Doug Nelms
March 11, 2004
Lake Oconee - Freshwater Fishing Report
Water Temp 51
The water is stained all the way to the dam but the crappie have been AWESOME! I have seen some huge catches come out of this lake unlike ever before. A friend of mine caught one big enough to put your fist down into its’ mouth. Now before everyone goes to another web page because of my fish story let me say, “The crappie are on the bank and anglers are catching them up the Apalachee and across from the Redlands boat ramp.
You can catch them now by casting plastic jigs under corks and tapping them lightly up against the bank. The power lines and the back cove are holding a lot of crappie right now. Also look in Sugar Creek, Satellite Cove, and around the Oconee/Apalachee river fork. A lot of night timers are showing up and having great catches. If you have waited for the crappie to show up, wait no longer, now is the time to fish.
As far as hybes go, they are just now showing up in familiar spots. The water has been about 5 degrees colder than last year and it has put the fishing back about a week or so. With all this sunshine though the water is warming up fast and the fishing is going to be red hot in just a few days. River Bend is LOADED up with hybes right now. I went in the cove yesterday and couldn’t believe what I saw on my Lowrance. Boomerangs everywhere!
Down lining shiner and shad will do the trick and if GA Power pulls water they will go crazy. It can turn into a line tangling mess if you fish with 12 rods like I do, but it is well worth the trouble when you can boat close to 100 pounds of fish on one pass. I am almost completely booked for March and have just a few days left for this month and April. Call me! It is going to only get better!
Doug has been guiding on Lake Oconee for over 10 years. His specialty is trophy Striped and Hybrid Bass, and huge Crappie during certain months. His boat is a Ranger 2300 Bay Series powered by a 225 Yamaha 4-stroke motor. It is spacious and can fish up to 6 people! Lake Oconee is the second largest reservoir in the state of Georgia with over 18,000 surface acres of water. The lake is heavily stocked each year with Striped and Hybrid Bass. Doug tries to catch all of them!
