Lake Lanier Fishing Report - 03-30-2011

The striper fishing is improving but remains fair. This past week has been a mixed bag without a real pattern. We have caught fish on points, flats over 20ft. bottoms and over creek channels on 80ft. bottoms from one end of the creeks to the other. I have not seen any schools of stripers but seem to pick up one fish here and one there. The key is to "cover water" with herring on free lines and boards. I am using free lines at 100 and 120ft. back and boards from 50 to 80 ft behind the board. As the sun gets up I will put a split on a couple of lines to get them a little deeper in the water column. The spots are starting to bite so check your baits often as the small spots will "skin" your herring without you knowing. If you can find some big Gizzard shad (12 -14 inches) put them on a board on the bank for that big fish. I have not used Umbrella rigs this past week but using them as a search tool is always a good idea. The north end of the lake is slow and probably will remain that way with all the rain we have been experiencing. The middle to the south end of the lake is your best bet. Because the fish are so scattered it does not make much difference which creek you fish but Flat, Balus, Four Mile and Baldridge are receiving the most pressure. I still think the fishing will "fire up" any day if we can catch a break in the weather.