Lake Lanier Record Spot

We just received this Lake Lanier report from Henry Cowen:

JUST GOTTA GO!!!! The fishing was pretty consistent this week. Some days showed a few stripers with plenty of bass and other days showed a decent amount of stripers and plenty of bass. Striper fishing is getting better every day. Top water began this past week. For fly anglers it is important to throw a fairly big fly on top as the fish are eating gizzard shad on the surface. Overcast days are best but even sunny days has fish feeding on top for the first 2-3 hours in the morning. There is also a top water bite at sunset. For non fly anglers throwing redfins and walk-the-dog type baits will work. Just starting to see fish busting bait on the sirface. Best bet is to fish as many points as possible. North and south lake are working but I think north is somewhat stronger. We had stripers to 14 lbs this week while I saw fish caught up to 22 lbs on top water artificials.

For just putting fish in the boat anglers should toss an intermediate line and a coyote or a Clouser w/15 lb tippet. 12 lb is even better but may mean a few more bites but probably some lost fish. The springtime fish are fighting incredibly well. Lots of big spotted bass being caught daily. Gary Lowe of Kennesaw, GA caught and released another (his 2nd) IGFA world record (8 lb tippet) spotted bass on the fly. Fish weighed in @ 5 1/2 lbs crushing the old record by just under 2 lbs. Way to go Gary!!!!!! Early May has some dates open while Mid-May is booked fairly solid…..see you on the pond! HC

Lake Lanier Striper Report for February 3 - Henry Cowen

Here's a striper report from our ol' buddy Henry Cowen:   

The water temps were hovering at around 42-43 degrees north and 44 degrees south. YOU MUST FIND WARM WATER if you want to catch fish. The warmest water unfortunately got muddy over the past few days and appears it will again after tomorrow with the big rain coming. I found 45 degree water today just playing and searching for fish. Had fellow guide Clay Cunningham with me (bait specialist). He tosses a fly every now and then. We found fish over a 30-40 foot bottom in 15-20 feet of water. Hooked 3 and landed 2 up to 12lbs on flies. Clay left the boat running home to find his 8 wt and sinking lines……Tomorrow looks like it will be a homerun! After that……all bets are off until we get some warm weather. End Feb into tail end of March is usually when we see the big fish of Lanier caught….stay tuned and see you on the pond!  HC

Read more, including Henry's report on the Somerset NJ fly fishing show, at his blog.

Lanier Striper Report 1/21/10

This just in from our ol' buddy Henry Cowen:
   

Okay so the big chill is hopefully gone. The past 12 days has been a tough go as I have continued to find the fish BUT the cold weather has got them lounging as tree potatoes. Yep…….most of the fish are just being lazy fat and not so happy (kind of lethargic) just hanging in the tree tops. I had a few decent days of a couple of fish caught but for the most part the past 12 days has been a stinker! Finally on Tuesday the fish decided to play fair again. The key is to find the warmer water……..Normal January temps for Lanier’s surface is 45-46 degrees. Most of the creeks we found the fish in were 41-43 degrees and that just won’t cut the mustard. Found some 45 degree temps yesterday further south and got some of our striped friends to eat feathers. Today I sent Unicoi Outfitters trout guide and casting guru Rex Gudgel to some of my holes with warmer water and he nailed 7 stripers from 10-16 lbs on small grey and white Clousers. It sooooo nice when a plan comes together. He found the warm water and the fish were waiting for his offerings. Nice going Rex! Now keep where I sent you a secret……. I am off the water now until Tuesday Jan 26th as I will be up in Somerset, NJ doing a bunch of salt & fresh water presentations in the motherland. Somerset is the BEST fly show in the USA. Will report back by end of next week. See you on the pond!  
--HC

You (Re)Learn Something Every Day

Isn't this just a great time to be out on the water?

One day last week Jimmy asked if I wanted to leave work early and head out to Lake Lanier....sure. I had to run home and get a rod, and when I did, all I could find was my old 8 weight that only had a floating line on it - I couldn't find the 9 weight with the Rio VersaTip. Dang. Oh well, I figured I could maybe catch a couple of fish if we found some bass running baitfish.

Sure enough, we did. We found a little mini-point with a couple of small coves on either side that had active fish. The spots were pushing bait to the surface, and try as I might, I couldn't hook up. Jimmy was doing pretty well fishing an intermediate line, but I couldn't buy a strike with the floater. After about an hour and a half, Jimmy said "why don't you put my reel with the 8 weight sink-tip on your rod?" Hey - good idea! I really prefer to use my own rods, and I figured since the bait were pushing up on top and we were getting boils I should catch something...in spite of the results I'd had, so I didn't want to borrow Jimmy's 8 weight. Sometimes I can be pretty stubborn, but using his reel seemed like a good compromise.

So, I pull my reel off and put Jimmy's on....and first cast: fish on! Then a few minutes later a double...some misses and then another fish. Put the fly in front of the fish. I've preached it hundreds of times when talking to customers about nymphing for trout...you'd think I'd heed my own advice! The sink-tip made all the difference.

We ended up with about 10 or 12 spots between us in the 2-pound-ish neighborhood on chartreuse Clousers...lotsa fun for a couple hours after work! You can bet I'm not going out after bass again without a non-floating line anytime soon...and you shouldn't either!