Merry Christmas! 

Today’s column is going to be short and sweet with a good fishing report at the end.

Two big things happened in my circle of friends this week. 

First, my good buddy, Nick Zimmerman, whom I have been taking hunting and fishing the last two years, finally killed his first deer! Nick shot it last Saturday in Alabama on a private farm. He said he did what I always say to do: Find a deer trail, slip in about a hundred or so yards and sit your butt down! He shot the buck at last light. 

Congrats Nick!

Second, my high school hunting buddy, Jeff Morton, has managed to raise a bass fisherman! Rep Morton placed second on Sinclair this past Saturday at the high school bass fishing tournament. Rep’s an awesome kid who it seems is figuring it all out on bass fishing. Now his daddy can make fun of him for throwing fish back and leave me alone.

Fishing report:

Oconee – Most everyone I know is chasing stripers, whites, and hybrids right now. The spoon bite is on fire! Find bait, find fish, It’s just about that simple. Try a Capt. Mack’s Super Spoon or a Berry’s Flex-it. Personally, I go yellow/chart or blue. Also, a new technique that is working is dropping a Cast Fishing Co. Slow Pitch Jig in the 20g size. Short hops and hang on right now!

Oconee crappie report from Richard Mann at Jigslinger Guideservice – Crappie have transitioned into their winter routine and are staging up at the mouths of creeks and coves. The mouth of Sugar Creek has boo-koos of fish right now. Most fish are suspended 8-15ft deep and can be caught longline trolling, spider rigging minnows, or my favorite way using live sonar such as Garmin Livescope to locate fish and cast to them. Fish can also be caught shooting docks that are near the channels and are at least 12 ft deep. Winter is also the best time to find crappie schooled up around bridge pilings. These fish are feeding heavily in preparation for coming spawn and this pattern should hold through the month of January.

Sinclair from bass tournament angler Danny White- There is still some largemouth being caught out of the Hydrilla if you can find the green healthy Hydrilla They are coming on the off the hook swim jig bladed. There is also some bass being caught out of laydowns on a spinnerbait and a swim jig there’s some fish being caught on the slim 6 Rapala crankbait on points and humps and there are some docks producing quality largemouth in the backs of creeks and pockets in the 4 to 5 feet of water.

—Outdoors columnist James Pressley can be reached at pressleyoutdoors@gmail.com