February 2021 Fishing Report
February 2021 Lake Lanier Fishing Report
The month of February could well be summed up as having had its ups and downs, both in water temperature and striper activity. The first half of the month continued to showcase a very strong downline bite over deep bait. Small and medium trout were my bait of choice, medium shad were Jeff's go to bait on the downline. The most productive "pattern within the pattern" for myself was dropping baits to the bottom under the large blankets of bait and reeling up 2 cranks. Keeping the boat spot locked accounted for most of my February fish, though if I marked stripers and they refused to eat, slow trolling .4-.7 mph often triggered the deep bite. There were several days when I found shallow bait with stripers in the mix. Weighted freelines with small trout and herring as well as the mini Mack produced best in those instances. I fish the mini Mack on braided line to reduce drag in a downline position, just over the top of the bait. Most of my stripers have come after 10 AM this month though this may be changing as the latter half of February has the stripers in transition. While there are still fish down with the deep bait, you will often mark them up higher in the water column as well in the same deep water areas. The spinning rod pitched out the back came alive for me this week, both with and without split shot weight moving slowly down the middle of the creek. It feels like the March open water bite developing. I have also ventured into the backs of the creeks on our warmer days and caught stripers in 10-30 feet of water as we typically do in spring. Planer boards with shad as well as freelined herring 50-80 feet back were effective, but with the passing cold fronts and rain they will usually vacate those areas quickly in favor of deeper water. However, the rain is staining the creeks which will help them heat up with each warm sunny day and those spring patterns will become stronger. Finally, the night time striper bite has turned on significantly. Our guide, Jeremy Daniels, is reporting strong catches in the first half of the night around dock lights pitching live herring. It is also worth casting McSticks and Pink Long A bombers to points in the back of the creeks. Stripers, especially larger ones, will seek out and feed on gizzard shad at night in these areas.
Concerning locations, the bite is highly spread out throughout the lake. It is worth noting that I have not marked many schools recently. Most of the reports I am receiving concur that we are seeing single scattered fish almost anywhere bait is present. 50-75 foot clean bottoms have been where I am seeing the most bait no matter which creek I'm fishing. I fished the north end on Wednesday and the south end on Thursday with nearly the same results over deep and shallow water. Having multiple areas in which you have confidence and which are holding bait will make all the difference right now. As we get into March and the water warms, your odds at catching a bigger fish will be the best of the year. Keeping a few large baits in the spread and beefing up your tackle will improve your chances. A large fish would much rather crush a gizzard shad, trout, or a big herring close to the bank than chase a school of baitfish in open water. Watching such a bait splash around behind a planer board, awaiting its inevitable fate right before the impact of a striper running off and burning drag... that's what spring fishing on Lanier is all about! I hope you all get to experience this at some point in the coming months.
