The Angler Magazine | December 2022 | Greater Atlanta Edition

UpSwitzerland

A watch that revolutionized timekeeping at a price equally as radical.

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“[Piezo timepieces]...it would shake the Swiss watch industry to its very foundations.”

Foundation For Economic Education

With the Timemaster we’ve set one of the world’s most important mechanical advances inside a decidedly masculine case. A handsome prodigy in rich leather and gold-finished stainless steel. The simplicity of the watch’s case belies an ornately detailed dial, which reflects the prestige of this timepiece.

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EXPERIENCED ANGLERS WANTED!

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Tight lines, Ben Martin

Editor In Chief

Coastal Angler Magazine

The Angler Magazine

www.CoastalAnglerMag.com

TROUT TIPS FOR Wintertime

By Nick Carter

Trout like cold water, but there’s no denying the slow down that occurs on most wintertime trout fisheries. When water temps fall into the low 40s and below, insect life and other food sources are less prevalent. Trout metabolisms slow and they go into energy-conservation mode. They are content to hover near the bottom out of heavy current and feed only when an easy opportunity arises.

That said, fish still need to eat, and intrepid anglers will find joy in the seclusion of a wintertime trout stream. Here are some tips to raise the odds of a great wintertime trout trip. Dress warmly, wade carefully and savor the taste of the ice you suck from your rod guides.

1) Choose Destinations Wisely: Winter is not the time to explore high-elevation brook trout streams. Instead, float a tailwater, where water temps are consistent year-round, or go to lower elevation streams that are a bit warmer. For a target-rich environment, try out a delayed-harvest fishery. They are stocked heavily through the cooler months.

2) Fish Warm Spells: Two or three days of consistently warmer weather are primetime in terms of winter trout fishing. Everything in the stream, from the trout to the bugs and baitfish they eat, perks up.

By the same logic, the best bite is usually during the warmest part of the day. Sun warms the shallows, bringing out the tiny little midges, black stoneflies and blue-winged olives that are wintertime staples. Even if the action is subsurface, trout will take advantage of easy feeding opportunities.

3) Fish Meticulously: Unless trout are visibly rising, subsurface is the way to go. Turn your attention away from the riffles where rainbows pop dry flies in spring, and look to the deeper, slower runs. Pick them apart with nymph rigs. Keep in mind that most winter food items will be small, but fish a variety of sizes and patterns at the same time and cover every inch of each run vertically and horizontally. The idea is to hit a fish in the nose, and this is best achieved fishing slowly and carefully.

If you want to tempt a giant trout, it’s a good time to dead drift a big streamer with the same meticulous patience. Don’t hesitate to fish a heavy streamer deep under an indicator. Sometimes a big mouthful is enough to convince a lock-jawed bruiser to eat.

4) Fish Safely: Flooding your waders can kill you when it’s frigid. During cold snaps, consider fishing near the truck, where a quick jog can put you in a heated cab if you get wet. If you do go into the backcountry, take a dry-bag with fire-starting equipment, a towel and a change of clothes.

Wherever you fish, wade carefully, avoid stepping on frozen-over rocks, kick any snow off your boots before entering the water and avoid taking chances like wading deep water or heavy flows.

Nick Carter is the author of “Flyfisher’s Guide to North Carolina & Georgia.” Contact him at nsc8957@gmail.com.

Berkeley County, South Carolina

Berkeley County is a wonderland for outdoor enthusiasts, sports buffs, adventure seekers, and water lovers. From exemplary fishing for striped bass, or a trophy largemouth bass, to our hiking trails and water activities, along with scenic outdoors where you can catch a glimpse of white tail deer and gators, Berkeley County has activities to fit all visitors and families. Learn more about Berkeley County at: exploreberkeleycounty.com

Peacock Bass Luxury

Next stop Manaus, Brazil! It all started when my good friend Capt. Johnny Stabile called.

J: I know what you’re going to say before I even ask.

G: What is it?

J: Do you want to go Peacock fishing in Brazil?

G: When?

J: We would leave 13 days after our Alaska trip.

Of course, my response was, “Ok, sounds great!”

That would give me just enough time to get back from Alaska, fulfill orders for my business, and get things ready to head south. We flew out of Miami, and with a layover in Panama City, Panama met up with several other fishermen on the expedition. After a very long night of traveling, we finally landed in Brazil and hopped on a quick seaplane ride to the Rio Matupiri for six and a half days of non-stop fishing!

We stayed aboard the Amazon Legend with a very accommodating crew of 14. We ate like kings and fished hard. Our typical day of fishing consisted of getting up before the sun for a quick breakfast and loading into skiffs to spend the day zipping around to the guide’s best fishing spots. We threw a variety of lures, mostly topwaters like big choppers and walking baits. Johnny’s favorites of the trip were a Rebel Jumping Minnow and a Borboleta Woodstock 10.5 cm. He wore out the peacock bass on that Jumping Minnow. I threw bucktail jigs, and they produced the largest number of fish, but for Johnny it was all about the BIG’UNS!

Johnny loves to fly fish, so one special thing about fishing in Brazil for him was catching several nice fish on the fly rod with easy-to-tie flies that he made myself. These fish are so much more aggressive than the peacock bass you find in south Florida. For a little perspective, we caught more than 350 peacocks and more than 50 piranha along with several other exotic species. The average peacock was 2 to 3 pounds, and Johnny’s biggest weighed more than 8 pounds. One person in our party caught a big peacock that pulled the scales to nearly 14 pounds.

After a long morning of non-stop action, sometimes we would take a quick lunch break and hide in the shade of a tree for a wonderful shore lunch. The guides packed everything for remote meals on land, where they cooked native fare on an open fire. While they cooked, we relaxed in hammocks with

plenty of cold drinks and the opportunity for a quick nap before lunch was served. Many of the fish we caught contributed to these lunches, and there were also steaks and chicken available with all the fixins. Homemade salsa and native seasonings complimented the meals perfectly. After a relaxing lunch, it was back on the skiff and back in the action!

After afternoons of fishing, we indulged in fivestar dining and the most important part of the trip, air conditioning! The crew made up our rooms, did our laundry and prepared dinner every evening. Specialty cocktails were also provided, if that’s your fancy, but Johnny’s favorite was the freshly squeezed juices. He’s already looking forward to the passion fruit juice when we return next year!

Johnny shot some great video of our trip. Check it out in the December edition of The Angler Video Magazine

If you are interested in a Brazilian fishing adventure, e-mail Johnny at captain@ SFLFishingCharters.com or Gary at gary@purgeright.com.

By Capt. Johnny Stabile and Gary Turner

For as long as I can remember, offshore bottom fishing is what we look forward to during the last half of November and the entire month of December. The week of Christmas has always been considered the apex of the bottom-fishing year.

You can see the move of the big snappers marching offshore on the edge of the colder water. This will pile big snapper and other bottomdwelling species up on certain staging areas, along with a clean water temperature line that also stacks up the kings and wahoo. Keep a light line bait out while you’re bottom fishing. There is no telling what you’ll catch and on what baits.

Of course, I love a pinfish, grass grunts or sailors choice for grouper and snapper baits for more than one reason. 1) They get bites from the target species; and 2) they eliminate most of the trash bites from grunts, pinkies and sea bass.

Yes, I love a live bait on a jig, but don’t ever forget that a big grouper also loves a big chunk of cut bait. We have seen a huge uptick in amberjack and almaco jacks in the past few

years for some reason. This is an excellent bait source! I like to keep one of the first, smaller, amberjacks that come up just for this cut-bait option. The big chunks of cut bait do

of my bottom-fishing strategy. This is also the reason I take a couple boxes of squid on every trip. I start every new post-up on a ledge or live bottom area with everyone firing down whole squid every drop. I don’t care what they are catching. It’s usually grunts, pinkies or seabass, but what is really happening on the bottom is the squid are being ripped to shreds and small pieces are swirling around and creating a chum slick. After several volleys of whole squid, I change it up to live pinfish, grass grunts or other live baits on a jig.

Grouper and big snapper see the live bait as a smaller fish that was grabbed by a crab while feeding on small pieces of squid. It’s a winning technique that has been very successful for me and other Decoy Jig users for years now. It is also new to the fish, tackle-wise.

two things. They get bites and they also create a “chum slick” on the bottom right where you are fishing. When the cut bait gets pecked at, all the small pieces of flesh swirl around as it’s being eaten.

This is one of the most important aspects

The beauty of this cold water line moving farther offshore with every cold front creates opportunity for a variety of species. You never know; keep firing down cut bait and setting the hook on “strange feeling bites,” and you might even catch a big deep-water lobster like the one in the video below.

Check out some awesome bottom fishing videos at https://youtu.be/w1YmT6M0ObQ.

Tim Barefoot

LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING

DECEMBER FORECAST

Contributed By Capt. Wayne Moore USCG www.oconeeonthefly.com

“Fun Fishing” is what we call it when guides have a day off from taking customers out and go with each other. I got invited out with Kevin Harris of Gofishlakeoconee guide service and Jason Duncan of Duncan’s Guide Service on Novem ber 8th.

Kevin has invested both time and money in Garmin LiveScope and Jason and I got to see how it is used to catch crappie off brush piles.

Garmin’s Panoptix LiveScope System allows for real-time views of structure and fish below your boat even when motionless. It is incredible and allows you to see your jig or minnow, the fish on the structure, and how far the structure is from your position.

If you are a serious crappie fish erman, it’s worth the investment. If you just want to see it, book a trip with Kevin; you won’t believe it. It’s a game-changer and I will most likely add this to my boat, as I can see huge advantages for not only crappie but striper fishing as well.

December Forecast - Hybrids / Stripers

Last December was one of my best months on Lake Oconee ever. The spoon bite was off the chart with most trips producing 10 to 20 hybrids/stripers. Look for humps anywhere from Great Waters up to Richland Creek. If you don’t see any fish or bait but the hump has been productive in the past, try thumping the bottom of your boat

with a stick that has a rubber cover on the bottom (like a pool cue). Thump for at least 10 minutes be fore dropping a spoon and you will be amazed when you see how many fish come right under your boat. December also often brings the “bird bite.” When you see the gulls dive bombing the baitfish, get over there quickly and quietly. Here again, the spoon is the ticket as you can make a long cast to the area without spooking the fish. Overcast days are best for this bite.

Fly Fishing –

I went out at night to fish lit docks recently and had a blast. There are very few people that leave lights on their docks so if you try this be quiet and courteous. I used an 8- weight with sinking line, a 5-foot section of 15-pound fluoro carbon for a leader, and a 3-inch white and grey clouser. I caught and landed a 5-lb 7-oz hybrid right away. I hooked two more that got off while I fumbled for my net. Then I caught a 5-lb catfish, fol lowed by a largemouth and a crap pie.

For daytime fly fishing, the “bird bite” can be very productive. I still use the sinking line with the 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. Pay close attention to the size of the bait fish. Most likely they will be smaller in December, and Henry Cowen’s “Somethin Else” will be the ticket.

Crappie –

In December, the trolling bite should be firing up. The fish will

Try trolling two 1 /16th ounce jiffy jigs on the Curtis Hobbs Lite wire Hooks jig heads.

Please call 404-317-9556 or e-

mail me at wmoore1700@outlook. com and lock in your dates well ahead of time to ensure you get the dates you want. Please remember when you fish in the fall, dress for the weather, and bring a dry sack with extra clothes just in case you fall in. Tight Lines, and God Bless.

LOCAL RIVERS & FLY

THE CASTING CORNER GIVE YOUR CAST A LIFT

Contributed By: Rene J. Hesse Certified Casting InstructorFederation of Fly Fishers & Atlanta Fly Fishing and Camping Meetup Organizer

Here is a tip that you can use to smooth out your fly cast. It is not adding more to what you have been doing in a casting sequence, but it can make all the difference in how your loops are shaped, amount of casting arc you need to use, and casting is so much easier when you do it. Can you guess what it is? It is the first part of your initial move ment when starting a cast...it’s the lift! You may ask why is that so im portant. I’ll do my best to give you a quick answer, but you have to try it on the water to really understand what it feels like.

Here is the setup. You are on the water and have about 15-25 ft of line out of the rod tip. The rod tip is low, next to the water. I will repeat that, the rod tip is down in the wa ter or a few inches above. What we want to do next is create a straight

line from the rod tip to the fly in the water. Go slow enough that the line is not making a spray come off the water, but fast enough to keep the line from sagging. Sagging line is bad. Learn to go slow enough that you can see your line making a little V in the water as the point of line/ water contact moves out toward the line/leader connection. Now that you have lifted the line to the point that the line/leader connection is about to come out of the water, you then do the, ‘speed up and stop’ or ‘power snap’ for the very short time that it takes for the fly to come out of the water. Stop the rod as soon as the fly is off the water. It is a smooth constant rate of acceleration to a stop. That will send the line up and back for the back cast. The whole progression is one constant move ment. From the time the rod tip

is at the water to the time your rod stops going in the upward direction in back, there is no slow down. The lift is very slow, now do it slower. If it feels like the rod is hard to pull back during the lift, you are going to fast. It’s not a two part casting stroke, it is a constant rate of accel eration to a stop. A cast of 20-25ft is only about a 15ft cast if you think about it. Your rod takes up about 9ft, so you don’t need a lot of power, let the rod do the work.

If you take the time to watch what your line is doing to the water

as you make your lift, you may find that the lift is too fast. You can tell by the spray that it makes and also how heavy the line feels due to the water tension. The back cast will suffer because the rod had to bend more than it should have in order to keep the line on a straight line path on all planes. The line will have a lot of waves in it if you lift to fast. To reduce the waves in the line, use the smooth lift. I think you will be surprised how easy a short cast like that becomes with a smooth easy lift.

daltonmarineinc.com

December in the Appala chians is a time to reflect on the past year and shift gears down to a slower pace until the first warm winds of spring slip down the trout streams. Trout in the cold water of winter are normally pretty sluggish about taking a fly unless it practically bumps them on the nose or is simply just too good to pass up. Trout will eat that’s for sure. During a typical day on your favorite trout stream, a rising shift of the water temperature of 3 or 4 degrees will occur and during this time period trout will move the most to take a fly. That movement may only be a couple of inches but it’s an easier target to hit. Being on the river during this period of time is crucial to success. Most trout in the mornings will be found close to the bottom and dead drifting nymph patterns is usu ally the most productive. When

the sun comes up and starts the warming process, fish will some times start to suspend a little off the bottom. Now, if it’s really a warmer than normal winter day they may be within a foot or two of the surface for a little while. This makes them a target for dry dropper fishing or a swung wet fly or soft hackle. Streamers can also work extremely well dur ing this “up time” for the fish. When the fish are suspended, you can literally fish underneath the fish with a nymph rig with no success. It’s still important to put your fly on their nose. Later in the day, when the sun goes behind the ridge and the water temperature starts falling, the trout will usually sink back down to the bottom of the river to spend the cold night. This is when I pack my fly rod into the truck and head towards the cab in for a warm drink and to spin up a few flies.

Contributed by David Hulsey International Federation of Fly FishersMaster Certified Casting Instructor http://www.hulseyflyfishing.com

LOCAL RIVERS & FLY FISHING

FROM ENEMIES TO FRIENDS

By Jeff Durniak, Unicoi Outfitters

Summer’s sultry 90-degree days are now a distant memory as our winter trout fishing army prepares for numb fingers and toes. That’s okay, though, as the clean, cold air and uncrowded streams make our winter respites a true delight. And this season turns many of our past enemies into special friends. Let’s reunite with a few.

First is our instream attire. Can you recall that we shed those wad ers last May because they would have steamed us like a bushel of clams? They’ve hung patiently in their corner of the garage. Now, with water temperatures in the 40’s and 30’s, they’ve become our very best friends once again. First, we must show a little love back to them by trying them on, checking for leaks in our tub, and repairing them within the warm confines of home. Gotta love Aquaseal! That’s a much better recipe for friendship than fill ing a leg with ice water far from our truck and having a nasty conver sation with Self on the limp back. Our friendships extend further, to our un-retired fleece pants that slip over our nylon fishing pants before we adorn waders. And that forgot ten pair of winter wading shoes smiles at our touch. You know, it’s the pair that’s a size larger than our spring/summer shoes. We can now comfortably surround our feet with extra pairs of wool socks without cutting off circulation.

Our next reunion is with the sun, our biggest enemy during our steamy Georgia summer. It baked us, burned us, and shooed fish

away from us. We were like trolls, hiding from it at midday and only coming out to forage at dawn and dusk. Even then, the heat and hu midity made us pay dearly for our few hours of fun in the shadows. Now, however, hallelujah, we covet those rays! So do the fish, those cold-blooded creatures that stir much more as stream temperatures creep up after lunch. We look for east-west facing stream reaches that capture more daily radiation than north-south stretches can catch. We know our gorge trips will be short midday excursions because high walls deny those desired rays before 10AM and after 3PM.

We welcome back lots of fly fishing trinkets and techniques. We ditch most dries and welcome back our dredging boxes, full of junk (eggs, worms), nymphs, and streamers. We greet our selections of shot and indicators, knowing that frozen fish hunker down on the bottom, and we must sink our flies down to bump them in the nose. We can fish in big waters again and even make a few decent false casts without spooking all trout within a half-mile. We happily resurrect our Belgian cast so that our Christ mas-light string of indi>shot>first fly>-dropper won’t ball up on us in midair. And we step past the riffles and reunite with slow pools for our holiday trout reunions.

Ah, winter, it’s a fine time to re new special friendships. May your own reunions with this season’s tackle and techniques lead to more great fishing memories!

Fall Tournament 1 Results – Lake Lanier

Congratulations to all the young anglers that participated in the Ga High School Fishing Tourna ment on Lake Lanier! Especially Cooper McDonald and Walker Grizzle who walked away with the first-place trophy weighing in 5 fish at 14.07 lbs. It was a great start to the season. The top 10 finishers are listed below.

look forward to following the teams throughout the school year and wish everyone the best of luck!

1.Cooper McDonald – Walker GrizzleLumpkin HS 14.07 lbs

2.Logan Parker – Hudson Howell Cherokee HS 12.73 lbs

3.Nate Ruis – Nick Ruis

North Forsyth HS 11.36 lbs

4.Wyatt Richards – Colby Goforth Pickens HS 11.24 lbs

5.Logan Gibbs – Jude Shank

Cherokee Bluff HS 11.16 lbs

6.Levi Self – Porter Self Lumpkin HS 10.12 lbs

7.Carter Waycaster

8.Evan Frullaney – Ty Frullaney

9.Katy Grace – Grayson Pendley

Buford HS 10.08 lbs

Cherokee Bluff HS 10.01 lbs

Forsyth HS 9.85 lbs

10. Jacob Janning – Ben Wilson Jefferson HS 9.84 lbs

NGCA CHILDREN’S

FISHING TOURNAMENT

We are lucky to have one of the premier Crappie Angler Clubs in the Country, right here in North Georgia. This club has many ben efits and activities for its members, so I encourage you to check them out at northgeorgiacrappieanglers. com. This club is responsible for many wonderful projects involving veterans, first responders and chil

dren. Today, I would like to shine light on their recent children’s tour nament. It was a fantastic event in which members took children fish ing on Lake Lanier for a friendly tournament. Upon their return ev eryone got to enjoy lunch, comrad ery, and prizes. Mason Daniel took the biggest bass at 3.09 lbs, followed by Carmen Grinder with a bass at 2.72 lbs and Logan Daniel with a bass at 2.36 lbs. There were also several crappie caught, including

one by Eric Thornton weighing in at 1.26 lbs. Thank you to the mem bers of the North Georgia Crappie

Anglers Club for all their work in hosting this children’s tournament! We look forward to the next one.

THE GUIDE’S ANGLE

WINTER FLY FISHING ON THE HOOCH

Contributed By: Chris Scalley River Through Atlanta Guide Service

Many avid outdoorsmen are busy hunting during the winter months which leaves our trout wa ters uncrowded during this time of year. With our mild climate and the fact that trout love cool water tem peratures, river conditions are ide al, if you layer up and maybe fish in the middle of the day when it warms up. For fly fisherman, win tertime is a whole new world when it comes to insect hatches. Con sistent blue winged olive mayflies, midges and winter stones bring the fish to the surface making for some decent dry fly action. The winter season is peak time for the larval stages of most aquatic insects that you see emerge in the spring, so dead drifting various nymph pat terns can be effective but using a high vis indicator is helpful as the bites can be very subtle with cooler water temps and the slowed metab olism of the fish. We let our clients know that we do NOT charge extra for “hook sets” so when in doubt set the hell out of your line bigger fish oftentimes bite softer than little fish.

New for 2022-2023

Delayed Harvest is back on the lower Hooch below Morgan Falls! For the past decade we have had ex cessive rains making for high mud dy River conditions on the 6-mile section from Sope Creek to Paces Mill. This year looks like a dryer than normal rainfall year making for low and clear river conditions which are ideal for the fish to see your barbless artificial fly. The fish will be concentrated in the deeper pools and runs. Lower sustained flows are safer for wading and al low anglers to read the features of the river more easily, like ledges and gravel bars. Our guide service will offer both wade and drift boat trips on this stretch all winter and spring. A fun way to scout this stretch is to float from Johnson Ferry to Paces Mill from the com fort of a drift boat or fishing frame raft with us for a full day charter. This is all public water with a va

riety of access points throughout, that you can come back and wade fish on your own. Don’t forget that some of the best hatches occur on the stretch of water, so dry fly ac tion is consistent in the winter and upcoming spring seasons.

The Upper Tailwater

From Buford Dam to Morgan falls is approximately 37miles in length. This section fishes well all winter, with uniform river tem peratures exiting Buford Dam as the thermocline source of water is often 30 degrees warmer than the winter frigid air temperatures. There is a 100% wild brown trout population on this expansion reach of the river. DNR stopped stock ing browns in this section to prove that the browns are self-sustaining with ideal spawning habitat (gravel bars) and water quality through out. There is a 15-mile stretch of River from Ga HWY20 Bridge to the 141 Medlock Peachtree Pkwy Bridge which is managed as “artifi cial ONLY” lures or flies. Live bait organic scents are NOT allowed. This section is stocked with 180,000 rainbow trout annually at about 20 different locations. Rainbow trout do reproduce on a very limited ba sis but many of these stockers will holdover and naturalize to grow bigger with beautiful colorations. There are only six public working boat ramps for 37miles of river and then an additional 12 public ac cess points for wading throughout. This limited access to this upper reach is probably the “secret to our sauce” in that this part of the river has produced three Ga State record brown trout and countless fish over 20inches!

River Through Atlanta Guide Service is Family owned and has been in business as an outfitter on the 48-mile Chattahoochee River Tailwater National Recreation Area since 1994/ ORVIS endorsed since 2003. We offer both wade and drift style guided trips for half or full days, with attention to detail, so we can accommodate beginners,

novice, and experts for a full cus tomized outdoor experience. Please consider “gifting an experience”

this Holiday Season and send your family member or friend down the Chattahoochee with us!!!

CHATTOOGA RIVER

LOCAL RIVERS & FLY

Oh, the sleigh bells ringing, must mean one thing, it’s Christmas season on the Chattooga and Chauga rivers here in South Carolina. Soon, the jolly, red-suited man will come down the chimney that special night, with your presents from Chattooga River Fly Shop, while you dream about enormous fish on your tightline. The rivers here are fishing awesome with a great number of large fish be ing caught. The remnants of Hurri cane Nicole brought us some much needed rain, mid-November, and the rivers are pumped up for a while still with the need of weekly rains to keep levels up. Many thanks go out to the Walhalla State Fish Hatchery for the huge fish delivered by helicopter into the Chattooga, into the Delayed Har vest section and back country areas. By now the fish released in No vember have caught on to the infa mous “mop fly”, eggs, and squirmy worm arsenal, as we move into win tertime fishing. Periodic truck stock ings of the hatchery will still provide great fishing with such flies, but once moving away from these access areas, the fly selection will become much different. Cold snaps moving in be hind weather fronts drive the fish to the bottom, for more suitable water temperatures, much like in the sum mer. The warmer water of the rivers in winter is actually further down in the water column. Lobbing and dead-

drifting heavy weighted nymphs with small trailer flies is the trick. Using long leaders, smaller diame ter tippet, along with these stream lined nymphs to plunge to the bot tom is the key to success. The use of tungsten beaded nymphs aids the rapid descent to the river floor, along with flies which do not have a lot of buoyant materials wrapped on the hook. Many of these flies represent the stone flies of the river, small nymphs which are growing to reach Spring maturity, and some at tractors as well, will produce many fish for the day.

Colder water temperatures lead to the fish becoming a bit lethargic, and streamer fishing will need to be slower as well. Slowing down your strip and pauses will be the key to success. The use of a sink tip leader will keep the streamers down in the water column, especially while re trieving them back, when the water is higher, and the temperatures are colder.

As the holidays are upon us, the “river crowd” tends to be a little less than usual, as many folks are shop ping and attending holiday festivi ties. We have found that even on a Saturday or Sunday, folks can have a great day on the river with out having difficulty finding a great spot to fish.

From all of us here at Chattooga River Fly Shop we want to wish ev eryone and their families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing everyone out on the rivers, and always remem ber, “Leave No Trace” out there.

15544 Hwy, 515, Ellijay

Provided By: David Hare Alex City Guide Service 256-401-3089

Lake Level (11/8/22) 486.9 should be 484 by 12/1/22, Surface Temp (11/8/22) 65, Clarity Very Clear

Well here we are in that fall/ winter pattern for stripers and as you can tell in the photos below Lake Martin isn’t disappointing any of us striper anglers. This time of year, for me, is one of the most exciting seasons there is. Even though it’s never a guarantee of catching fish, you can almost bet that in December you’re going to boat a lot of fish and I mean a lot! Sure, they may not be the

25–50-pound stripers that we are so well known for catching here in the spring, but these 4-15 pounders fight hard and long in the cold water. People ask me, how many is a good day in December? My reply is, all I can tell you is I’m never surprised if we boat 35-70 fish on a 6 hour trip, it’s just that good in December.

Whether you like live bait fishing or artificial bait fishing with light weight spinning rods, Lake Martin will produce .

Now for a few tips for December I recommend keeping an eye out for diving gulls because they definitely are following the bait and as the old saying goes where there is bait there is fish. Another tip for stripers is they are cold water fish, so do not concentrate on finding warmer wa ters on the lake, stick to the colder

water areas and it will increase your catch. Do you like to sleep in well, you’re in luck because this month you can go out about as late as you want and still have a really good chance of catching stripers. I personally like 7am until noon but believe me, if I’m carrying my fam ily for a fun day, then it starts about 10 am until dark and we catch fish. Regardless of what dock or boat

ramp you leave from in December you will not be far from schools of stripers.

Don’t forget to call me for your gift certificates for those special people in your life and yes, you don’t even have to pay until the day they use them, so that’s a big plus in keeping your Christmas in budget.

Happy Holidays to everyone and Merry Christmas!

LANIER STRIPERS

Forecast by: Clay Cunningham www.catchingnotfishing.com 770-630-2673

The striper fishing on Lake Lanier is finally falling into the winter pat terns. With the hot temperatures, the fishing has been good, but all over the place. The bait is thickening up in the creeks and the stripers are following them. Live bait will be hard to beat in December. The topwater bite has been on and off, like a light switch. The good news is the size of the strip ers has been great.

The baitfish are now moving into the creeks in very large schools. Some of these schools are massive. On and off, throughout the day the strip ers will move through this bait and feast. You want to be waiting on the stripers with the traditional freeline of blueback herring or medium shin ers this year and possibly even a few trout. Trout are already being used with success this Fall. You will need the same setup for all these baits, but

you will need different size weights and hooks. Spool up a Penn Fath om II 20 reel with fifteen-pound Trilene Big Game clear line paired with a Shakespeare striper rod. You can use this setup year-round for stripers. Tie a Carolina rig on the end with a Capt. Mack 2-ounce swivel sinker and 5-foot leader of 15-pound Trilene 100% Flourocar bon and a Gamakatsu 3/0 octopus hook. If the trout are smaller, go with the 1/0 or 2/0 Gamakatsu Oc topus hook and a size 4 Gamakatsu Octopus hook on medium ones. On the herring, use the smaller 1-ounce Capt. Mack swivel sinker. Also, on the herring use a smaller size 1 Ga makatsu Finesse Wide Gap hook and 12-pound Trilene 100 % Flou rocarbon. All these details are im portant, as they will make the differ ence between fishing and catching. If you want to catch these fish on artificial bait, the spoon is a great choice. Tie on a Capt. Mack Super Spoon on a 6’6” Fenwick medium action rod paired with an Abu Gar cia Revo X with 10-pound line and

drop the spoon to the bottom and work it in a yo-yo type motion. Most of the bites will be on the fall of the spoon. If you do see some surface action, keep a Berkley Spy tied on a spinning rod. With the falling water temperatures, many times, they will be eating small baits.

To find where these deep pods of bait are located first look for any birds. The birds always narrow your search. Now that you are in the right

area, the proper electronics are cru cial. On the Humminbird Solix, you can see these huge pods of bait and even see your bait swimming around on the hook around the schools of bait. During the winter, do not be afraid to fish in the middle of the day as, often, the best fishing is during the warmest part of the day. A win all the way around. No need to freeze at daybreak. See you on the water.

GEORGIA BASS NATION HIGH SCHOOL FISHING RESULTS

WEST POINT LAKE – NOVEMBER 5TH, 2022

TOP 20 TEAMS

1. Winder Barrow HS

2. Morgan Co HS

Brett Boswell/Dylan Thayer 12.68 lbs.

Nolan Holloway/Jackson Fanning 12.47 lbs.

3.Dawson/Chatuge Anglers Buddy Benson/BJ Collings 12.22 lbs.

4.Kings Ridge Christian School Jackson Thomas/Cole Bradley 10.29 lbs.

5.North Paulding HS

6.Pike Co HS

Caden O’Neal/Matthew Wright 10.19 lbs.

Joe Haren/Cohen Smith 9.89 lbs.

7.Jefferson HS Jacob Janning/Ben Wilson 9.77 lbs.

8.Seminole Co HS-MS John Michael Godby/Bryson Grantham 9.42 lbs.

9.GBN HS/Cartersville HSCooper Moon/Noah Holcomb 9.38 lbs.

10.Madison Co HS Logan Fisher/Will Hart 9.34 lbs.

11.Westfield School Benjamin Lawson/Brant Beckham 9.21 lbs.

12.Houston Co HS Conner Lopez/Brenden Martin 9.17 lbs.

13.Pickens Co HS Wyatt Richards/Colby Goforth 9.17 lbs.

14.Clarks Hill Chadwick Medlin/Bryce Bentley 9.10 lbs.

15.Southwest Georgia Academy Nate Akers/Bo Williams 9.02 lbs.

16.Lee Co High Dean Fincher/Payton Schabeck 8.89 lbs.

17.Alexander HS Trent Hammock (solo) 8.88 lbs.

18.Eastgate Life Academy/Chatuge Anglers River Huffman/Robbie Barter 8.82 lbs.

19.Haralson Co Dalton Tilley/Ethan Carter 8.21 lbs.

20.Dawson Co HS Carter Cunningham/Landon Glander 8.11 lbs.

LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST

CARTERS LAKE

669-4973 lakeandstreamguideservice@gmail.com

Temp 61, Level full , Clarity 6 to 8ft Carters Lake has been fishing well for the last month. Warmer temperatures have kept the bait in the creeks and kept the fish near by. It has been more like spring time fishing than fall, with mid 60s water temperatures. There’s been a good walleye bite working spoons, jigs, and blade baits near points and structure in the creek arms. Most fish seem to be 40 to 60 feet deep and tight to the bot tom. Our average fish last month was 22 inches, but we did catch a bunch of small fish in the 10-to15-inch size, which is a great sign for the future.

The stripers have been holding in the creek arms as well. Each creek has several giant schools of alewives, and each school is holding hungry stripers and hybrids. Live baits are always a good option but don’t overlook the effectiveness of chrome spoons. Jigging the spoon is one option. Power reeling is another. Parker spoons from 1oz to 3.5oz have all caught fish recently. As temperatures drop, I like to downsize the spoon a bit but I never put all the Parker spoons away.

Forecast

Eric

LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST

A FLUKE

By James K. Pressley, jameskpressley@gmail.com

By: Eric Crowley Lake & Stream Guide Service

(706) 669-4973 lakeandstreamguideservice@gmail.com

Temp 60, Level down 18ft , Clar ity 12ft

November didn’t deliver the cool down that it typically brings so water temperatures are a bit higher than normal. This has kept the fish in a transition pattern for a few weeks, as water temperatures actually went up a few degrees. This should result in an awesome month of fishing for December and if the warm weather continues, should keep the bite solid through the first part of January. The Walleye are typically stacking up in November, but we didn’t see very much of that. Instead, we had fish wandering the main lake following deep schools of herring. As tempera tures drop, look for the bait to move up to shallower water, the walleye will be hot on their tails trying to pack on the pounds before the cold really sets in. You will want to target 35 to 60 feet depths and any vertical presen tation is recommended. Spoons, jigs,

live minnows, or live herring are all acceptable options with the 3/4oz spoon being my favorite. Look for the walleye on the bottom and hit them in the face with the spoon. We have had good results with a chrome and black krocodile spoon boating several fish over 22 inches, in recent weeks.

The perch bite has been on and off with the weather. One day they are 15 feet deep, the next they can be 50 to 70 feet deep. When the lake temperatures get into the high 50s the perch will school up tight making them much easier to find and target. Small spoons or min now tipped jigs are your best bet for size and numbers. Look for them in the grass beds around the main lake.

There’s been a decent top wa ter bass bite early in the day. Zara spooks, flukes, and spoons have all put quality fish in the boat, at dawn. After sunrise look for the schools of spots on points 30 to 50 feet deep. They are crushing spoons fished over their heads as well as JYG slow pitch jigs in 25 and 50g sizes in pink or black.

A few weeks ago, my buddy, Kevin Underwood, told me to come on up to Lanier to go fish ing. That’s a suggestion that never falls on deaf ears with me. So, the day after the hurricane cleared the Carolinas, I was there. We left midmorning and fished through late afternoon. And man, oh man!!! What a day!

Now fishing a fluke is a seem ingly easy thing to do, but honestly, I haven’t been that successful with one until now. I mean I’ve caught a fish or two on them and even a huge tarpon once off the coast of GA. But as far as being really suc cessful, not so much… That all changed with the help of Kevin.

First let me say this. trust a man who has enough confidence to show up wearing tie-dye sweat pants, to which I accused him of stealing from his wife, because he’s supremely confident in what he is doing. Or crazy. In any case, I trust Kevin to be on big bass and to be able to teach me how to catch them.

We started out our morning with a lesson on how to rig flukes correctly. It’s extremely important to get these baits rigged straight or they won’t perform correctly. Kevin also has a little secret sauce tip that you will just have to book a trip with him to learn. I tossed mine all day on a 7’0” Falcon Bucoo MH fast action rod and a Lew’s tournament series reel with 14lb SunLine FC Sniper on it, which is probably my favorite all around combo.

When we started running the pattern Kevin was on, he im mediately started just whipping up on me. I mean he was up 7 to 1 at one point. Then I got the hang of the bite and the bait, and we leveled out. We were fishing for spots, but we also caught stripers, large

mouths (a couple of good ones above 4 pounds). We did it all day! Running brush piles and marinas walls. All in all, we caught way more than 30 fish that day and had a best five of 20lbs.

Here’s the takeaway for our wa ters:

1. The zoom super fluke is a great bait if fish are on shad and chasing bait. You can scale it up or down in size and the color combinations are endless.

2. This bite will last on lakes like ours and Lanier through this month and, depending on the weather.

3. This is nearly a bulletproof bait. Just get it out there. It darts and twists and turns on its own.

4. Gear needed is minimal. You can run this on either a mediummedium heavy spinning rod or a good baitcaster. I really recom mend fluorocarbon but Kevin, if I am not mistaken, runs a braid to leader set up on his rod.

Now rush out and make these disappear off the shelves and watch the bass pile up in your boat. The possibilities are endless. Even into the winter a fluke on a swimbait head, underspin, or weighted hook is an awesome bait!

Forecast

LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST

TIS THE SEASON

By Capt. Cefus McRae Nuts & Bolts Fishing Series Hartwell, GA

December brings a lot of change to our area. Folks are out in large numbers shopping for the perfect Christmas pres ent. Holiday music plays in cof fee shops, retail stores and gas stations. Homes and businesses display decorations that would rival the North Pole; and every night a transformation occurs as thousands of lights create a land scape of color along every street. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in the holiday spirit.

December also brings change in the outdoor world. Lake tem peratures drop rapidly, so the sur face temps are virtually the same throughout the water column. Fish can now feel free to cruise deep or shallow. And on a bright day, the sun warms up shallow flats and long points where they can soak up a little heat and get a quick bite to eat. For us anglers, fishing can be off-the-chain one day, and then all strikeout’s the next.

Fish can be fickle, especially when the water temp’s dip into the 50’s and lower. Because they are cold-blooded, everything tends to slow down in cold weather…both predator and prey. And that’s a key piece of knowledge. Cold water tends to make gamefish a bit sluggish. And because they are not expending a lot of energy roaming the lake, they don’t need to eat quite as many meals. But they still need to eat.

So, downsize your lures to mimic morsels rather than big meals. Try scaling down and tieon small spoons, in-line spinners, smaller crank baits, etc. And slow down your presentation as well. In fact, try completely stopping your retrieve and simply let your lure sit in the water, or drop down slowly. That momentary pause may be just enough to entice a large bass to mosey over and take a look. And they may even do a little window shopping before ac tually taking the bait.

That brings me to my next point. I know the majority of bass anglers tend to use artificial baits; but if you’re simply want ing to stretch a string, or perhaps you’ve got someone new to fishing or a kid on board, and you want to bend a rod…go with live bait. Did I just cross the line? Hope not. Seriously though, small shiners, crappie minnows, small worms and crustaceans are what these fish are eating now. And if you can give them what they want, you’ll realize a tremendous benefit from the tactic.

Fish the bank edges, shallow rock bottoms, and flats that warm up as the sun comes up. A couple degrees in temperature change can mean the difference between hero, or zero.

The mavericks and exceptions for winter fishing in our south eastern impoundments are strip ers and hybrid bass. For them, the

colder…the better. 50 degrees is like heaven to them. Baits can be big or small, so the key is to de termine what forage fish are still active and then mimic those spe cies. Stripers will actually focus on a particular bait choice…like small threadfins for instance and pass up virtually everything else. And when baitfish get scarce, they will look to other opportunities like bream, big gizzard shad, and even smaller bass or stripers. I’ll set up my slow troll spread with a vari ety of species and sizes at the start of the trip and let the fish tell me what they want to eat that day. A

couple herring down deep, one on a flat line, and a large juicy gizzard shad or trout on a planer board right up against the bank. Usually the water is quite clear, so fluoro carbon leaders are a must and go with the lightest line you feel com fortable with.

Winter fishing can be fun, and it can be frustrating. Adapt your bait, tackle and tactics to the sea sonal change and you can continue to put lots of fish in the boat.

right up against the bank. Usually wish

From all of us at Nuts & Bolts of Fishing, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!

Clarity: clear, Level: -2 and dropping.,

Bass: With the mild Novem ber weather, we have been catch ing some fish up schooling in the morning on a white super fluke and a white Super Fish swim bait head with a 3” Keitech paddle tail swim bait. We have been finding these fish on the humps first thing in the morning. As the day goes on most of our fish come from brush piles 20’-25’ deep using a super fish under spin with a white super fluke. On slower days we have used shaky heads with

green pumpkin seed finesse worm in the brush. Use your sonar to see if the fish will come up higher in the water column to feed or if they want to stay tight to the bottom.

Perch/crappie. We have been catching some quality yellow perch and crappie dropping medi um minnows and throwing white curly tail jigs in 20’ of water on the side of humps.

Trout: Fish the channel in front of the dam with live blue backs deep for the larger trout. Keep an eye out, first thing in the morn ing, for the smaller trout to school. The best way to catch the schooling trout is making a long cast and cranking a Rapala count down through the schools. I prefer the black back with white sides and belly.

LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST

Water level 188.34, Water Tem perature 68 early rising to 72 as sun rises, Water Clarity Perfect stain to clear

The bigger tournaments have slowed down some, taking some of the pressure off the fish. The shad continue to spawn in the warmer than usual water, so the fish have an abundance of food at their disposal. This means we must finesse and ag gravate them into a strike. Our fish are in very healthy condition. As I have continued to report, we need to eat all the spotted bass and some of the smaller large mouth to get our river system back into balance. We do not have pollution issues as some believe, our fish are perfectly safe to eat.

The bass are feeding on shoreline cover early and late. Frogs are still getting action in and near the cover. Top water plugs like spooks and Pop R’s are a good bet outside the cover. Spinners and buzz baits are also get ting them stirred up. Texas rigged soft plastics in greens, red shad, June bug and watermelon candy are also good choices. We have also been working on some methylate colored baits sent to me by Lindsay Page from 850 Custom baits. They are

doing well on the outside cover also used as a trailer on Jigs. The deeper bass are coming on deep crank baits in Tennessee shad and Thread fin shad patterns. Large spoons worked vertically over schools holding on ledge structure are working too. Car olina rigged large worms in dark col ors and creature baits in black or blue are a good bet.

Crappie are beginning to settle in on the deeper structure in 16 to 22 feet. Minnows and jigs worked in these schools are doing the trick. Bluegills continue to like the crick ets on the bank cover where you find overhangs and any grass and green growth.

Cats are really eating up the cut bait on jugs in the creeks. You need to keep them corralled up like calves with these winds blowing now. If you get a good one on, you will chase him down river in a heartbeat.

Keep your eyes peeled to the www. alclassic.com web site for some excit ing news about the March 17,2023 tournament. This is the date for the old Albany Bass Club fund raiser event. We are working on details for a new format for smaller powered boats. Stay tuned.

Be safe on the water, take your kid’s and grand kid’s fishing and hunting and create those memories now. Pray for one another and all our men and women in uniform along with their families as they go out daily to protect our freedom.

1st Place John Hill & Will Fredrick 18.00 lbs

1st place big fish 5.44 lbs

2nd Place Ethan Greene & Heath Green 17.87 lbs

3rd Place Steve Croley & Ron Pittman 16.08 lbs

4th Place Patrick Dobbins &Chad Newbolt 15.72 lbs

5th Place Michael Cavender & Thomas Carpenter 14.42 lbs

6th Place Drake Milson & Kristen Delk 13.92 lbs

7th Place David Parsons & Jerry Tice 12.93 lbs

8th Place Steve Graziano & Richard Warren 12.54 lbs

2nd place big fish 4.64 lbs

9th Place Clint Cox & Kevin Clarke 9.90 lbs

10th Place Larry Jones & James Stutts 8.81 lbs

11th Place Mike Bonner & Dwight Spurlock 6.76 lbs

12th Place Kendall Kelley & Kenneth Kelley5.17 lbs

13th Place Michael Brown & Mark Jones 4.13 lbs

14th Place Hunter Waller & Caleb Scott 4.11 lbs

15th Place Wayne Cockrill & Albert Cockrell 3.71 lbs

Mark your calendar for next year’s tournament, which will be September 16, 2023!

God Bless & Good Fishn’ Capt.Sam Williams Hawks Fishing Guide Service 334 355 5057

Heath & Ethan Greene 2nd place 17.87 lbs.

1st place John Hill and Will Fredrick 18.00 lbs and 1 place Big Fish! – Ala bama Classic Bass Tournament

LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST

HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR THAT SPORTSPERSON IN YOUR LIFE?

Dr. Andrew Cox

This month the holiday shop ping season is in full swing. You may be looking for a gift or gifts for that person in your life who enjoys hunting and/or fishing. Some times, anglers can be difficult to find gifts; particularly if they have everything under the sun related to fishing or a tackle box or rod and reel rack full of various equipment. In this article, I am going to list sev eral gift ideas for that difficult to shop for outdoors person.

Various angling gadgets can be good gifts. You may need to listen to the angler in your life for hints or ideas regarding needed angling items on his or her wish list. These items could include specialty pli ers such as the light, stainless, and rustproof types that are available or nippers and cutters for cutting fishing line and leader material. Cutters that are capable of cutting braided line are particularly valu able. Measuring boards for mea suring fish are another good gift item, particularly for anglers that keep fish for the table or tourna ment anglers.

Another gift idea is specialty an gling clothing that are appropriate for different seasons of the year. I like the long sleeve, synthetic fab ric shirts embedded with sunblock for Spring, Summer, and Fall fish ing seasons. These keep the angler cooler during the heat of the day and reduce sun exposure. Easy to care for angling pants are another good clothing item. Fleece type products for late Fall, Winter, and early Spring fishing trips are other good clothing items. An added touch is to have these clothing items monogramed with the an gler’s name or special and unique phrases.

I have multiple tackle boxes for the various specialty tackle items or trips that I may embark. As an angler, you never seem to have enough tackle storage. These tackle boxes can be placed in boats or car ried to different fishing locations. I prefer the plastic see through wa terproof and rust proof tackle box es with different layers of storage. These boxes can be found in dif ferent sizes and price ranges. I also

like the deep tray waterproof boxes that can be purchased for storing electronic devices such as cellular telephones, cameras, GPS units or similar devices. These boxes can also be used for storing fishing line, and other angling supplies so that they are readily accessible in your boat or other fishing location.

Some anglers enjoy using clas sic fishing lures or have favorite lures that are no longer available for purchase. There are companies that specialize in reproducing these favorite lures from a prototype lure or picture. These hand-made, spe cialty crafted lures are many times made from wood. These lures can also be monogramed with the an gler’s name for a special touch. Internet searches can assist in lo cating such specialty lure manufac turers.

Fishing seems to stimulate my appetite. Accordingly, I always have some snack foods on board my boat or available for snacking during the fishing day. Rather than scrambling around looking for plastic spoons or forks to eat those Vienna sausages or Beanie Weenies from a can, a combination cutlery or multifunctional camping tool that has a folding spoon, fork, and knife are a good tackle box or boat item. Many times these are avail able in stainless steel, titanium, or aluminum to prevent rust. These are available from camping equip ment specialty stores, catalogs, or on-line shopping sites.

Lastly, the gift giver cannot go wrong with a gift certificate to pur chase items at one of the big box or smaller tackle outlets. This allows the angler receiving the gift card or certificate to make decisions re garding their own purchases and angling needs. If you have in mind to purchase a rod and reel for the angler, a gift card/certificate with sufficient funds allows the angler to decide on the make and model of the purchased rod and reel.

As you search for holiday gift purchases, consider shopping at lo cally owned angling and sporting goods stores. Over the years, many of these smaller family owned busi nesses have gone out of business,

experiencing difficult times com peting with the large, national so called “big box” stores as well as on line sales outlets. Browsing around these stores may provide some gift ing ideas for those sportspersons in your life. Most of these smaller stores have knowledgeable sales staff with excellent customer ser vice that can provide gift ideas to you geared towards the angler’s pre ferred type of fishing. Many times these smaller outlets carry tackle and product brands not found at big box tackle outlets or have specialty angling niches focused upon par ticular angling methods.

Hopefully this provides some shopping ideas for the sports per son in your life. Hope that each of you have a safe and happy Holiday season.

is a contributing writer to outdoor publications and newspapers. His writing interests specialize in angling and travel, human interest, and gen eral fishing technique oriented top ics. He is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writer’s Association. He has been fishing the waters of Geor gia, Alabama, and north Florida for over forty years. He has also fished the waters of most states within the United States, Canada, United King dom, New Zealand, Australia, and several Caribbean islands. He enjoys fresh and saltwater fishing for bass, bream, crappie, trout, redfish, and speckled trout using fly, baitcasting, and spinning equipment. Dr. Cox financially supports his fishing habits as Professor Emeritus at Troy Uni versity, Phenix City, Alabama. He may be contacted at andrewtrout@ aol.com.

Author’s Note: Dr. Andrew Cox

Water temps should be in the 50’s and low 60’s. Currently the lake is mostly clear and around 5 feet down.

Bass: Good - The shallow bite re mains good now and could improve even more, especially if we get a warm rain. Baits such as unweighted Flukes, Senkos, Spooks and Whop per-Ploppers are still catching fish. Try to fish these baits in or near cover or around schools of shallow baitfish. Fish the open water in the pock ets with a spinnerbait, a Shad Rap, a Rat’l Trap or a Flash-Mob jr. rig. Pockets with a feeder creek or a little stained runoff seem to be best. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have a jig handy to pitch around any wood cover that is still in the water. ---- During the month of December (especially if the lake level drops and it cools off more) the big schools of spots mixed with

hybrids, white bass and stripers can be caught on jigging spoons and dropshot rigs on deeper off shore structures in 18-30 feet of water. Look for big schools of bait on your fish finders and concen trate your efforts on those areas.

Linesides: Good - The down line bite with shad or bass shin ers has improved greatly as the water has cooled off. Most of the fish seem to be 20 to 30 feet deep. As the water gets colder, these deep fish get easier to catch. They will “stay put” longer as they slow down with continued falling water temperatures. Gulls and loons are here in December, which makes it easier to pinpoint schooling strip ers, so keep your eyes open for birds diving. A 3/8 or 1/2-oz. white Rooster Tail, a chrome C.C. Spoon and several other small shad imita tors have been producing, and the colder it gets the better the fish ing usually is. As the water cools, casting or trolling a bucktail jig becomes very effective as well. You

can also try trolling the Flash Mob Jr. Rig, as it can be very effective at times. The mouths of most creeks south of the 109 bridge, the edge of flats near the dam, and the mouth of Yellow Jacket creek have been holding fish.

Crappie: Good - Try tight line fishing minnows or a 1/16-oz. or smaller jig around bridge pilings, brush piles, and blowdowns in 6 to 15 feet of water. Concentrate on trees and brush that are close to the old creek channels. Pitching or shooting docks with small tube or feather jigs around or under the docks is also a very good technique during fall . As usual, crappie seem to love shade and cover. Cooler temps and some rain that stains the

water a little should improve the fishing even more. Yellow Jacket, Wolf and Whitewater creeks are still producing some good strings of crappie.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! By the way, I do offer Gift Certificates that make a great Christmas gift!! They can be used immediately or in the upcom ing season, subject to availability. Thanks to all my loyal customers for another great year. I start tak ing bookings for the spring season in January , so if you want to go ahead and get on the books, you can contact me at HudsonsPro Bass@gmail.com or through my website LakeWestPointFishing. com.

LOCAL LAKES AND FORECAST

LAKE SEMINOLE

Forecast By: Paul Tyrelakeseminolefishingadventures2gmail. com

The bass fishing on Lake Semi nole has been excellent through No vember! As we move into December, the bass, striper, and crappie fishing will get even better!

The big largemouths have been feeding heavily on bream, while the schooling bass are feeding on shad. The hybrids and stripers have started their annual fall feed, which will last through January!

We have been catching bass on a variety of lures from spinnerbaits and vibrating jigs to jerk baits. A double willow leaf Strike King Premier Plus 1/2 oz chartreuse and white has pro duced very well. This bait works well at fast speeds to generate a reaction strike. The new Strike King Thunder Cricket has been very productive this fall and I expect it to continue to pro duce through the winter! The Strike King Thunder Cricket has incred ible action to it and a built-in trailer keeper that works great!

Jerk baits have worked well this Fall and will continue through De cember. The key has been working them fast and at an erratic pace. As the water temps continue to drop, slow the pace down. The Strike King KVD jerk bait in the 200 series and the 300 series in any shad color has also worked well. The Strike KVD series is one of my favorite jerk baits because of its cast ability and action.

The hybrids and stripers have been exciting to catch and we are averaging over 30 each morning by 10am! When fishing for stripers and hybrids, the right action rod and a

6:3.1 gear ratio reel is important. I prefer the Temple Fork Outfitters rod in the professional series, it’s a 7’6’’ heavy action rod and is ideal for catching big stripers and hybrids on an Alabama rig. It is a fast action rod but is moderate enough to handle the strong surges that you get when fighting big hybrids and stripers. On the business end of the A-rigs, I pre fer the Bass Assassin 4 and 5 inch Die Dapper rigged on a Saltwater Assas sin jig-head.

The crappie fishing has also been very good, we have been catching them on Jigs in 10 to 15 feet of water. December is an excellent month to catch some BIG crappie!

For an exciting Lake Seminole Fishing Adventure, email us @lake seminolefishingadventures@gmail. com or follow us on Instagram @ capt.paultyrefishing and Facebook @ capt.paultyrefishing

Level: 6.5 Below Full pool. Temp: 60-63 degrees. Clarity: Clear Bass: Guide Eric Welch reports: “ Fishing is good. The lake is down at winter pool and we’ve been hav ing some colder weather which has helped the water temperature come down. I have not seen a lot of bass breaking first thing in the morning, but at midday, once the sun gets up you will start seeing the bait fish get more active. I would recommend al ways keeping a top water tied on and on the front deck. I like throwing a Berkley Cane Walker, Strike King sexy dawg jr, Lucky Craft gunfish. With the lake being down you can get way off some of the clay points on the main body of the lake and will see fish stacked up in 12’ to 25’ before it drops off to deeper water. I’ve been targeting these fish with a dropshot,

LAKE CHATUGE

using a 6” Roboworm or switching it up with a 3” minnow bait to try and match the Herring that they’re feeding on. You can also catch some on a Ned Rig, jig, and shaky head. This time of year is a good time to start using small swimbaits, I like throwing a Strike King 3.25” Rage swimmer on a 1/4oz to 5/16oz VMC swimbait hook. If there is some wind you can also throw a spinner bait or a crankbait in a 200 or 300 series size to match the bait. This is also a great time of year to take a little time to work on your elec tronic skills. If you have any of the forward viewing sonars, now is time to check out your settings. If you set it up right, you will be able to watch a jerkbait or crankbait come right over the brush pile or school of fish. Once the water temps get down to 55 degrees, good time to drag the Arig back out, it’s really fun to watch on the Garmin LiveScope. You can watch the fish chase it and you can also pause it and watch them run into it on the screen. Good Luck.

MY NEW PERSONAL BEST PEACOCK BASS

By Gary Turner

I set the hook and it seemed like just another Peacock Bass or big Mayan Cichlid!

It started out like any other day, Captain Johnny Stabile and I are go ing Peacock Bass and Clownknife fishing on Lake Ida near Delray Beach, Florida. We meet up at 5:30 a.m. and run to the lake, put the boat in, and start catching bait. On a good morning, Johnny throws the net one to three times. Other morn ings it might take ten throws to black out his 20-gallon Xtreme Bait Tank. Once the bait is caught, we head to whatever spot we are going to fish first. Today, we didn’t know that particular spot would hold my new personal best Peacock Bass. I have caught over a 1000 Peas, as the locals call them, some up to five pounds, but today I would land one and this one was over six pounds.

The fish didn’t fight at first but then started showing a little more power. We were using light spin

ning rods and reels, so you need to wear a little of the fight out of them before you try to land them. As it turned near the top, we saw it had a little size. Then it took off to the open water side of the boat. That’s when Johnny said, “Oh man, that’s a good fish, a real good fish!” We are fishing out of his LT25 Gheenoe, so we are just picking the fish up by hand, no net. I wore the fish down a little more and then guided it to Johnny to grab. He could not believe how thick this fish was, all the way to the tail was thick! We took some pictures and put the fish back in the water, so it was reviving. Then we filmed the release. Johnny had his GoPro going and videoed all of this catch. At some point soon, we will have that video up on my YouTube, Fishing with Gary. That was the first fish of the day!

We kept fishing and both of us caught several Peacocks each. I lucked up and caught another fish

SAID IT HAD TO

over 4 pounds! Talk about a great day fishing! I also hooked a good size Clownknife in the early after noon, but he came off. They have a bony mouth plate and are hard to get a good hookset on, unless they really eat it. Fun fact is that they can run their fin forward and back ward. So, usually they will swim up to your bait then grab it and hit reverse taking off backwards with your bait and making a good hook up tricky! After we finished up with the Peacocks and Clownknife fish, I wanted to catch some of the big Bluegills this lake has. I got off the boat and took the dip net and head ed into the shallows to catch grass shrimp for Bluegill bait. After I got several dozen grass shrimp in the bucket, I went over to the Bluegill spot and started catching lots of big Bluegill. It was a great finish to the fishing trip.

Afterwards, we went back to Pompano, met up with Laura (Johnny’s girlfriend) and ate a de licious, jerked tripletail at Calypso. I made the 200-mile drive, in my rental car, back to Orlando, where I was staying. I had driven a straight body truck down to Florida for a company and was going to head back to Georgia on Sunday. I no ticed my leg felt achy when I ar rived at Orlando a little after mid night. I took ibuprofen and went to bed only to wake up at 3:00 a.m. with my leg, ankle, and knee really aching, and my hip was stiff. I had a scratch on my ankle, that now I am thinking, may have gotten infect ed. I laid back down and tried to

open. At 8:00 a.m. the doctor said if

sleep. By 6:00 a.m. I was showered and waiting for the Urgent Care to open. At 8:00 a.m. the doctor said if my 8:40 a.m. appointment cancels, I will see you. Sure enough, thank fully the 8:40 a.m. was a No Show! She looked at the leg and told me that I needed antibiotics asap. She wrote me a prescription, and I started taking 40 antibiotic doses over the next 10 days. As I write this, I finished my antibiotics today and all seems fine. Be very careful with wounds and lake water and ocean water, they both can contain bad bacteria. Till next month, tight lines, be safe out there and have fun!

You can reach me at gary@pur geright.com.

Please remember, if you are not going to eat it, don’t kill it.

Please remember, if you are not “

“ Tight Lines and Squealin’ Reels put a Smile on my face every time

Lake Nottely: Lake Level _14 ft_ below full pool. Temp: 54-58 degrees Clarity: Clear Bass Fishing: Fall is coming to an end and winter is beginning to set in. Between the holiday season, watching football, and deer running around, it’s easy to forget about one of the best times of the year for big bass. While many choose to stay in from the cold, winter fishing is one of, if not the best time to catch the biggest fish of the year. This time of year, both largemouth and spotted bass move out towards the main lake. Main lake ditches or chan nel swings are the two most productive ways of catching these winter monsters. I keep bait se lection fairly simple. A shaky head, especially along channel swing banks, will always be my go-to. A jig is a very close second. An Alabama-rig when the wind kicks is another good approach. It is important to note that fish will stack up in certain places on these swing banks. It can be a big rock, corner, or an irregularity in the bank that causes them to hold

LAKE NOTTELY

there. Fish will also stack into ditches, especially the spotted bass. Look for bait in these deep drains or pockets that have 30-40 feet of water. Once again lure selection is very simple. A jerkbait or threeinch swimbait when fish are sus pended in the water column or a ¼ oz shaky head and ⅜ oz spoon when they are glued to the bottom. I tend to stick with shad colors to mimic the primary forage of these fish during the winter. Head down the lake towards the dam and keep a close eye out for those bluff banks or steep ditches that can lead you to the catch of the year!

$100 Off All December Trips

Wall

Jonathan Byrd on a recent float on the Madison River in Montana

Jonathan Byrd on the Madison River in Montana. Looks like a trip

Hunter Roop GA DNR Lanier and tail water biologist catching Kentucky spotted bass.

Landon Glander and Carter Cunningham at the Georgia BASS Nation High School Tournament at West point Lake.

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The question of lure size is o en pondered in the shing world. Di erent circumstance requires a di erent mentality, but one thing is for certain, the sh did not read any articles, attend any seminars or watch that YouTube video. ey eat what they want, when they want, but I have an approach that I nd useful in deciphering the riddle.

As winter approaches, it brings changes to our estuaries: cooler water temps, a change in the type and abundance of forage, less pressure from boaters, and in some areas, much better water clarity. ere are two trains of thought on lure size when it comes to winter shing in the bays. Should I go bigger or smaller? I know anglers who immediately upsize for the entire season, while others downsize for its duration.

Both can be e ective, but here is how I typically tackle early winter shing.

Cooling water temps and increasing frequency of cold fronts put the sh on both spectrums of the feeding attitude. Unlike more stable weather patterns, when sh are less a ected and feed more consistently, these fronts can make them, for a lack of a better term, moody.

Late fall and early winter can be some of the best inshore shing of the year. Schools of

bait ushed from the bays with the dropping tides are followed by hungry specks and reds. In these situations, I like to use a smaller lure. Generally, they feed on shrimp or smaller bait sh, and having a lure of similar size is a good idea. When they are following these schools, I like non-natural colors so the sh have something to key in on when bait is abundant. I like my lure’s color to stand out in the fall feeding frenzy.

Now, for the other end of the mood swing, the inactive period caused by post-frontal conditions. is is another situation when I favor smaller lures in early winter. When the bite is o , smaller o erings entice bites from non-aggressive sh. Using myself as an example, if I am not hungry, the chance of me driving to a restaurant for a steak dinner are slim, but I might grab a few peanuts for a quick bite just because they are on the counter.

e nal reason is clearer water. Some bays I sh will have 1 to 2 feet of clear-green water in the summer, but 6 to 7 feet of air-clear water in winter. ese sh are not accustomed to this transitional clarity. When I can see my lure bouncing in the sand in depths of 7 feet, a much smaller lure will produce more bites.

I hope these tips help you catch more sh this winter, and next month I will explain my transition to larger lures as we press deeper into winter’s grip.

Capt. Michael Okruhlik is the inventor of Knockin Tail Lures®, Controlled Descent Lures™, and the owner of www.MyCoastOutdoors.com.

By Capt. Michael Okruhlik

Photo courtesy of Knockin Tail Lures

Centuries

ago, Persians, Tibetans and Mayans considered turquoise a gemstone of the heavens, believing the striking blue stones were sacred pieces of sky. Today, the rarest and most valuable turquoise is found in the American Southwest–– but the future of the blue beauty is unclear.

On a recent trip to Tucson, we spoke with fourth generation turquoise traders who explained that less than five percent of turquoise mined worldwide can be set into jewelry and only about twenty mines in the Southwest supply gem-quality turquoise. Once a thriving industry, many Southwest mines have run dry and are now closed.

We found a limited supply of turquoise from Arizona and purchased it for our Sedona Turquoise Collection . Inspired by the work of those ancient craftsmen and designed to showcase the exceptional blue stone, each stabilized vibrant cabochon features a unique, one-of-a-kind matrix surrounded in Bali metalwork. You could drop over $1,200 on a turquoise pendant, or you could secure 26 carats of genuine Arizona turquoise for just $99

days

don’t

MONSTER SMALLIE IS GREAT LAKES RECORD

Ohio Angler Gregg Gallagher caught a 10.15-pound smallmouth bass on Nov. 3 that once certi ed should be a new Lake Erie record. e 23 ¾-inch sh is also the largest bronzeback ever caught from the Great Lakes.

Gallagher told In-Fisherman his was the result of his son’s extensive time surveying bait and bottom structure. With sonar, they were able to do what some call video-game shing and target individual sh with drop shot rigs. He was shing 8-pound test.

“With an abundance of bait sh and unique bottom composition located a er long days behind the graphs, we dropped down our forward-facing sonar and we were able to individually target these pelagicesque smallmouth,” he told In-Fisherman. “On what turned out to be the most memorable cast of my life, my bait got hit before it even hit the bottom and my rod quickly doubled over. I honestly thought I had hooked into a sheephead and not a smallmouth. We quickly learned we had just caught the smallmouth of a lifetime.”

e monster smallmouth is the only certi ed 10-plus-pounder ever caught from the Great Lakes. It should beat out the Canadian record of 9.84 pounds, which was set 68 years ago. It is also heavier than the Ohio state record, which weighed 9 pounds, 8 ounces and was caught in 1993.

e world record smallmouth bass weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces. It was caught from Tennessee’s Dale Hollow Lake in 1955.

You raise the flags of the fish just caught to show you weren’t skunked.

Once onshore you can take it a step further showing your fellow anglers your catch of the day wearing “slippahs” from Scott Hawaii.

Hanapa‘a - Marlin

Hanapa‘a - Ahi

5 WINTERTIME FISHERIES

Instead of spending the next few months holed up inside, get yourself a good parka, nd a window of decent weather and go shing. Believe it or not, for some sheries winter o ers some of the best action of the year. Here are a few ideas to help you combat cabin fever.

By CAM Sta

1) Wintertime Wahoo:

is time of year, wahoo pile up around the Bahamas. Some of the largest sh of the year will show up over the next couple of months.

High-speed trolling is the technique that allows captains to cover lots of water along rocky ledges, color changes, temperature breaks and dropo s. ’Hoos hunt in packs, so multiple hook-ups and double-digit days are possible. is shery requires some forethought and perhaps some exibility. ey bite best around the full and new moons, but you’ll de nitely want to avoid fronts and those wicked north winds.

2) South Florida Sailfsh: From

December

through February

the Atlantic Coast of South Florida becomes one of the best sail sh destinations in the world. Release ags will be ying along the edge of the Gulf Stream from roughly Fort Pierce down through the Keys.

For this bite, you’ll want to sh when the weather’s a little rough. With strong winds from the north, tailing conditions push sail sh high in the water column to feed. ey surf the swells and it’s possible to sight sh for them, which is about as exciting as shing gets.

3) The Outer Banks: In winter, North Carolina’s Outer Banks are the destination for several migrations which bring excellent shing to the island chain from Oregon Inlet down past Ocracoke.

Out of Hatteras, it’s a short ride out to the edge of the Gulf Stream, and this time of year tuna congregate there to feast on a bounty of bait sh. Big blue n tuna 200 pounds and larger are on the prowl, and anglers can also do battle with black n, yellow n and bigeye tunas.

At the same time, big schools of striped bass will be marauding bait sh on the beaches and in the inlets. Surf anglers can encounter them blitzing menhaden by looking for bait and birds. Charter boats do good business this time of year trolling while keeping eyes peeled for stripers herding and crashing bait balls.

4) South Padre Island, Texas: Way down on the Mexican border, South Padre Island is as far south as you can go in Texas. e winters are mild and the shing is good year-round.

When water temps drop, snook pile into the canals and school up. ese schools of sh can be giant, and they are suckers for arti cials. At the same time, the grass ats experience the clearest water of the year. Red sh, big trout and black drum cruise the ats, where anglers can sight sh them in shin-deep water.

5) Delayed Harvest Trout: On the East Coast from Maryland down to Georgia, most states have developed robust delayed harvest trout sheries which keep y shers on the stream through the winter. ese specially regulated sheries are catch-and-release only through the cooler months and most of them have single-hook, arti cial-only regulations.

Most delayed harvest streams are heavily stocked, usually with some largerthan-normal hatchery sh. Since you can’t keep them, they stay in the creeks and rivers all winter long. Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are some of the states with excellent delayed harvest programs. See the state wildlife agency websites for information.

TROUBLED ATLANTIC STRIPED BASS STOCKS TREND UPWARD

For the rst time in a while, sheries managers are reporting some good news about striped bass populations on the Atlantic Coast. In early November, e Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) accepted an updated 2022 stock assessment that looks good enough that no additional harvest cuts will be needed.

is stock assessment found that rock sh stocks are still over shed but they are not currently experiencing over shing. e female spawning biomass appears to have been on a modest upward trend for at least the last three years, but at an estimated 143 million pounds is still far below the 235-million-pound target for rebuilding.

Total mortality in 2021 from commercial and recreational shing was estimated at 0.14, which is below the mortality threshold of 0.20 as well as below the mortality target of 0.17.

What does this mean for anglers?

Currently, a reduction in catch is not needed, and the rebuilding program is on schedule to declare the striped bass stock rebuilt by 2029.

“ is 2022 assessment was the rst check-in point for progress toward stock rebuilding by 2029,” said Board Chair Marty Gary with the River Fisheries Commission. “It is extremely important shery removals and conduct regular stock assessments to keep evaluating rebuilding progress and stay on track.”

e next stock assessment update is scheduled for 2024, and the Board will review the 2022 removals as soon as the data are available to evaluate whether catch remains at sustainable levels.

The Return of a

For more information, visit www.asmfc.org.

NOAA Photo

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