LAKE OCONEE — Water temperatures were slow to warm up from this past cold winter but did finally warm up in late spring. and the warming has finally resulted in good fishing over the last few weeks. In fact, shallow water fishing for largemouth bass and crappie has been excellent up until the current time.

Normally, the crappie move fairly quickly from the shallows after spawning but have lingered around in coves and shallow water areas making them susceptible to anglers trolling jigs for an extended period this spring. Also, the largemouth bass normally go through a stage of lockjaw after spawning that can make for tough fishing, but that has not happened.

In the case of both the crappie and largemouth, I believe the spawn was spread out over a longer period of time than normal, and that has in fact created better fishing conditions for both species. When a majority of the largemouth normally spawn over a two week period and then move off the beds, fishing success can be almost impossible for a couple weeks as the largemouth recuperate from the spawn.

There has been almost no dry period for the anglers over the last five to six weeks for crappie or largemouth bass. We are now seeing some changes in the crappie behavior as they seem to be finally moving away from many of the coves, but they are still around deep docks in large numbers and many are good quality fish, so the dock shooters are doing very well.

Trolling success for crappie has slowed a little over the last week as the crappie have moved a little deeper but with water temperatures still hovering in the middle 70s, the fish are in no hurry to leave the shallows. The same can be said for the largemouth bass. Shallow water fishing for largemouth bass remains very good in both Lakes Oconee and Sinclair.

Some largemouth bass have begun to show up on deeper lake spots, but the majority of the bass caught in the May 15 Berry’s Trail tournament at Lake Oconee were caught in very shallow water. The May 15 tournament, which was held out of Sugar Creek Marina, was the last regular season Berry’s Trail tournament leaving only the classic event to be held June 5 through 6.

There were 115 teams that participated in the May 15 Berry’s Trail tournament, and more than 200 anglers weighed in 492 largemouth bass weighing 1,205.43 pounds which averaged out to almost two pounds per fish. Five-fish limits were weighed in by 93 teams, which was excellent.

First place and $3,480 went to the team of Wayne Garner from McDonough and Brain Garner from White Plains with a total weight of 19.75 pounds. The pair of anglers caught their fish on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits fished early in the morning and then lizards and crankbaits fished later in the day.

Casey Smith from Musella and Rob Jordan from Suwanee caught a limit of bass weighing 17.08 pounds to nail down second place and take home $1,740. Smith and Jordan were using Xtreme Lure Creations in Bluegill color and Huddlston Swimbaits on the lake points to catch their fish.

Rounding out the top three places was Stevie Jackson and Jason Hencely from Gray with 16.88 pounds. They took home a check for $1,100 for the five-fish limit that they caught on crankbaits and soft plastics around docks.

The big bass of the tournament was caught by Brian Garner from McDonough on a buzzbait. That one fish weighed 6.79 pounds, won him $1,150 and helped propel his team into their first place finish.

Berry’s will hold the season ending classic with anglers fishing Lake Oconee on Saturday, June 5, and Lake Sinclair on Sunday, June 6. The classic fund has over $13,000 in prize money that will be awarded at the classic event. 

The fish are biting and the weather has been great of late, so you need to be on the water now. Hot weather will arrive in a few weeks and fishing will surely get tougher.

Good fishing and see you next week.