July 2021 Fishing Report
July 2021 Lake Lanier Fishing Report
This July has been hot, both in air temps and the bite, but also different than in past years. Mornings continue to be better than the afternoons so far and large schools of hungry fish are here one day and gone the next. However, the production of size and numbers is rather strong and will likely only get better as we move into August. The schools of fish seem to get larger each day we find them and I am really wanting to bump up my leaders for the first time in many summers. The fish are striking hard when they eat and catching them in the mid teens makes for a great fight on our light tackle. Currently we are using downlines with 10 pound fluorocarbon leaders, 8-9 feet in length with great success. The best depth lately has been 80 plus feet, though my biggest fish this week came off a 30 foot bottom on an unweighted freeline. Bait is not living all that well in a lot of places, so be sure to refresh them often. I feel the fish are making a big push toward deeper water. There are still some fish in pockets but they are a bit more stubborn than their buddies out over the creek channels.
With the fish moving to deeper water, it wouldn't surprise me to see the afternoon bite pick up. Often, you just need to drop on 1 or 2 deep fish and the screen will light up with a school of stripers then. This is mostly the case out over the creeks and river channel this time of year. Another pattern coming more into play now will be leadcore trolling. Each day there are more and more fish loading up around 25-30 foot depths in the mouths of pockets and bays as well as over the channels. These fish will hardly look at a live bait, but a bucktail jig, spoon, or swimbait pulled 7-9 colors out will get hammered. You want a reaction bite on suspended fish. I prefer to target those suspended fish with a vertical presentation when possible, power reeling a herring or burning a Ben Parker spoon up through them. I feel that power reeling will keep those schools of fish in one place rather than scattering them all around when hooking up on lead. The best spoon color this summer is a bit debatable. Shattered glass is the all time favorite, but I am willing to bet there are more fish being caught on the white spoon this year, with chrome being a very strong color on sunny days.
Finally, the lake has been exceptionally busy this year, both with fishing and pleasure boats. Your first few stops are very important as you'll probably be fishing someone else's leftover fish afterward. The more boats in an area, the more reluctant the bite. I am far better off looking for fewer fish with no boats around rather than trying to join the flotilla of center consoles and pontoons on great big groups of stripers like years past. It's just one of those subtle differences we have noticed this summer. What has not changed is the need to quickly release any fish you don't intend to keep. The seaquilizer device has been indispensable when it comes to fish caught on downlines or fought on the spinning rod for a good while. We're all doing our part to help continue the growth of this awesome fishery called Lake Lanier, tight lines and stay safe!
July 2021 Striper Report Pictures
