May 2021 Fishing Report
May 2021 Lake Lanier Fishing Report
The striper fishing on Lanier in May has been much like the fish, all over the place. Most of the month, you could catch them using your favorite technique, be it downlines, planer boards, freelines, or casting artificials. I largely stuck to fishing scattered fish with planer boards and a big spread pulled around clay banks and points while Jeff went into high precision mode targeting the bigger schools of fish with downlines and spinning rods. We both came away with very solid results all month. June is right around the corner and we are moving into a full blown summer bite with water temperature in the upper 70's.
I am still pulling baits on weighted freelines but shifting more to downlines with each passing day and hour. Early mornings have been most productive but the rest of the day can be very steady, especially if you find yourself in an area holding large schools of bait. My bigger fish also seem to have a tendency to show up closer to lunch time. I am still fishing 35-40 foot bottoms around points and clay banks not far from the creek or river channel early. As the sun gets high, I am moving into pockets or out to the timberline. To me, the presence of bait has been important. Taking a little extra time to graph an area is also paying off. I am fishing on 1 or 2 fish if the bait is there. If I mark fish without bait around, they may or may not stick around long enough to eat.
Concerning the downlines, my best depths have been 19-27 feet, though I know several people catching them much deeper. Leader length has been 4-5 feet for me, I expect to start running them longer in the next week or so. I like to mix them up and see what the fish want, leader length is an easy and quick variable you can adjust based on their preference. 15 pound mainline and 10 pound fluorocarbon leader are standard in the summertime, we are both using size 1 hooks as well. I am running a 12 pound leader on the spinning rods as I feel the fish aren't as cautious away from the boat and they have a head start when running towards the timber after hooking up. With and without split shot is another quick variable you can adjust based on their preference each day. The spinning rods are simply cast out behind the boat and allowed to swim freely into the striper's mouth.
Another technique for the spinning rod is the pitch bite and it can be the highest producing of all this time of year. Though we mostly catch spotted bass pitching live herring, we have caught quite a few stripers doing so and not all small ones either. The best places for pitching herring tend to be points with brush piles nearby. Wind on the point is a huge bonus as is deep water nearby. Most of these points are marked with a white shallow water marker, but a lot of the best ones are not so obvious. Taking a little time to study the topography of your favorite creek or section of the lake can really pay off on this method. The fish will be very quick to bite if they are present and it is a great way to keep the rods bending. I typically keep my boat in 15-20 feet of water upwind or parallel to the point when pitching.
June is my favorite month of the year for stripers on Lake Lanier for both numbers and size. The weather is fantastic, the beaches are open, and the fish are hungry. I plan on being out there nearly every day this month, hope to see you out there hooked up on a good one.
May 2021 Striper Report Pictures
