Lake Lanier Fishing Report – February 21, 2025
- Water Level: Lanier currently sits at 0.94 feet ABOVE full pool. The COE is pulling water at a pretty good clip right now, so I expect the lake to continue on the downward trend.
- Water Temperature: Since my last writing, water temps have skyrocketed to nearly 60 degrees only to plummet back down to the mid to upper 40s and are now inching their way back to around 50. With the forecasted weather for the coming week, expect temps to quickly shoot up between now and the next cold front.
- Water clarity: Water conditions range greatly from heavily stained/muddy in the backs of some of the major creeks to clear on the main lake. With the Corps pulling water, some of that heavy stained water is getting pulled further out into the creeks then existed a couple of days ago.
With the yo-yoing water temps, the fish are scattered all across the water column. Some remain in deep ditches and suspended over the timber while others have pulled up relatively shallow and still others went shallow only to pull back slightly. The down side to this is it makes it a lot harder to find big schools of fish. The plus side is there are fish in whatever the angler’s preferred depth range.
With the warming trend starting on Saturday, I am going to focus the rest of this writing on what I think will be working rather than what I have used this past week.
With the water getting back above 50, docks will come back into play and should stay in play for the next 60-90 days as we work through the spawn. The simplest way to fish docks is with the shaky head and a straight tailed worm. A 3/16oz head is a great all around head as it can be fished deeper than 20 ft and very shallow as well. It is a great compromise between the 1/8th and 1/4oz heads.
For worms, there is no reason to complicate things. Keep the color and style selection short. Trixster Tamales in Green Pumpking Green and Sweet Baby Candy; Zman Big TRD in PBJ or Green Pumpkin Goby; and a Zoom Finesse worm in Sand.
While the water is cooler, focus on the deeper sides of docks, as we get closer to and around the spawn, focus more on the shallower sides of the docks. Additionally, the lower the water temp, the slower the presentation. The warmer the water temps, the faster an angler can work the worm.
Another area to start looking for fish is any and all secondary points leading into spawning areas. These points are stopping off places as the fish begin to pull up in preparation for the spawn. Anglers may target these fish with soft plastics as they would a dock but can also use more traditional power fishing techniques as well. Medium diving crank baits, jerk baits, spinner baits and even the finesse swimbait on a ball head or Spotchoker will all come into play in the coming weeks.
When in doubt, locate an area that likely held fish over the winter, then look for likely spawning areas nearby. Chances are for the next month or so the bass will be located somewhere between those two areas.
We are quickly approaching the time of year where things will start changing quickly and the number of patterns will increase with those changes.
The daily videos I publish offer up to date current information on what I’m doing on the water. Essentially, subscribers have access to all of the information that I used to give to my closest buddies when they would call. If I feel the information is key to catching fish, I cover it. All subscribers have access to all historical videos (370+ previous videos). You can sign up and view videos at https://jeffnail.uscreen.io There is also a folder of “free” videos that are accessible to anyone at any time free of charge.
For the remainder of February, I have the following dates available: 23-27. For early March, I have the 1-4, 6-7. Dates between the 8th and 21st will be booked short notice only as I will be traveling sometime during that time frame. Exact dates TBD. For the end of March, I have the 23-26, and 28, 30-31.
Jeff
770-715-9933
