I have been on the lake several times since fishermen began daring to venture back out onto Lake Lanier following the raucous Memorial Day weekend, and it has been tougher, much tougher, than I would have imagined.
In fact, I zeroed one of those days; nada, zilch, zippo, and other pseudonyms for spending a full day with a hook in the water and not having a single tap, tug, yank or other pseudonyms for a bite.(I would appreciate you keeping my failure a secret. Thanks.)
I never ventured north of River Forks Park, I confess, because I was determined to catch huge spotted bass on the lower end. I had heard reports (i.e. lies) about the ferocious topwater bite happening between Brown’s Bridge and the dam, and by golly, I was going to “get-me-some”.
But it never happened. What’s up with that?
Fortunately, I have low friends in high places and have been told by several anglers known for their ability to stretch the truth that a combination of two factors caused my fishing malaise.
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Heavy boat traffic and spectacular thunderstorms over the Memorial Day madness pushed the fish (bait fish included) off the main lake points and humps.The fish ran like scared chickens for a place to hide.
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Rising lake levels and slow-to-rise water temperatures moved the fish off the main lake points and humps.
Guess where I spent almost all my time fishing? Correctomundo! I spent almost all of my five days fishing the places the fish had just vacated: main lake points and humps.
My sources (fake news, anyone?) informed me that they were finding lots of fish on the main lake docks, but you had to fish those docks in one specific fashion. “Tell me more,” I whimpered, not sure if my pride had been damaged or my leg was being pulled.
The schools of fish, they claimed, were suspending under and around main lake docks, waiting for normalcy to return to their aquatic world.
“I fished a bunch of docks on the main lake,” I argued, with nada, zilch, zippo, and other pseudonyms for spending time with a hook in the water and not having a single tap, tug, yank or other pseudonyms for a bite.
“Ah!” they told me, “these schools of fish aren’t biting the jigs and finesse worms you were throwing to and through them.”
They would only take slow sinking bait – such as a wacky rigged Senko or weightless Super Fluke – and would ignore anything that fell faster that a feather in an updraft.
So my sagely fishing tip for the next couple of days: focus on main lake dock, stay as far off the dock as possible, throw a weightless Senko, trick worm or Super Fluke and let her sink. Watch your like closely for any movement.
If this proves unproductive, my guess would be that these fish are headed back out to the main lake points and humps and the topwater frenzy is about to resume.
Be safe; good fishing!
