Capt. Jon Fine
Fall has arrived, and with it comes some of the best weather of the year. Cool mornings followed by bluebird sunny days are the norm, and great fishing follows this seasonal swing. One of the best fisheries available this time of year is the striper bite on Lake Sidney Lanier, located about one hour north of metro Atlanta.
Lake Lanier has long been known as a top-notch striper fishery, offering the opportunity to bag some truly big fish on light tackle. Stocking programs on the 38,000-acre reservoir have been extremely successful, and there is a robust population of these landlocked stripers. Similar to their saltwater relatives, the fall weather spurs them to feed like a Georgia football fan at a tailgate party!
While these fish can be caught throughout the year, the fall activity is some of the best, especially if your goal is to bag a true trophy weighing 20-plus pounds. With the lake record standing at more than 47 pounds, and many fish caught every year in the 30-plus-pound class, your tackle and angling skill will be tested.
I spent a day sampling this bite with Bob Rice, co-publisher of The Angler Magazine in metro Atlanta, his wife Brenda and our close friend and avid striper fisherman, Dan Saknini. Dan lives a short cast from Lake Lanier and spends several days each week on the water. There is no substitute for local knowledge and time on water, and it definitely paid off on this day.
A cold front had just moved through, and that bluebird weather I mentioned? Well, we were greeted with high winds and whitecaps just outside Bald Ridge Marina. Nonetheless, we were all eager to get on the water, so we boarded Danâs 24-foot Everglades center console, filled the livewell with blueback herring and cast off.
We started by trolling white bucktails on lead-core line, keeping out of the weather a bit and staying in the river channels that feed the main lake. Quality electronics are key to this fishery, and with Danâs Lowrance system, we began marking loads of bait and plenty of stripers right away. Unfortunately, we couldnât get them to eat the jigs, so we decided to brave the wind gusts and whitecaps, looking for fish feeding on âbaitballsâ in the sunken trees and timber that abound in the main lake. We set out live herring on downlines, consisting of 10-pound-test mono, an in-line weight and a small octopus-style hook, fished straight beneath the boat. We staggered the baits between 40 and 75 feet, based on the fishfinder marks, and waited with high anticipation.
This is a really cool way to fish because you can actually see the stripers moving up and down in the water column on the electronics and target fish that are hanging around your baits. By âpower reeling,â you can manipulate the bait and tease these fish into biting. After a short wait we were tight to our first fish of the day. It turned out to be a stout spotted bass, weighing 3 to 4 pounds. Not our target species, but a solid fish nonetheless.
While we had plenty of activity on the screen, the bites were just tough to come by, and we had to move around to a few of Danâs proven spots, trying to find a group of fish that wanted to play. It took a while, but after a few hours we finally had one of the downlines double over with a solid strike. Bob was on the rod this time and definitely into a better fish. After several good runs and a couple trips around the boat, we slid the net under out first striper of the day, a respectable 15- to 18-pounder. After a few photos, we slid her back into the water and watched as she swam back to the cool, clear deep water of Lake Lanier.
The bite was still slow, so we set out the trolling rigs again and were back on the search. By noon the wind had died down and the sun was high, giving us that great weather that makes it all worth it. Arriving in one of Danâs favored coves, he finally saw what he wanted on the screen. Out came the downlines again, and before long we were getting hits. We broke off a couple good ones, then finally came tight, and Brenda was up. You canât âhorseâ these fish, due to the light line and leader required to get the bite, but after sustained pressure I was able to net our best fish of the day, a beauty of about 22 pounds. These fish are truly stunning, sporting the classic black stripes, silver body and an iridescent purple hue that really shines in the sun.
We boated one more quality fish of about 10 to 12 pounds at the end of the day, and I can now add the sweetwater version of the striped bass to my personal list as well as the spotted bass.
While we didnât fill the boat, we thoroughly enjoyed fishing with Dan and truly appreciate his friendship and expertise. Once the cold front moves out, I expect the bite to be much better, and Dan says that the topwater bite should really turn on in the coming weeks. As a saltwater fan, I canât wait to find them busting bait on the surface. Anyone whoâs done it will agree: the thrill of watching these bruisers crush plugs and soft plastics is second to none.