THE COLEMAN REPORT
Don Knotts sang a song in a movie long ago, sitting on a dock, staring into a dark watery abyss, wishing he were a fish. He got his wish and saved the day.
If I were a fish today, I would be conflicted, not sure where to beat the heat and awaiting the annual fall drop in water temperatures. Funny thing about Mother Nature, though: she will soon let everyone know if she is in a mood, and oh yeah, she is bringing Super El Niño to the party this year.
The constant denominator in Lake Country is the water temperature on Lakes Oconee and Sinclair. Any recent changes have been nominal, with gauges consistently in the mid-80s and up, with slight cooling trends around Oconee and her full pool (435 feet). As a result, bass fishing is fair as the fish move shallower as the water cools.
Oconee has clear water on the main lake with some staining up the rivers. Seawalls and riprap are getting hot with white and white/chartreuse buzzbaits pulled about two feet away from the seawalls and just in front of the riprap. Additionally, dark green or pumpkin Texas-rigged Zoom U-Tail worms fished slowly under deep water docks are ringing some dinner bells.
Meanwhile, Lake Sinclair has dropped 1.7 feet, keeping the water very warm. The bass bite has improved, but it depends on where you are. The early morning bite can be good for larger fish in the first three hours of daylight, but after 9 a.m. there are reports of a tough bite.
Top water frogs in the grass above Crooked Creek have been hot and cold; feast or famine. White buzzbaits near deepwater seawalls have produced some fish, as have Berkley Stunna 112 jerkbaits later in the day.
The good news this week comes from our smiling whiskered aquatic friends celebrating “excellent” catfishing reports from both lakes.
Exploding numbers of heavyweight blue catfish are active, as are high populations of 1- to 7-pound channel catfish. Flathead catfish are being caught in deep channels at night by boat fishers using live bait, whereas bank anglers can pick them off on steep drops or near the dams where deep water cuts close to the shore.
Because Lake Oconee pumps water back and forth with Lake Sinclair to generate power, water current is a bank fisher’s best friend, as the catfish will move up to bite heavily when the water is moving.
On Oconee, the word “essential” was used to describe the two money baits needed to catch big, bad blues: fresh-cut gizzard shad and threadfin herring. Looking for a multi-colored flathead at night? Pin a live bluegill or bream head to the bottom near structural drops. A kind fellow at Sugar Creek Marina suggested chicken liver or raw shrimp to bring the channels in close. I appreciated talking to you, sir.
A couple of weeks ago, I asked an experienced and seasoned Lake Country catfish guide about the state of trophy channel catfish hunting on our fair lakes. Let me tell you folks, when a salty old seadog catfish captain has an opinion, good bet you are about to hear it. To paraphrase his colorful response: “Forget about it. Don’t waste my time. There aren’t any big channels in these lakes.”
I think Jonathan Clifton and Kenny Durden would have disagreed. Although misguided, the guide’s remarks make more sense now. In 1998, Clifton caught the Oconee lake-record channel, weighing in at 34.8 pounds. Durden caught the Sinclair record channel of 21.5 pounds, with the date unknown.
Both were extraordinary fish from this species, though other varieties of Lake Country catfish grow up whoppers, too. Koob Musa holds the blue record of 70.2 pounds, while Rob Allgood landed a flathead weighing 62-10.4 pounds.
The truth is, channel catfish rarely exceed 30 pounds. A point was made that Clifton’s record remains a “highly respected trophy because it pushes the absolute biological limit of what a channel catfish can achieve in Georgia waters.”
The baits and rigs of both record holders weren’t recorded anywhere. Records are made to be broken, but for Durden on that 2007 May day, that catch became part of lakeside lore and left him known in the catfishing community as an absolute “master of the craft.”
He was a “Catfish Whisperer,” some might say. When the bait and rig used to catch the Sinclair channel catfish record and hold it for 21 years became a subject discussed and portrayed as a mystery, where I come from, we call that true grits – covered in buttery lore. Pass the salt, please.