The First  Spring Event of 2008 Season

    is on Lake Oconee

Sunday Jan 20^th

Ramp - Sugar Creek Marina 

Tournament hours determined at the monthly meeting

Meeting @ BPS Tuesday Jan 15th

Registration Starts at 6:00 PM

Lake Oconee Information - DBC Tournaments

USEFUL LINKS

HOTELS - LAKE INFO - LAKE LEVEL @ WALLACE DAM - RECORD OCONEE CATCHES

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HOTEL INFO

Motels in the Madison (I-20 East, exit 114) area if interested in spending the night...
Budget Inn, Madison, Ph: (706)342-0996
Burnett Place-Circa, Madison, Ph: (706)342-4034
Comfort Inn, Madison, Ph: (706)342-0054
Days Inn, Madison, Ph: (706)342-1839
Hampton Inn, Madison, Ph: (706)342-9003
Red Roof Inn, Madison, Ph: (706)342-2433
Ramada Inn, Madison, Ph: (706)342-2121

 

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LAKE OCONEE INFO

Lake Oconee is located mainly in Greene County, near the towns of Madison and Greensboro.  The 19,050-acre reservoir is operated by Georgia Power Company with Lake Sinclair as a pump-storage (pumpback) hydropower generation facility.  This unique operation in combination with the lakes long, narrow shape produces noticeable water current throughout the lake during power generation and pump back.  Fish tend to be more active and feed more aggressively when water is moving through the dam. 

Fifty plots of timber topped off below water level and 1,250 acres of standing timber were left along creek and river channels to serve as fish attractors and provide fish habitat.  Public access is readily available through eight Georgia Power and U.S. Forest Service boat ramps and parks.  Several lakeside marinas also offer lodging, food, bait, tackle, and other fishing related services.

Lake Oconees slot limit is intended to improve bass growth by encouraging selective harvest of smaller bass.  Under this 11 to 14 inch protected slot, largemouth bass less than 11 inches and over 14 inches may be kept, while bass between 11 and 14 inches must be released.  Removing smaller bass will improve bass growth by increasing the food supply for the remaining bass.  Continued harvest of small bass will be necessary to improve bass growth at Oconee.  The removal of small bass is essential for slot limits to work, while harvest of larger bass is optional.

Spinnerbaits and crankbaits fished around riprap and rocky areas are popular for bass all year long. During the summer months, most fish are caught on main lake points, around deep bridges and steep banks, or up the Oconee and Apalachee rivers above I-20.  Deep diving crank baits fished around main lake points produced many excellent catches of largemouth during summer, and many local anglers say it was one of the best summers for bass fishing on Oconee in several years.  The summer crankbait bite is still a good way to catch nice bass in the summer.

Good numbers of harvestable size crappie should be available again this year.  Crappie are best caught from February through April, with the biggest slabs usually caught on warm afternoons in February.  Fishing around standing timber in Sugar Creek and the upper end of the lake is a good bet for crappie in the spring, as are the upper ends of other major creek arms such as Richland, Sandy, and Lick creeks.  Stay out toward the mouths of the creeks, near the main lake, in early February and gradually move back towards shallow water as the temperature increases in the spring.  Bedding crappie can be caught around shallow cover when water temperatures reach the low 60s.

White bass and hybrids will make spawning runs up the Oconee and Apalachee rivers in March and April, and the fishing can be great on the right day.  Little Georges, rooster tails, small crankbaits and curly tail grubs are the best lures for white bass on the spawning runs.  Hybrids can also be caught in April and May in the middle and upper end of the reservoir around bridges and other rip rap feeding on spawning threadfin shad.  Hybrid fishing was excellent in 2006 for numbers of fish, and quite a few hybrids in the 5 10 lbs. range were caught. Hybrids will often school in the middle third of the reservoir throughout the summer, and then move to the lower end of the lake throughout the winter.  The Oconee River arm from Lick Creek down to the dam is especially good for hybrids in the winter.

Anglers may begin to see a few juvenile striped bass this year.  The young stripers will likely be mixed in with hybrids and white bass.  In addition to hybrids, WRD stocked 10 stripers per acre during May 2006 and some of these fish should enter the creel this year.  If striped bass perform well in Lake Oconee, the long-range goal is to phase hybrids out of the Altamaha River basin resevoirs, which includes lake Oconee, Lake Sinclair, Lake Jackson and several other smaller impoundments.  WRD will stock a mix of stripers and hybrids again this spring.

Catfish fishing is excellent in Oconee, but the population is changing with the expansion of the recently introduced blue and flathead catfish populations.  While there are still plenty of smaller channel and white catfish that can be consistently caught throughout the lake, the number of small, 6 - 10 inch fish has declined slightly and the overall size and quality of catfish has improved.  Blues and flatheads continue to expand their population, and numerous flatheads over twenty pounds have been caught in the recent past.  Live shad or bluegill and cut bait are the best baits for flatheads, and hot summer nights are the best time to catch them. Morning and night fishing is particularly good for all species of catfish during the warm summer months, and the consistent bite makes them a great fish to target when introducing kids to fishing.  Worms or cut bait fished on the bottom are hard to beat.