quickly determine if the stripers are in that particular school of bait. Once you find the fish, lock down on them and drop your favorite lure or your favorite live bait. You should have success with both this month. January also is a month you don’t have to be on the water at daylight. If you prefer starting a little later in the morning, you should not be disappointed because the stripers will normally hit all day. Keep in mind that this time of year you can release stripers (if not gut hooked), and they should swim away in good shape. If you’re not a fish eater, you’ll be glad to know they are going to survive. If you’d like to run a wintertime trip, please keep us in mind. We would love to help you make memories on beautiful Lake Martin.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LOWRANCE ACTIVE IMAGING LIVE SONAR By Ken Sturdivant www.southernfishing.com 770-889-2654
15544 Hwy, 515, Ellijay
Targeting fish just got easier. See high resolution images of fish swimming around structure and responding to your lure as it happens with new ActiveTarget™ Live Sonar. Featuring Forward, Down or Scout views, you can scan fish locations around your boat and easily track their movements. See how fish relate to structure and react, so you can rig the right lure and watch them bite. Lowrance electronics has just released the newest technology, Lowrance Active Imaging LIVE Sonar. This is a High Resolutions Live Sonar that shows all underwater images in real time. All three beams are easy to apply to any trolling motor. There is an application for either a shaft mounted transducer or the transducer can be mounted on the foot of the trolling motor. The first mode is Active Target Forward. Anglers can view the water column in any direction using the trolling motor transducer. See whatever the angler wants and with greater range than ever before. In fresh water, 100 feet or more can be seen with pinpoint accuracy. This is a very tight beam, and now we can follow the schools of bait and the game fish at an angle. The second mode is Active Target Down. Looking forward, to each side, and behind the boat, this technology covers a lot more water than conventional sonar ever has. This is an 18 degrees side to side and 135 degrees top to bottom beam. Put the lures directly in front of the fish, know their depth and see exactly where they are with this transducer. With this
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technology, anglers can take all this information to determine if the fish are actively feeding, are hungry, or just curious. Watch the lures swim with the fish. The last beam is called Scout Mode. With a huge view of the water column from top to a depth of 140 feet, new anglers can scan a massive amount of water with multiple beams with striking clarity. There are 6 panels running from 500 kHz up to 1,000 kHz. See old house foundations and see the fish swimming around, and even on bridges it can see the fish and bait. This forward beam can scan a wide range of water out to 80 feet or more, and anglers can see the fish, the bait and any other targets in the beam. This is an all in one mounting system for any trolling motor, and all three applications are included. There are no additional parts to purchase, and the transducers can all be adjusted on the fly with a simple thumb tab. There will be a transom mount also. It’s easy to hook up and even easier to use. There are 6 color pallets for this new Active Imaging LIVE Sonar to choose from. This new technology will cost $1,499.00 for the new three way transducer and a required processor module. This technology will work with the Lowrance LIVE units, Lowrance CARBON units and the new Elite FS, Fishing System machines. This new technology requires an Ethernet connecting system and can be sent throughout the boat to other Lowrance compatible units. Visit www.lowrance.com for all the details and application.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST KEEPING THOSE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS Dr. Andrew Cox
As the New Year began, many of you probably made New Year’s resolutions. As you read this column, many of these resolutions may have fallen by the wayside. Our resolutions probably dealt with things that we really don’t enjoy or want to do. They are like a chore that must be completed. Resolutions may involve attempting to lose weight, stop smoking, drink more water or less coffee, or engage in more physical exercise. Have you ever thought about changing the focus of your resolutions from things that you think you must do. You can change your resolutions to include something that you enjoy or to learn a new technique or skill. Angling could be a focus for future New Year’s resolutions. Over the course of the angling
year, you could commit to learning different angling techniques or using new or different lures. Maybe you would like to learn to use the Alabama Rig, perfect your spinnerbait techniques, take up fly fishing, tie some new fly patterns, perfect the use of bait casting equipment, learn to use swim baits or flipping techniques. You might like to expand your plastic worm techniques to include Carolina, drop-shot, Neko worm rigs or mastering the Ned rig. You can also expand your resolutions to sample some different angling waters. You could consider fishing that area of the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic coasts that you have always wanted to visit this year. You could fish for trout in Alabama (you know that this is possible!), or fish
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Unfortunately, I have visited only a minuscule fraction of the public waters available for angling when you expand that list to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. What about Kentucky and Mississippi’s magnificent waters that are within driving distance over an extended leisure time period. The list continues to expand. When implementing these resolutions, you will be doing something that you enjoy, therefore increasing the probability that you will actually complete or participate in the activity. At the same time, you will be improving your angling skills and become a more versatile angler. Good angling adventures this year. Author’s Note: Dr. Andrew Cox is a contributing writer to outdoor publications and newspapers. He is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writer’s Association. He has been fishing the waters of Georgia, Alabama, and north Florida for over forty years. Dr. Cox financially supports his fishing habits as Professor Emeritus at Troy University, Phenix City, Alabama. He may be contacted at andrewtrout@aol. com.
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wildlife refuges in Georgia, Florida, or North Carolina that you have read about. You could visit what used to be Patrick’s Fishing Paradise (now a public fishing area) near Tifton, Georgia, that is known for large bass. Consider a float trip on your favorite river or that river that you cross frequently when driving. My plan this year is to more frequently fish Alabama’s MobileTensaw River delta near Mobile, Alabama. I have talked to anglers that have fished this water, viewed it from the Interstate 65 bridge, and read about the area and techniques used to catch the various fish species found within this water. Unfortunately, I have only fished this area on one occasion. 2021 is the year that I will travel more frequently to this area. What are your resolutions to expand your angling horizons? What new techniques do you want to learn or new waters to fish? Though I have not been a stranger to traveling some distance in order to pursue game fish, I am always amazed at the amount of water with public access that I have not fished within our four state area.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LANIER STRIPERS Forecast by: Clay Cunningham www.catchingnotfishing.com 770-630-2673 January is here, and the winter bite is in full swing. The stripers have followed the bait into the creeks. The north end and the south end have both been great. The good news has been the type of bait. This year, the best bait has been herring and trout. Herring is catching the most fish, but the trout are catching the bigger fish. Downlines have been catching the bulk of the fish. Rig up two downlines with a 2 ounce Capt. Mack swivel sinker, a Berkley Fluorocarbon leader, and a 2/0 Gamakatsu octopus hook for the trout. Then rig two Shakespeare striper rods with the same set ups but a size 1 Gamakatsu hook for the herring. So far
this winter, the downline has been best, but for a big fish, don’t rule out a freeline. A freeline with a nice size trout will be hard to beat over the same areas of deep bait. The water quality is great right now, so be prepared for all techniques. If you see fish up shallow, be sure to have a spinning rod like a Penn Battle III 3000 rigged up with no more than 10-pound Trilene Big Game. Most of the time, a small 1/4 ounce Capt. Mack or 1/4 ounce Spro Prime Bucktail will do the trick with white being the dominant color here on Lanier with the clear water. As a whole, fishing should be great this month plus no crowds. Each year, I find I like the winter months better than the summer months. Time to go catching.
Fishing is decent especially for the smaller stripes and hybrids. Most of the fish we are catching are mid-lake from the S-turns up to Bartow Carver. Using weighted freelines early in the day with trout, shiners and shad have all been working well. Once the sun gets up, we are swapping over to all down lines.
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With the water temperatures dipping into the low 50s, the shiner bite has really picked up. Hopefully, the bigger fish will start to show up in the next couple of weeks. Planer board season is getting close. The Dugout have the best selection of trout that we have seen in years. The Dugout is located at 1475 Field Park Circle in Marietta. Once this weather stabilizes, fishing should get more consistent, and hopefully the bigger fish will start biting.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LAKE SEMINOLE
LIPLESS CRANKBAITS FOR WINTER TIME BASS ACTION
Contributed By: Jay Striker www.jaystriker.com Many anglers start to put away their fishing gear in the winter and head for the woods for some hunting. Not me, I head to the lake and commence to catch fish on lipless crankbaits. I have found that when the temperature of the water is in the mid-30s to low 40s, throwing a lipless crankbait can be a gold mine. However, there are certain things you want to know and do if you want to be successful. First, be sure you know the difference between cover and structure, as it will help you eliminate water quickly. Second, have the right equipment and setup, such and the right reel, line and rod setup. Third, understand the right presentation that will help you catch fish. Cover is anything that will provide bass something to get under or behind to ambush prey, such as lily pads, floating docks, piers, vegetation, etc. Structure is things such as drop-offs, ledges, changes in contours, points and flats. There is a reason for understanding this and that is because bass in the winter will relate to structure rather than cover and suspend over the structure if there is a vantage point to a food source nearby. In the winter, I spend a lot of time focusing on structure rather than cover and that helps eliminate water quickly when throwing lipless crankbaits. When throwing lipless crankbaits, many anglers tend to throw them on high speed gear reels like a 7.1:1 or 6.3:1. In cold water, the fish are not likely to chase baits a long way, especially if it is moving very fast. So I use a slower gear speed reel like a 5.3:1, as it slows that bait down even though I’m still cranking at a normal speed. As for the rod and line, for lipless cranking in the winter I use a medium heavy 7 foot Denali Cranking Rod spooled with 14 to 17-pound Sufix Tritanium line or a fluorocarbon line. You don’t want to have a very stiff rod because you will tend to pull the bait out of the fish’s mouth when you get bit.
One of my favorite lipless crankbaits in the winter is a 3/8 - 1/2 ounce Rapala Rippin Rap type bait. I like it to have some rattles and make some noise, especially if I have a little wind on the water. During really calm winter days, I’ll sometime use a rattleless bait or one that has less rattles in it to match the conditions. One of the keys to catching fish on the lipless cranks is to start at the bottom of the water column and work your way up. Allow the bait to hit the bottom and retrieve it back at a consistent cadence, because this time of year fish are in tight schools and relating to the bottom a lot. Keep watching your line because bass will just inhale it, and you may not know it, so stay ready. This winter when you are heading out to the lake, consider taking the lipless crankbait box with you. Be armed with a clear understanding between cover and structure, and know how to set up the right equipment and have the right presentations. You just might make your favorite summer pastime your favorite pastime in the winter. Check me out on social media, jaystriker52 and www.jaystriker.com
Forecast By: by Capt. Paul Tyre paultyrefishing@yahoo.com Bass fishing on Lake Seminole has been good through the month of December. Heading into the new year, the bass fishing will only improve. Winter fishing on Seminole can be very exciting as the bass tend to bunch into tight schools. The crankbait bite can be excellent in January. When planning your trip to Lake Seminole, be sure to bring a variety of crankbaits and jerkbaits in shad colors. I prefer a Strike King KVD Series 5XD because of its great action and the fact that it will dive from 10 to 12 feet, which helps me search the key depth for Lake Seminole winter schooling bass. A suspending jerkbait is another great option for cold weather fishing, and the Spring Creek arm is an excellent choice to begin your search for Seminole fatties! I use a variety of jerkbaits, but my go-to is the Strike King KVD Series 200 suspending jerkbait. Your line type and rod choice will directly affect your success while using this technique. I use fluorocarbon line and the Temple Fork Outfitter’s 7’ Tactical Bass Series rod in medium heavy with a moderate action tip. This action is ideal for keeping bass hooked when they make that final surge at the boat! I key on grass lines in 8-10 feet of water. The striper and hybrid fishing has been on fire, and our customers have been averaging over 30 fish per
half day trip! Moving into January, the bite typically extends, so we anticipate the excitement to continue. When fishing for hybrid and stripers, the correct rod paired with a 6:2-1 reel is critical. For the reel, I prefer the Lews LFS series. It has an a wesome drag and can hold up to the demands of these hard fighting fish! For the rod, I prefer a Temple Fork Outfitter’s rod in the Professional Series. TFO’s 7’6” heavy action rod with its fast tip and moderate action paired with an Alabama rig is my go-to for battling these tough fighting pelagics! On the business end of the A-rig, you can’t beat the Bass Assassin 4 or 5” Sea Shad rigged on a Bass Assassin jig head that features a needle sharp Mustad wide gap hook. When planning a trip to Lake Seminole this winter, be sure to include your cold weather gear. I prefer Simms fishing apparel as they make the best foul weather gear on the market. I look forward to hearing from you when we schedule your next fishing adventure! For an exciting Lake Seminole Fishing Adventure this winter, email me @lakeseminolefishingadventures@gmail.com and follow me on Instagram and Facebook @ lakeseminolefishingadventures! Give me a call at 850-264-7534 to check availability!
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST WINTERTIME BOAT MAINTENANCE TIPS
By Capt. Cefus McRae Nuts & Bolts Fishing Series 201 Woods Lane, Hartwell, GA 30643
I fish year ‘round. Just because it’s cold outside, doesn’t mean the fish quit eating. Those folks in the Midwest actually look forward to sitting on an iced-over lake in single-digit temperatures, and they catch some big fish too. However, if you choose to let your boat hibernate during the winter months in the garage or at a boat storage facility, this presents an ideal opportunity to perform a few maintenance chores to make your boat ready to go next spring. I’ve always been perplexed at how many problems can show up on a boat that is just sitting there. Spending a few hours now, will help insure you are ready to hit the water again when the weather warms up. Here’s a few tips to get you started. First, if you didn’t clean your boat when you hauled it out for storage, now is a good time to do that. A wash-down and coat of wax
will make it easier to clean next summer. If the gelcoat is starting to fade, roll up your sleeves and polish the entire exterior of the hull with a light or medium polishing compound, then a good coat of marine wax. Take your time and really deep clean all the storage compartments, live wells, the bilge, console, upholstery, etc. While you’re doing this, you’ll be able to see gel coat cracks, loose screws on hatches, and damaged or corroded electrical connections. I think it’s fair to say a lot of boating problems are due to electrical gremlins. First, examine your batteries for that ‘blue goo’ that develops on the terminal posts. That’s corrosion. Clean the posts, and check the battery cable lugs and the wire inside the lug for corrosion too. That ‘blue goo’ can migrate down the filaments of the battery wire (and other wires) and cause a voltage drop. If you see that, then
you may need to cut the cable back to the point where you see pristine wire again and re-attach a new terminal lug end. Many boats have a buss bar where all the ground wires connect, and some even have buss bars for the positive wires too. Check these for corrosion, and also to make sure the screws that hold the wires are snug. Apply a thin coat of an anti-corrosion spray like Boeshied T-9 spray to all your electrical connections. Occasionally, put a trickle charger on your batteries to keep them topped off during the winter. While you are cleaning your bilge area, check your bilge pump. If your pump has an external bilge pump float switch, it’s an easy check. Just lift the switch up, and the pump should come on. It the float switch is ‘internal’, then the best way to make sure everything is correctly functioning is to put the drain plug back in the transom and pour a 5-gallon bucket of water in the bilge to see how the entire system works. You can check your hose connections at the same time. Check all your safety gear. Take out those lifejackets and your throwable and check them for tears and mildew. If they are damp, let them
completely dry out and check them again. If they are torn or tattered, replace them now. Check your fire extinguisher. The indicator needle should be in the green. If it’s not, replace it now. Also check the nozzle on the extinguisher too. Wasps love to build a nest right in that small hole, and that could prevent the extinguishing agent from coming out when you really need it. Check your trailer out. Are the tires properly inflated? Is your winch strap in good shape? When was the last time you added grease to the wheel hubs? Is your surge brake fluid reservoir properly filled? And finally, don’t abandon your boat all winter long. Stop by and say hello every now and then. I’d strongly suggest taking it for a short tow around the block. This will keep your wheel bearings and brakes in good shape, and it will prevent your tires from developing a ‘flat spot’. This isn’t a complete list of every boat maintenance item, but it’s a good start. These few tasks will go a long way toward a quick and easy return back to the water when the dogwoods start to bloom. Take care of your boat, and it will take care of you. Tight lines and calm seas.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LAKE CHATUGE
PAYBACK by O’Neill Williams
Eric Welch Welch’s Guide Service www.welchsguideservice. com 706-455-2323
Thanksgiving week, then December and only a few more days in 2020 to round out the year with some great fishing and hunting. However, that’s not what I’d like to talk about this time. I’d like to offer a recent experience and to make a recommendation. What brought this to mind was a visit once with some young boys and girls at the local middle school in Georgia. Actually, it was fishing club. Yes, a fishing club at a middle school. Interesting, huh? All the youngsters had to make an effort to be present before regular classes began since our little meeting was early. They sat there wide eyed and interested, and given the chance, they shared their fishing and hunting stories with the invited guest, me. What broke my heart was a few little guys and girls that had no story to tell. They had no parent that knew how to, or would take them afield, and they wanted to do so badly. It’s possible that they were children of a single mom. Could be. No, indeed, they came to hear the tall tales, to try and witness the feeling of being in the wild. They sat in silence, and when called upon to participate, they could only say that they had joined the club so someone would take them fishing. It’s a heartbreaker. All children need something on which to hang their hat, so to speak. Everyone can’t be the football quarterback, track team sprinter or even the homecoming queen, but everyone can be so much more than ‘average’ with what’s to learn in the outdoors. I was fortunate. I had maternal grandparents who took me to the old places of their youth in the Georgia Mountains. There we roamed the rolling streams and reservoirs my grandfather helped build and usually caught that night’s dinner. My paternal grandfather was a preacher in Walton County. On sunny spring days, we’d accept the kind invitations of members of his congregation to fish the farm ponds and hunt the wild rabbits in brown fallow fields. I’d found my calling.
My friends and I grew up in the mid-50s, in a time when a couple of 12-year-olds were safer being alone out roaming the woods scaring up whatever we could find than today’s youngsters. Throughout the summer’s lazy days, we located a neighborhood pond to drown some red wigglers, attempted to take a squirrel with a BB gun, which we never accomplished, or simply investigated what lived under the rocks in the local streams. Little boys and girls don’t do that now. They’re on Facebook. I wish all of you could have been in that classroom that day to see the faces so empty but wanting to know about wild places and the wild things that live there. If you choose to help with their quest for knowledge and experience, it doesn’t have to be for a whitetail or a 10-pound largemouth, but simply the beautiful sight of the hole in the water where the float was few moments ago dragged under by a two inch ‘punkin-seed’ bream. If all this rings the alarm bell for you, it’s time you answered it. Watching a young girl or boy learn to appreciate the outdoors is your payback for all the pleasures you’ve harvested. Now go. Commit to taking a child fishing or hunting in 2021.
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Water temperature: 58-60 degrees, lake level: 6.5 feet below full pool, clarity: clear. We’re almost out of 2020, and I think the fish even knew what a screwed up year it has been. We’re finally been getting some cooler weather, which is helping bring the water temps down. We are still not seeing any topwater action, and the bait we’ve been marking is still deep. It’s that time of year to get out the ½ oz. spoons and start dropping down on fish you mark on your depth finder. I’m still catching fish on a 3/16 oz. shaky head with either a Zoom or Strike King finesse worm. This time of year, it’s also hard to beat a Ned Rig with a Z-Man TRD. On sunny days, the fish will pull up on any type of rock or laydowns due to these areas warming up quicker. You can still catch fish on a
drop-shot with a 4.5” Roboworm and on a Texas rig. You just want to slow down on how you work it. This time of year, I like a 3/8 oz. jig. My three colors are black/blue, pb/j and green pumpkin. I play around with different trailers like a twin tail grub, craw and a chunk. It just depends on how cold and what kind of action I think they are looking for. Wintertime is always a good time to throw a crankbait like a Rapala #5 Shad Rap, DT6, Bandit 300 and Strike King 1.5 deep square bill. Once the water gets down in the mid 50’s, it’s a good time to throw the A-rig. I always downsize on my line in the winter months using 7-pound Gamma Touch fluorocarbon for shaky head, Ned, Texas rig and tube, 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon for jigs, 14-pound Edge for A-rig and 12, 10 and 8-pound mono for crankbaits. Good luck and remember we guide on 8 different lakes. So if you’re looking for some great fishing, give Welch’s Guide Service a call. We’re your #1guide service, and we’ve been doing this since 2001.
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LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST LAKE NOTTELY STRIPER By: Shane Goebel Big Ol’ Fish Guiding Service & The Angler Magazine Fishing Team www.bigolfish.com 828-361-2021, 1-844-4-ANGLER Happy New Years to all and we hope everyone had the best of holidays. January is here and the holidays are gone, which means it’s time break out that new fishing gear you got for Christmas and hit the lake. January is an exciting month to catch big trophy stripers on Lake Nottely. So don’t let the cold of winter stop you. Just bundle up and give Big Ol’ Fish Guiding Service a call. Start the year off right on this beautiful North Georgia Lake catching that monster trophy striper. Currently, Lake Nottely is down 17 feet below full pool. Water clarity is clear in the main lake and slightly stained in the backs of creeks. Water temperatures are still in the low 50’s. Striper fishing has been EXCELLENT lately! We’ve been catching some awesome fish. The majority of our stripers have been in the 15 to 30-pound range with the exception of a few small ones here and there. We’ve even had a few close to the 40-pound mark! Most of our fish are being caught early in the morning on planer boards and free lines with live bluebacks and shad in the mouths of creeks. Believe it or not, the smaller bluebacks have been do-
ing great! On the other hand, big shad have been producing some nice stripers as well. In the upcoming month, look for stripers to be searching for warmer water, especially on cold sunny days. You can catch these fish in the backs of creeks, around shallow humps and in the river. Pulling planer boards and free lines with live blueback herring and gizzard shad will be your best technique for landing these wintertime monsters. Keep an eye out for seagulls and schools of baitfish. It’s not uncommon to see stripers crushing bait right under those birds. I like to cast a Red Fin or a Fluke right into these guys for some nice topwater action. January is a fantastic month for catching some huge monster stripers on this North Georgia lake. Give Big Ol’ Fish Guiding Service a call and let the area’s #1 rated guide service put you on some of Lake Nottely’s best trophy stripers during the fishing trip of a lifetime. We are Blairsville, GA’s premier full-time guide service, specializing in striped and hybrid bass. We also serve Lakes Hiwassee, Chatuge , and Lake Blue Ridge. And for all your live bait and tackle needs, check out Hughes General Store in Blairsville, GA. They carry everything you need for a successful day of fishing and have the best live herring around. So, come fish with the pros for the opportunity to be featured in Angler Magazine, and let us help you get your fish on!
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Wall of Fame .
WIN A FREE ANGLER MAGAZINE CAP! One will be given away each month for the best reader submitted photo!
Joey Patterson caught this big rainbow fly fishing with Reel Em In Guide Service.
Some of the nice crappie caught by the North Ga Crappie Club on their trip to Santee Cooper. Ed Barnes caught some hefty Soque River rainbows while fishing with veteran Unicoi Outfitters guide George Coach Mac MacMillan. Nine-year-old Alexis Wheeler shot this big 9 point Hancock County buck while hunting with her dad.
Luca Ruse landed this 6.5 pound spotted bass on Lake Lanier fishing with Capt Joshua Pile
WINNER!
Nathaniel Pile with a big striper caught with Out Of Line Fishing Charter on Lake Lanier.
John Cummins with the North GA Crappie Anglers traveled to Santee Cooper and landed this big cat.
GO FLY A KITE!
A
Tim Barefoot
s I’ve written before, we’ve all experienced the slowdown that happens around 10 a.m. You might have seen my column last month, in which I covered slowing it all down and sending baits deeper during the middle of the day. Like I said, wahoo don’t have Maui Jims… so they use water depth to get the right amount of light they want and constantly look up to see the silhouette of any given bait. This is exactly why all the dark colors work best, and only the planer rod is the one producing bites during the middle of the day. Again, who says you have to go 6 knots, and/or have to use a ballyhoo? Slow it down. Fly a kite with artificials, and use big natural baits on the downrigger to get results. A big beautiful squid on the downrigger on a Barefoot Cats and Tackle Chin Weight and a spread of artificial squid and/or flying fish on the kite, along with the outriggers loaded up with natural squid is a beautiful spread. With one squid at 50 feet and one at 75 or 100 feet, you are putting a completely irresistible bait at the depth of the fish. The squid on the downrigger will be the “hot” rod on a consistent basis. It’s a complete no brainer… this is the food they eat… at the correct depth. I’m not saying the surface bite does not work during the middle of the day. There have been many beauties caught on a ballyhoo during the middle of the day. All I’m saying is, I’ve fished many times when the bite died right around 10 a.m., and only the planer rod got bites. The kite adds a completely new dimension to the spread, and it also adds reality to the spread. When squid and flying fish get pinned against the surface and they’re scared, they jump! The kite picks the baits out of the water and makes it look like they are jumping. This is a good reason
GO DEEP FOR WINTER CONVICTS PHOTO COURTESY OF DARCY HILL
By CAM Staff
D
uring winter, there’s a fish we can usually count on to provide consistent action and high-quality fillets for the table. Even when a cold snap shuts inshore fisheries down, bait-stealing Sheepshead will still be chewing shells with their hook-crushing chompers. They are almost always game once you find them, and cold, calm days can bring
to keep at least one red squid in the spread. When squid get scared, they turn red. A red squid coming out of the water is another “no brainer.” Pancake trolling weights for the downrigger are the way to go. They are slimmer, have less resistance and have less “blowback” with more speed. A stout release tension is best for this application. As a matter of fact, the tension should be tight enough to “set the hook” and allow the slack to come tight after the strike. The stinger hook will hook the fish 90 percent of the time with a squid, as the fish almost always eat the back half of the squid to disable the squid’s beak. This is the only thing on a squid that could injure a fish.
Videos for this style fishing will soon be available at:
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some of the best fishing of the year for both numbers and size of these black-barred convicts. Year-round, sheepshead can be caught wherever structure makes a home for barnacles. Bridge pilings, piers, jetties, wrecks, sea walls, oyster beds, any type of structure will suffice as long as it’s been in the water long enough to develop growth. This time of year can be the best time to target larger breeding-size sheepshead. When inshore waters cool, it sparks an offshore migration. Ahead of the early spring spawn, convicts in the 5- to 10-pound range congregate on deeper structure in 30 to 60 feet of water. This can make for easy pickings… if you can figure out how to get a hook-set. Those black-and-white prison stripes aren’t the only reason sheepshead are called convicts. They are thieves and will chew through a boatload of bait if you don’t pay attention and get a feel for that light, nibbling bite. Even in 15 feet of water, it takes practice to time the hook set. The challenge is amplified when you’ve got 40 or 50 feet of line out. A vertical presentation and staying in touch with the bait are absolutely critical when targeting deeper winter sheepshead. You want to drop baits straight down, as close to structure as possible. The limited stretch of braid paired with a short fluorocarbon leader of a foot or less helps with detecting the bite. Abrasion resistance around all that structure is also important. Using 20-pound-test for mainline and leader is usually enough to muscle a hard-fighting sheepshead out of structure. A simple fishfinder rig with just enough weight to keep your presentation vertical in the current is a tried-and-true rig. The lighter the weight, the easier it is to feel the bite. Find the sweet spot where your bait stays put. A small short-shank bait hook works well. Take a variety of baits and see what works. Fiddler crabs are the all-time sheepshead favorite, and convicts also crunch up live or dead shrimp, crab parts and clam or oyster meat. Drop that bait straight to the bottom, lift it up a few inches and then wait with a tight line. If you’re not getting nibbles within 15 minutes or so, it’s time to move. If you do feel light pecks or even a little added resistance on the line, set the hook immediately with a short, sharp upward jerk. Then haul the fish as quickly to the net as you can. Sheepshead are known for snapping lines on structure as well as with their teeth.
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Pontoons, Too!
A
s the first convenient and longlasting “hidden” anchoring solution to deliver high-end performance and quality materials at an affordable cost, the Retractable Pontoon/Tritoon Anchoring Solution seamlessly blends with the design and functionality of your boat while you control everything at the helm. Pontoon and tritoon owners have struggled with generic anchoring solutions for years: the lack of a rope locker limits the boater’s storage capacities, plus above-deck solutions currently on the market tend to be plastic, bulky tripping hazards with protruding bow rollers that get in the way of the boating experience. These options have littleto-no integration at the pontoon’s helm controls either, making them more of a manual tripping hazard than a helpful piece of equipment. E-Z Anchor Puller’s patent-pending, one-of-a-kind Retractable Pontoon/ Tritoon Anchoring Solution solves all of these issues! A simple-to-install bow roller is provided with a universal underside mounting plate that allows boaters to completely attach their chosen E-Z Anchor Puller drum anchor winch beneath the deck without compromising the aesthetics of their pontoon. Creating a truly invisible anchoring experience won’t leave customers blindsided, though: a completely submersible, wifi video camera makes it possible to watch your pontoon solution at-work while you control it from the comfort of the helm. The retractable bow roller design is a unique, selflaunching system that allows the anchor to easily fall when the rope and chain is loosened without the fear of being “hung up” or balanced on the roller. Both anchoring solutions are specifically designed to retrofit any pontoon and tritoon brand or size and are manufactured to be operated by the Hero EX-1, Hero EX-2 or Patriot EZ-1 drum anchor winch. The EX-1, EX-2 or EZ-1 drum anchor winch can easily be installed by mounting it directly to the underbelly of the plywood floor with the included aluminum backing plate. After successfully mounting the drum anchor winch, install the square aluminum tube raceway which provides a convenient pathway for the rope and chain to travel between bow roller and drum anchor winch. These hollow raceways are attached perpendicularly to the C or Z aluminum channel cross members located below deck, allowing customers to either detach the retractable-style bow roller or hoist the hinged-style bow roller above deck when their pontoon is being transported from trailer to waterfront! Scan the QR code to see our anchoring solution in action! LEARN MORE AT WWW.EZANCHORPULLER.COM/RUM COASTALANGLERMAG.COM • THEANGLERMAG.COM
JANUARY 2021
NATIONAL 11
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OFF THE JERSEY COAST
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stuttering buzz from the stern brought Ken to his feet. He cranked in a Spanish mackerel to get things started. It was followed by a bluefish, and then Adam got a second Spanish. Here off New Jersey, this trolling bite was what we had hoped for. Things were good. With patience restored, we got reoriented and trolling. I was tying on a green crocodile spoon when one of the reels started screaming. Ken let the fish run a long time before he tightened the drag and started gaining. When he first saw the fish, his face lit up. He kept saying, “It’s a king!” in a high, tight voice I’d never heard before. Off New Jersey, a king mackerel might be once-in-a-lifetime. As Ken brought the beast boat-side, Adam swung and missed with the gaff, then hit it square in the head with a second shot. Ken took his fish and stood there grinning while Adam and I muttered, “yeah, great job.” We trolled another hour. While Ken grinned at the horizon, Adam focused on the depth sounder to hide his jealousy. I was jealous, too, so I stared at my rod, blinking one eye at a time. The jealousy ebbed once we got on plane headed home. We’d all caught dinner. I’d made peace with my lone bluefish when Adam hollered, “Woah!” He slammed the boat into neutral. “That was a cobia! I thought it was a shark, but it was a cobia!” Adam was excited, talking fast. I didn’t see anything. Neither did Ken. Adam swung the boat around, retracing his wake. “There! Throw something! Cast!” he shouted. My eyes focused in on a lumbering golden-brown cobia. The fish swam closer to investigate. Ken cast. The fish didn’t see his lure and kept swimming… toward me. Just feet away, I plunked an epoxy jig in the water. I saw the wide mouth open and inhale my lure. I froze. The huge fish, old and ragged and covered in scars, was looking me in the eye. I was hypnotized. With Adam and Ken yelling, I snapped out of it and set the hook. It felt like a brick wall on a medium-heavy spinning rod. I cranked twice and my rod bent double. Too much drag. I moved to loosen the drag and saw the cavernous mouth open and the head shake. The fish was still looking at me as if to say, “not today.” The rod slacked. I heard the jig whiz past my ear. My jaw dropped as I watched the fossil swim away. The boat was quiet for a minute, and then they started busting my chops. That went on for the whole ride in. By the time we hit the inlet, I was able force a laugh. Looking back, maybe I’m glad I lost it. A fish that old deserves to swim. From now on, though, I’m keeping my drag nice and light.
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BREAKING RECORDS On Russia’s Tugur River H
By CAM Staff
ow’s this for a bucket-list fish? There is a potential new all-tackle world length record for Siberian taimen. According to the International Game Fish Association’s Facebook page, Maxim Mamaev caught this 156-centimeter (more than 61inch) fish while fly fishing Russia’s Tugur River. If approved, it will best the previous record by 16 centimeters (about 6 inches). Siberian taimen are the largest, most ferocious species of salmonid on the planet. Growing to weights in excess of 100 pounds, they look and behave like giant trout and feed on fish, ducks and small mammals like muskrats. Their home waters are the rivers of northeast Asia, where they can live up to 50 years. Over the last few decades, the rise of taimen as a spectacular gamefish is a good thing. They have been fished and dammed almost to extinction across much of their native range. There are just a few large and remote drainages left where they thrive in Mongolia and Russia, and their appeal as a sportfish, especially for fly anglers, has helped develop strict regulations to protect them. The Tugur River is home to the largest Siberian taimen in the world. Isolated in Russia’s Far East, it feeds the Sea of Okhotsk and runs through an 80,000-acre nature reserve that protects many species of fish, including the
PHOTO COURTESY OF IGFA
Pacific salmon that pile into the river in late summer to spawn. It doesn’t hurt that much of the drainage is accessible to anglers only by helicopter, but the salmon run definitely contributes to the unparalleled growth of Tugur taimen. The nutrient transfer from saltwater to fresh during a large salmon run is well documented. Everything feeds on salmon and their eggs, and large taimen are capable of gorging on whole adult salmon. The current world record Siberian taimen by weight was caught on a fly by taimen researcher Matt Sloat on the Tugur. That fish, caught in 2018, weighed 101 pounds. There are multiple un-certified Tugur taimen reported to weigh into the 150-pound range. According to National Geographic, the largest Siberian taimen ever caught weighed 231 pounds and stretched a tape to 83 inches. It is rare, however, for anglers to encounter taimen of such enormous size. With such long lives, they grow slowly, and the larger individuals are old and wise. Most taimen caught on the fly weigh less than 20 pounds. But you can keep those 100-pounders in the back of your mind when you’re packing up your 9-weight rod for a trip to Siberia.
COASTALANGLERMAG.COM • THEANGLERMAG.COM
JANUARY 2021
NATIONAL 13
I
Catching Cold-Water Bass In Small Lakes By CAM Staff
t’s the time of year when big-water bass anglers bundle up in their bibs and parkas and slug it out through bitter reservoir winds to drag jigs on the bottom. For some of us, finding joy in such misery seems masochistic. Why brave the cold winds of big water when countless sheltered ponds and small lakes are there to provide winter bass fisheries that’ll scratch the itch? Small waters often fish very well this time of year. Whether casting from the bank or a jonboat, here are a few tips to take with you. 1) Find Warmer Water: Carry a thermometer. Water temps just a couple degrees warmer than surrounding water will consolidate baitfish and bass. In spring-fed lakes or ponds, an underground spring will provide relatively stable temperatures year-round. During winter, flows from a spring are likely warmer than the main body. Where there are no springs, look to sun-warmed rock or metal structure. Muddy shallows are also known to warm more quickly in the sun. 2) Play the Weather: The smaller the volume of water, the more easily influenced it is by weather patterns. On a small lake, water temperatures can increase dramatically with a single day of warmer-than-normal weather. The bite can go from non-existent to wide-open in an afternoon. String together a threeday warming trend, and your pond might exhibit spring-like feeding patterns. 3) Find the Fish: On small waters there are limited areas where bass can go to find comfort. Rather than spreading out in search of forage, bass group up in areas where they are comfortable. If you don’t find fish on sun-warmed rip-rap, look to the steep drop-offs at pond dams or creek channels. They might be down there stacked up in 10 feet of water. 4) Match the Hatch: Bass are not as aggressive when they are cold, which means you have to go with a more natural approach. Bugs and frogs aren’t on the menu this time of year, so baitfish imitations like jerkbaits and crankbaits are your best bet. Reel them down to depth and fish with slow twitches. If crawfish are active year-round where you fish, a jig is absolutely a good option. 5) Cover Water: Covering water is relative. This time of year, you’ll want to slow it down. Yet you still need to encounter fish to catch them. One of the great things about small waters is you can fish a lot, or all, of a small lake or pond in a single afternoon. Fan cast and work your baits slowly enough to be effective, but keep moving until you find that area where fish are piled up.
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