Submitted by Fish Atlanta Guide Service

Date Fished: 5/28/2008

Water Clarity: Not reported

I have been fishing three different lakes over the past couple of weeks. I have been busy doing lots of trips on different lakes so it's been a couple of weeks since I have posted a report but all the lakes are now improving on a daily basis as the fish move into early summer patterns and start to school back up after the spring spawn and postspawn period. The fish have been pretty scattered all over the lake over the past few weeks but many spots now are starting to produce multiple fish making it possible to catch more fish on one spot and the larger fish are getting more predictable after recovering from the spawn getting on offshore structure making it much easier to target the larger fish in each lake.

I will start with the toughest lake right now which is Horton. There is almost no grass in the lake right now and the lake is a few feet down. The hydrilla is starting to grow but is just a few inches tall. This has put most of the fish in the deep wood that was left when the lake was flooded. Jigs and jighead and worms have been producing numbers but not much at all as far as size. For example, my partner Adam Stanton and myself targeted wood in the 10-20 foot range in a tournament a couple weeks ago. We put around twenty fish in the boat but didn't have any fish that weighed over two pounds. We placed second in the tournament with just under seven pounds so everyone fishing was having the same problem. One boat did get a five pounder that won big fish but didn't have anything to go with it. It's actually pretty common for May on Horton to be tough but as soon as June hits look for the bigger fish to turn back on in the deep wood and start hitting crankbaits and jigs.

Stone Mountain is still fishing good for numbers right now. The fish are pretty bunched up and fifteen to twenty fish is the norm right now for me. We did have one tough day where we tried to get them with a flyrod and they just didn't want a fly. After getting nothing but a small bluegill on the flyrod we then switched to spinning tackle for the last couple hours of the trip and put six fish in the boat on plastics. Topwater and swimbaits are on one day and off the next depending on conditions. Same with the bigger fish one day they bite and the next its hard to get anything over a couple of pounds. But the good thing is lots of fish are biting on most days anywhere from one to fifteen feet deep on a variety of baits. The topwater bite should pick up over the next couple of weeks as the water gets a little warmer. I usually get the best topwater bite as the water gets near eighty degrees and right now its running around seventy-five degrees in the am.

Varner is fishing the best right now out of all the lakes I have been on. Its a good time of year for both numbers and size. Slow days right now are around ten fish but the fish are getting on more predictable spots and bunching up and we have had twenty plus fish on a couple of days with a few good fish mixed in and we have had a few of the big eight pound plus fish hooked but they just didn't make it to the boat. Just like in my last report there isn't much of a shallow bite but the deep bite is getting stronger each day. Look for the bass and hybrids to start schooling on small shad in the next couple of weeks. There are already some fish hitting shad on top early over deep water and I am starting to see more and more suspended fish on my depthfinder in deepwater. Right now most of my fish are coming from 10-15 feet on splitshot rigs and jighead worms but there are also a few fish being caught on crankbaits and swimbaits on windy days.

I have an opening for this Saturday. I also have the following days open in June. The 13th,15th, 20th, 22nd, 27th and 28th. I also have half days open in the afternoon on the 10th, 17th and 24th. -Randall

Fish Atlanta Guide Service
3691 Ben Hill Road
Douglasville, GA 30134

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