A New Season Begins…

Fishing kicked in in the past week. We are now seeing some decent top water fishing on Lanier. Fish are being found all over the south end and mid lake. You have to burn gas and run a lot to find them. They can appear at anytime during the day. Best bet is early and late in the day as low light periods tend to generate the best feeding. Fish are eating both small and medium sized baits but I tend to like the 3 1/2-5″ long flies this time of the year. Small flies will perform better as the water cools down and the fish migrate toward the smaller baits. Wiggle minnows and game changers on intermediate lines are best employed. Clousers can be effective at times too. We still have one or two days left in November and December is still fairly open. Fishing should get better and better thru the next 9-10 weeks. See you on the pond…HC

Lanier striper report 10/12/15

Got to get out a few times last week and you can see the changes taking place. Most importantly, the water temps are slowly coming down. We are not where we need to be but are getting close. I suspect we will be seeing the “right” temps in the next week to ten days. What I did see was a few loons working baitfish on the surface (very early for this) as well as a bunch of turns diving on bait like you would expect to see in mid-Nov. It was cool seeing this event this early in the season. Ran into a few schools busting bait on top but they did not stay up long enough to get on them. Most of this occurred out over the river channel. Typical for this time of year. I suspect the activity will get better once we see the effects of the Oct full moon. I am thinking 7-9 days away from the fish really committing to the surface. We were able to catch a bunch of nice sized spots and a few stripers mixed in. Most of this was found by either fishing over humps that are 20-25 feet down or fishing points near deep water. Nearly all of this is done with spinning tackle and swim baits or top water lures. The fly bite is just not ready yet but will be in the coming weeks. It’s gonna get better real soon folks. We are in the process of booking trips for end October thru New Years. Thanksgiving days are gone and Xmas to New Years is starting to get booked. Now is the time to get the better moon phase dates on the books as they will certainly go first. See you on the pond.

Lanier Striper report 9/18/15

It has been a while since I last wrote a report on Lanier. So after all this time I felt it was time to get the ball moving forward again. While I have nothing to report fly fishing wise on Lanier, I can tell you that last fall was not a very good bite for anyone. Top water was nearly non existent and the sinking line bite was fair at best. However, the good news is that the past 6 weeks the deep water down line and power reeling bite has been phenomenal! Our 2012 year class fish have survived and are showing themselves all over the lake. If these fish decide to come to the surface this fall (which we anticipate they will) it is going to be game on. The screen shots being taken on fish finders all summer are the likes of which we have not seen in 15+ years. Most of these fish are in the 4-6lb class but these fish can tolerate the warm water better than the big fish and are hopefully surviving the pressure from the bait fishers. These smaller fish usually LOVE to feed on the surface too. I suspect we are going to have a lights out top water bite starting in the next couple of weeks and then it will extend to great fishing thru the new year. We are starting to book trips for those wanting to get on my calendar. Start cleaning off the intermediate fly lines as fall is fast approaching. See you on the pond!

Lanier striper report May 2, 2014

Fishing has finally turned the corner. The fish are committed to feeding shallow. Both stripers and spots are eating the lights out of both flies and lures on the red clay banks. You can watch some feeding activity on the surface both early and late in the day. The key to this pattern is to make sure you are fishing in 10′ of water or less. Red clay points and flats are holding the bait and the fish. Best lures right now are Sebiles and McSticks. Best flies are game changer, wiggle minnows and Clousers in the 4″-5″ length. While the top water bite has not officially started it is very obvious that the next pattern to emerge will be the long awaited Redfin bite. For fly rodders, try tossing pole dancers, Flat Fred’s, gurglers and any noise making top water fly. The expected weather for next week is high temps in the low to mid-eighties. This will push the surface temps to above 70 degrees and the fish will eat off the surface. Areas to fish are not as important as the structure you are fishing right now. North lake is fishing a little better then the south lake. That will change in a matter of days! It seems to have taken a long time for the fish to commit but they finally did. Get out on the pond as we probably have 4-6 weeks left before it all comes to a crashing halt as the fish go deep. If you are wanting to catch a world record spot on the fly…NOW is the time. Go out there and rip some lips! See you on the pond.

HC

Lanier striper report April 13, 2014

It has been quite a while since I last posted a fishing report. I am here to tell you that our fall and early winter fishing was phenomenal due in part to the wonderfully consistent weather we had. Well not so for most of January thru the first of April. Front after front moved thru and the temperatures were up and down for month after month. This led to inconsistent surface water temperatures and the fish even though it is April 12th, are feeling like it is March 12th. The fishing has been consistently inconsistent and I continue to take a trip or two and then cancel a trip or two. The stripers just have not woken up yet. They have not made their spawning run up river (although I suspect that will occur any day). Dock light fishing (which is usually off the charts right now) has been just fair at best and the fish over the past 3-4 days are finally getting on the lights. The spotted bass are just now getting up “near” the bank. By next week I suspect we will see really good spotted bass fishing and hopefully the stripers will be on the points staging for their run up river. It has been a frustrating start to our spring season to say the least. Even the bait guides are suffering. The good news is that as surface water temperatures continue to warm (60* right now) we will surely see the fishery turn on as if someone thru the switch. Stay tuned folks! It’s gonna get hot and heavy very soon. See you on the pond…

HC

Lanier striper report 12/27

This will be the last striper report for 2013′. What can I say….? This was positively the best top water bight we have seen in many a year. The fish just keep on feeding on or near the surface. As of last week, the fish have started running the banks with reckless abandon. Best bet is to let the terns and gulls help you find the fish. Intermediate lines and the something else fly is still your best bet. Fish can feed any time of the day but early and late are still best. Today was another magical day on the pond. We fed 8 fish on fly for Ryan Kennedy. Fish were up to the low teens. When will this top water end? Who knows…it’s like the energizer bunny. The fish take a licken’ but keep on ticken’. I suspect we are nearing the end of this pattern and the next pattern will take shape shortly as the water temps hover around 50 degrees + or -. We have an opening or two for later this week and then we are booked til mid January. Happy New Year and see you on the pond…

HC

Ryan Kennedy w/striper caught running the bank

Lanier striper report 12/4/13

Fishing continues to be very good on the pond as the stripers are spreading out all over the lake. From mid-lake to the northern breaches the fish are in small groups but are finding shad and blitzing them just under the surface. As we continue to see the surface temps drop, the fish should begin to bunch up more making fishing a tad easier. Fish are ranging in size from small young of the year fish in the 1lb range to fish over 20 lbs. Intermediate lines and the somethin’ else fly is positively your best bet. Most shad the fish are gorging on range in size from 1 1/2″ to 3″ in length. Cloudy slightly wet days with light winds make for outstanding fishing. Sunny days are still okay however the fish are more scattered and will feed both early and late in the day. Some of the best fishing is yet to come. We still have a few days open in end December and I suspect the good fishing will continue thru early January or whenever the cold weather just shuts it down. See you on the pond!

Henry

 

Lanier Top Water

Lanier top water continues to push onward. Fishing has been very good when the weather cooperates!

Lanier Striper Report 11/20

Well things have certainly changed over the past week of fishing. The fish are moving all over the pond and while there are still plenty of schools on top, some of the schools appear harder to feed than others. I had a particularly good week of fishing. My schools that I am targeting are eating a well presented fly. The key term here is “well presented”. This time of year anglers MUST fish with an urgency about them in order to get the fly in front of the fish. Unfortunately for anglers not accustomed to fishing this way it leads to errant casts and missed opportunities. Anglers must take a deep breath and not get rattled at seeing teen sized stripers rolling on the surface for a short time before disappearing and then resurfacing 100 yards away again. That is the difference in having a nice day versus a big day. I had a trip last week where my first time clients had many opportunities to surfacing face. They caught and landed 2 spotted bass and dropped 2 stripers in nearly 5 hours. After dropping them off I found a school of fish heading home and in ten minutes of fishing made a total of 8 casts hooking 5 fish. It is all about feeding the fish and a well presented fly. Not always an easy task… but it can be done! Fish are still eating somethin’ else flies on intermediate lines. Mornings and evenings are best but even middle of the day has fish showing up. Overcast days are clearly better then sunny days. Weather has us buggered the past 3 days…It will continue!!! See you on the pond

HC

PS…for David Testerman… best area of the lake is positively $!%&#@*!   😉

Lanier striper report 10/29/13

Top water striper…

Well finally all things come to an abrupt start! The top water bite officially began the past 48 hours. Fish are busting shad all over the lake. While we are only seeing a handful of gulls and terns it is not so easy to spot them as it will be in two to three weeks from now when we have lots of bird life helping find fish. For now the fish are feeding on their normal fall patterns. There are two patterns that are consistent… first there is the night time bomber bite. You can go right after dark and fish shallow by tossing bomber long A lures up shallow around beaches and islands on the south end of the lake. For those wanting to do it using fly, just take a bomber and remove the treble hooks. Toss it on the shallow points and beaches and when you get a tug, stop and change over to a fly rod with an intermediate fly line and a fly about 5-7″ in length. The second bite is the top water bite. You will see the stripers busting bait just under the surface but still make a splash. Best bet is a small somethin else or Clouser type pattern on an intermediate line or you can fish a wiggle minnow on a floating line. It is tons of fun watching these fish crash the bait near the surface. These are happy fish that are at times doing back flips on the surface. It is all just starting and the next 6 weeks should be tremendous! We are booking trips and are currently open for some trips around Thanksgiving and thereafter… see you on the pond!

 

HC