Doug Nelms
December 23, 2004
Lake Oconee - Freshwater Fishing Report
Water Temp 48
The water temp has fallen drastically over the past few weeks. At my last report, the first week of this month, it was hovering around the 65 degree mark. Now you can find it as low as 43 in the upper reaches of the lake.
What this means is fishing is just getting better! It is getting better because the fish are following the shad up in the coves and it is getting better because you basically have the lake all to yourself.
Sugar Creek is holding a world of hybrids now and over the past few weeks and I honestly think they will still be there for a few more weeks. The gulls are there by the thousands it seems and the reason being the shad are there too. And if the shad are there, you know the fish are not far behind. I have been using store minnows over the past several trips and right now they work just as good as shad and they are also a lot easier to catch. Free-lines are working great but make sure you have them at least 60 feet behind your boat and I mean 60 real feet. I normally fish my free-lines 100 to 150 feet behind, that is half the length of a football field, because for some reason the hybes get really spooky this time of the year.
If crappie is your choice of pursuit, anglers are “wearing them out” in the Sugar Creek and Lick Creek area. I have already had the pleasure of cleaning some of this year’s first catch and these fish are what I like to call “broke-necks”. You know the kind, when you hold them up by their lip it looks like their neck comes out of place. It normally takes one over 1 ½ pounds to get the effect and that’s the size they are finding right now.
Even though it is getting colder the fishing is only going to get better. Let me know if you are interested in loading up the boat with these winter time fighters! I am sure I can hook you up.
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!
