Hey Fishermen,

 

I am new to the forum and I was wondering if any of you have some tips for locating spotted bass in clear lakes. I fish Lake Lanier a lot and I am having a problem being consistent. I mainly target spotted bass. Ant tips or techniques would be greatly appreciated. Good luck and tight lines.....

The spots should be done with the spawn and schooled up on outside structure areas.

Spots are a lot like smallmouth bass and tend to roam more the LMB, and they are active more often.

Out west in our gin clear water lakes the spots are usually deeper then LMB and prefer jigs and soft plastics in green with chartreuse tail tips or ambler with orange or pink tail tips.

I would look for grey granite rock on steep breaks or points and meter the area to determine at what depth the spots are holding, then work those areas with shakey head jigs or drop shot worms, straight tails with a 1" split. 6 lb FC line on spinning tackle to start with.

Tom

Seem to be usually deeper, cooler water around rock, kind of like a smallmouth, but I am by no means an expert on spots.

Spots are sight feeders so baits have to look natural.   They like deep clear water with cover which is why Lanier is so full of brush piles.  Also, Lanier is full of submerged timber which is ideal.   The spots there are big and they will bite all day long.   The top lures there day in and day out are a shakey head worm and a fish head spin with a 4-5" swimbait behind it.   Go by Hammonds tackle and get some pointers too but here's a great way to approach that awesome fishery.

 

For your shakey head set up you can go bait caster or spinning rod.   8lb floro is good for spinning or 12lb for bait caster.  Don't go heavy as those fish are line sensitive so go as small as you can and still boat the fish.  I personally use 7lb Sunline Sniper FC floro on my spinning rig as a leader with 12# braid as my main line and it works great.   M action rod with a fast tip is ideal.

 

Baits are simple; straight tail worms such as a zoom trick worm or robo worm 6-7" in length are ideal.  Spotsticker jigs are made down there and they make a fine longer shank shakey head.   I like 3/16 or 1/4 for deeper fishing as those fish live in deeper water during the daylight hours regularly.   Colors are easy too; green pumpkin, watermelon, red dawn, purple/blue are top producers day in and day out.   Throw it out, let it sink, let it sit, and shake it on a slack line and hold on.  They'll hammer it; it mezmerizes them regularly and they can't handle it being in their area.

 

Fish head spin is great on 14# floro and with a bait caster.  1/2oz size with a 5" Yamamoto swim bait in pearl or white is fool proof.  Just throw it out over the cover you find on your graphs and slowly wind it in while it makes contact with the bottom cover.

 

Location, look in deep water pockets and coves that are near the main lake and use your electronics to look for submerged timber or get a map and find the sunken/underwater wood that way.  There's a ton of info on Lanier out on the web.  If there has ever been a lake suited for down scan, this is it.   You will be amazed at what's under the water there.

 

Fish deep and fish throughly when you locate that kind of cover as there will be bass there.   They are more bank oriented in the AM and early PM and you can get on them with top water baits and spinner baits as well as crank baits in natural and lighter colors.  Their primary food is crawfish and blue back herring so pick your colors appropriately.

 

You can fill a limit with those 2 baits day in and day out.  It's what most of the guides down there use for their clients because they produce.

 

If you like to do more things, consider a drop shot, slow rolling a deep spinner bait, or nail rig a senko and let it fall wacky in to the depths and  twitch it back up to you.   Hope it helps.

Sadly the spots have overtaken most of our mother load lakes around here

They also love brush piles and lumber. Smaller swim baits will also work very well

Although they have taken over, there's some fat spots in lakes like new melones pulled out on a regular basis. football jigs like the tnt baits football jig and jerkbaits work great for me, as well as an alabama rig

Although they have taken over, there's some fat spots in lakes like new melones pulled out on a regular basis. football jigs like the tnt baits football jig and jerkbaits work great for me, as well as an alabama rig

My friends uncle just caught the record spot in Melones, and it was almost a world record

My friends uncle just caught the record spot in Melones, and it was almost a world record

My friends uncle just caught the record spot in Melones, and it was almost a world record

the 10+ lber caught on the st croix rod right, on a s waver or something

Hey guys,

 

thanks for the great advice. I will try the tips above and post my results. Good luck and tight lines....