One of the things I truly enjoy is fishing for spotted bass. I love the fish! They are tough fighters, aggressive eaters, and they love to hit topwater! With that combination they make themselves far more appealing to me, and many like me, than any other freshwater fish.
A few weeks back, Capt. Mack Farr called and told me to block off a couple of days on my December calendar and we would pick the best of the two regarding weather and go fishing. Of course I said yes.
Now, I wouldn’t be truthful if I said I wasn’t extremely excited. This was a chance to fish with one of my childhood heroes.
And I’m not saying Mack is old … but he’s worked as a guide and been a very recognizable figure in Georgia fishing for as long as I can remember. As a child I listened to Mack call in to O’Neal Outside on AM750 WSB every Saturday morning while going fishing or hunting with my dad and grandfathers. Later, I remember watching him and O’Neal on O’Neal’s show fishing for stripers and spots, and then later Mack had his own show. So yeah, I got a little jameskpressley@gmail.com
fanboy thing going and was feeling pretty excited.
Well, Capt. Mack and I met up on a Monday morning at Balus Creek Boat Ramp on Lake Lanier, and both of us started talking about how pretty a day it already was and how warm it was turning out to be. We should have stayed quiet, though, because it got cold when a front finally pushed in midday. Now the plan was simple. Fish ditches and roadbeds in deep water for spots and after catching a few start hunting stripers.
But this column is about the spots right now. Here’s some hints, places to look, and tackle guides.
What to look for: Deep-water ditch fishing can be identified clearly with steep sides and at its root is fishing roadbeds, ditches, or any long depression in the lake that fish will stage in, hide in and feed in.
Time: In Lanier from December through March, this is a great pattern and will hold strong from water temps in the low 40s to mid 50s.
Depth: The colder the water temps, the deeper you need to look. On this day it was in the high 50s and we were fishing anywhere from 45- to 55-feet deep. But in lakes like Lanier, you can catch them in 80-plus feet of water with no problem in the coldest months.
Gear: This is truly important. This is a spinning rod deal. Medium to medium-heavy and not that long. Six-footeight to seven-foot rods are perfect. Okuma and St. Croix BassX are both great, affordable rods.
Spinning reels in the 25-30 size are good to go. You want light weight and fast lock up. A good drag is extremely important because you are going to use light line. If your reel hiccups or sticks when a bass is running, well, it’s game over, Bubba. Okuma Helios, Quantum Smoke, and Shimano Vanford are great options that don’t break the bank.
Line: Capt. Mack uses Sunline Fluorocarbon in the 10-pound range.
Lures: Weedless Wonder shakey heads from CaptMacks.com in 3/16 and 1/8 oz. In clear water on lakes such as Lanier and Hartwell, Roboworms are a great choice. On Oconee I prefer Zoom Magnum trick worms because the size and colors are more visible in our far more stained waters. Finesse jigs in the same size range and believe it or not SPOONS! HA!!! Yes indeed. In fact, I caught a nice spot with Mack on a spoon.
Fishing speed: This is a slow go, guys. The colder the slower. Mack even recommends using the trolling motor to slowly drag the worm or jig. These fish are stuck under rocks, in cracks, under shelfs. However, after you catch one or two the others will get aggressive a lot of the time.
Tips: If you take what we can learn from fishing a deep clear lake like Lanier and apply it to Sinclair or Oconee you will see trends appear. These trends, though, need a good map to decipher. Your electronics are going to come into play here.
On Oconee and Sinclair we don’t have a ton of roadbeds, so look for tight contour lines on your maps that are in water deeper than 20 feet and that taper out toward deeper water and main lake channels. Use colors appropriate to our darker water. I like Junebug, various forms of Green Pumpkin and even mud bug bi-color options.
Folks, this is an awesome way to fish, and I had a blast with Mack. We caught a good many and ended the day with a five-fish limit that would have gone 15-16 pounds, easy! We never found a 5-pound spot that day, but I’ve caught a ton on Lanier that size. They are there. And if you’re fishing a tournament, you better find them, or you’ll be left outside the money, crying.