Fishing News - 5/13/01
Lake Weiss Fishing Report
DATE: 5-13-01
LAKE LEVEL: 564 +
NORMAL FULL POOL: 564.0
SURFACE TEMP: 73 am - 81 pm
WATER CLARITY: Great
CRAPPIE: The crappie fishing is done for the spring except for fishing under the lights around the bridges and old river
channel. Around Hog Island seems to be doing fairly well also. Use
minnows. n Watch your depth finder to be sure to fish a little bit above the fish. I had 27 on Thursday and burnt up 27 gallons of gas to get them and the were all about 10" and all
males. I am not sure that we even had a spawn this year, if we did I believe it was a small
one. Will know in 3 years. We probably had the best crappie season in a while from mid February until the 16th of March. One big
rain, flood, high water, low water, cold front, muddy water and you name it and we had it this spring. Crappie season for the fall should start up mid September (depending on the weather) and go through to about the first week of November. Generally we do not have all the fronts and heavy rains and unstable conditions like we can have in the spring. I talked to a lot of people this
Spring. I hope I was some help. I like to see everyone catch
fish. But, for a while there I was "flapping" just like everyone else.
BASS: Bass fishing is getting better and better everyday. Carolina rigs using the small
French fry type worms seems to work well all day. Fishing points, humps, and there are some schooling fish on sand bars. We had the best spawn on bass in 1999 that this lake has ever seen. The spring of 2002 should be hotter than a three dollar pistol. I quit "trash fishing" several years ago but both my partners still like that "trash fishing" pretty well. They are both doing well. 18-30 a day. Some in the 5 lb. category, most of them spots. Worms do seem to be working best for now but it will not be long until buzz baits will do well
early. As the larger fish come off the beds they will stack up on the points and will be fairly easy to catch and in large
numbers. Last week of May and first week of June should be the hottest.
STRIPE: We have the best stripe population in this lake of any lake in our chain of
lakes. However, I am out there "flapping". I fished Friday about 14 1/2 hours for 1 stripe and 1 run. Shad at this time are all but impossible to
find. For some unknown reason, Alabama Power is not moving much water through the
lake. We are in a drought situation and I am pretty sure the oxygen levels are a little
low. A little bit of rain and water flow and they should appear at their old
haunts. The shad I am marking on my depth finder are about 6 feet
deep. Impossible to through a net over. Shad are the main diet for Stripe in this lake. I have received a few emails from some nice folks around the lake and to the man they say they are doing fair to good at night using small live
bream. Little River area seems to be the hottest, the big bridge in Cedar Bluff, and the big bridge in
Leesburg. I will find the "cotton pickers" one way or the other. As soon as I do I will tell you where and how.
WHITE BASS: Still have not seen the first one. Their normal haunt at this time of year would be up the Chatooga in the flats above Cornwall Furnace. I am going to make a trip up there sometime this week and take a peek.
BREAM: This is the first year I have caught what I call decent bream in this
lake. The are trying to bed up just about everywhere around the lake in shallow water. The water is clear enough that you can see some beds on a sunny
day. I caught 26 nice bream fishing around Bay Springs fish cleaning station trying to get little bream to fish with for
stripe. This shocked me out of my tennis shoes. My partner Butch and I made a trip to Guntersville Friday and located many bream beds. We kept 26 great bream. My partner Harry and I went back on Saturday with guide parties and had about 70 + a piece. All of them great, fillet size, along with several great shell crackers. We were using a special bream glitter jig that Ms. Cheryl made special for us.
CATFISH: The catfish are full of eggs and trying to spawn in the rip rap. Crickets work pretty good and so do night crawlers.
CARP: All you bow fishermen, bring you bow's on. The carp are about 8" under the surface under the
docks. On a sunny day you can kill them. Bring your polarized sunglasses. I wish I had the money to put a bounty on them. We are also seeing huge catfish working in the bream beds. We saw one Friday that Butch tried to convince me that it was a shark! I am old and slow but I don't think so.
I am on the water still about everyday. I am a glutton for punishment. Most of you think that you impose on me because you ask me questions. This could not be more wrong. I am glad to help anyone anyway that I can. I try to make our fishing report as accurate as humanly possible. Unlike most Marina's and Motel's I will tell it like it is. Some of them do also, BUT they are in the minority. Any feedback that you can give me about your experiences is greatly appreciated! Take your kids fishing and you will know where they are and you will never regret the time spent with them.
I am guided one or two days a week now so if you need me just email me or give me a call.
Sincerely, Steve
www.lakeweissguideservice.com
256-927-6617
