Wintertime is here! Folks, the lake is full, cold and muddy…and that was BEFORE Noah and the Ark floated through this week. Three of my good friends have some info for you, dear readers, about how to catch fish right now.

Stripers- Capt. Kevin Wahl of Wildside Guide Service says the fishing is slowing down and certainly not as hot as it was on Oconee a few weeks ago. Better times, according to him, have been the afternoon bite. Look for seagulls and follow them. If you see them diving, you will find fish. There’s still fish in Sugar Creek. The water temp is hitting the 51-degree level, and that means the stripers and hybrids could be anywhere. Check river bend, flagpole point, the coke houses and the mouth of Richland Creek. Spoons are a great option and slow trolling live bass minnows will work as well.

Crappie- Richard Malcolm, better known as Jigslinger, is killing some big crappie lately. He says the main river channel has been holding some fish, and that they are moving into their pre-spawn areas. In the next few weeks they’ll move from the river channel to staging areas at the mouths of creeks and coves. Crappie have also been holding on to almost all the bridges as of late. This is a good time to turn that livescope on and go catch a mess even in the cold.

Bass- Randy Jackson (the BASS Bettle) and his partner, Michael May, won the first-place money at the Berry’s Tournament on Saturday out of Sugar Creek Marina. Here’s how they did it. Vertical jigging. Sound familiar, folks? They found schooling fish in Richland Creek and went to work with less than two hours left in the tournament. I’m going to say it again: Whether you use an ice fishing jig (I do catch a lot on the Rapala Jigging Rap) or a slab spoon, you better have them in the boat and ready to go this time of year. Oh yeah… a blade bait will work in this situation as well. Keep this in mind, though. Randy is a consistent winner because he is ALWAYS paying attention!

Bonus Sinclair report – The jigging spoon bite has been off the chain lately down there. Make sure you are looking around the mouth of Nancy Branch, Airport Island, the power lines headed upriver toward Crooked Creek. Capt. Mack’s Super spoons, Flex-It spoons, and War Eagle Spoons are all good models for the lake.

Spoon tip- I always give this one. Everyone who tries it will comes back to say thank you. I use 20-pound fluorocarbon and run the best Spro swivel I can lay my hands on. You will tangle in your trebles a lot less.

Now on a personal note, if you happen to be heading to the Atlanta Boat Show this weekend, come by the Eclipse Marine Group booth and see me! I’m not humble enough to say I won’t take pics or sign autographs… I will. Come see our new Falcon Bass boat! The show will be a grand time, and I hope some of y’all will come by and say hello!

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