With the exception of the insane amount of rain we have had this year we are now hopefully entering full-fledged spring! Pollen clouds, azaleas, spawning fish, gobbling turkeys, and soon-to-be 90-degree days. Over the last month though I have fished in shorts and crocs one week and the next I was wearing insulated Carhartt’s, a toboggan and a heavy pullover! I’ve shivered and I got sunburned last Wednesday!

April is one of the greatest months around here for fishing. If the rain slacks up and the mud clears out, Sinclair will show out! I had a father-son all-day trip last Wednesday on Sinclair. Two days prior we had struggled to find any fish. That morning we had more than 30 in the boat before 9:30. It changes that fast, ya’ll. Now here’s the info on the best bite going, in my opinion, on either Oconee or Sinclair. Look for fish on your electronics and look for feeding fish on the surface. I’ve been finding these fish in the bends of the Oconee River from Crooked Creek Marina on up to the dam. After this weekend’s rain, though, this may set them back a week or more. But when you find them, cast underspins like The Spot Choker with a Zoom Fluke or Keitech swim bait on it, or a Queens Tackle 3/8 ounce ball head jig with a Cast Fishing Prodigy rigged on it, Pulse Fishing jig heads in 3/8 ounce with Zoom Flukes or Suicide Shads on it, and finally, a rat-l-trap! Work these baits with varying speeds to achieve the depth you need to get hooked up. Last week the fish were in mostly 16 to 22 feet of water. At one point last week I was rinsing my hands after throwing a fish back and had my rat-l-trap hanging over the edge of the boat, only the hooks were in the water, and a little schoolie striper hit it! That didn’t happen just once. It happened four or five times that morning. The fish were basically jumping in the boat! Oh man it was glorious! 

Now these fish are not huge. The biggest I have caught lately in these feeding frenzies is about 3 to 4 pounds. But if you match the rod and line to the bait and the fish this is a TON of fun. I am running mostly St. Croix Tidemaster or Avid spinning rods in 7 feet medium power and fast action. PowerPro line in the 10-pound diameter range and a 15 to 20 pound SunLine Flouro leader is my typical set up. I also really have a ton of fun throwing the ball head jig on a 6-feet-6-inch Offshore Angler medium spinning rod with a Quantum Smoke 30 size on it. You can cast that a mile! You can pick these baits up from pulsefishlures.com, castfishing.co, and spotchoker.com. 

I do want to bring to your attention the upcoming Houston County Student Angler Federation Earth Day cleanup event on Lake Sinclair. This is an incredible event put on by the young folks at Houston Co to clean up our beloved lake. From me, you will get nothing but applause and support for this event. This is near and dear to my heart, and I hope you folks will support them and their effort. I mean how hard is it to pick up a piece of plastic when you are out and about? One piece a day as Carter Andrews says. For more info reach out to them through their Facebook page Houston County Student Angler Federation. 

Tight line folks, and if you want to go fishing look me up! 

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