NOTE: Y’all I am re-running this column in honor of Capt. Mack. Mack is facing a challenge with cancer right now and he could use our prayers. Please join me in praying for Mack and Lynn and their family. In the meantime enjoy this…

 

 

One of the things I truly enjoy is fishing for spotted bass. I love the fish! They are tough fighters, aggressive eaters, and they love to hit topwater. With that combination, they make themselves far more appealing to me, and many like me, than any other freshwater fish. A few weeks back Capt. Mack Farr called me and told me to block off a couple of days on my calendar in December, and we would pick the best of the two regarding weather and go fishing.

 

Of course, I said yes.

 

Now, I wouldn’t be truthful if I said I wasn’t extremely excited. This was a chance to fish with one of my childhood heroes. Now I’m not saying Mack is old… But he’s been guiding and a very recognizable figure in Georgia fishing and striper fishing for as long as I can remember. As a child I listened to Mack call in to O’Neal Outside on AM750 WSB every Saturday morning while going fishing or hunting with my dad and grandfathers. Later I remember watching him and O’Neal on O’Neal’s show fishing for stripers and spots, then later he had his own show. So yeah… I got a little fanboy thing going and got excited.

 

Well, Capt. Mack and I met up on a Monday morning at Balus Creek Boat Ramp up at Lake Lanier, and both of us started talking about how pretty a day this was and how warm it was turning out to be. We should have stayed quiet because it got cold when a front finally pushed in midday.Now the plan was simple. Fish ditches and roadbeds in deep water for spots and after catching a few, start hunting stripers.

 

But this column is about the spots right now. Here’s some hints, places to look and tackle guides for you!

 

What to look for:

 

Deep water ditch fishing at its root is fishing roadbeds, ditches, any long depression in the lake that fish will stage in, hide in, feed in, and can be identified clearly with steep sides.

 

Time- In Lanier from December throuygh March this is a great pattern and will hold strong from water temps in the low 40s to mid-50s.

 

Depth- The colder the water temps the deeper you need to look. On this day it was in the high 50s and we were fishing anywhere from 45 to 55 feet deep. But in lakes like Lanier you can catch them in 80-plus feet no problem in the coldest months.

 

Gear- This is truly important. This is a spinning rod deal. Med to med heavy and not that long. 6’8”-7’0” rods are perfect. Okuma and St. Croix BassX are both great affordable rods.

 

Spinning reels in the 25 to 30 size are good to go. You want light weight and fast lock up. A good drag is extremely important because you are going to use light line. If your reel hiccups or sticks when a bass is running game over bubba. Okuma Helios, Quantum Smoke, and Shimano Vanford are great options that don’t break the bank.

 

Line- Capt. Mack uses Sunline Fluorocarbon in the 10lb range.

 

Lures- Weedless Wonder shakey heads from CaptMacks.com in 3/16 and 1/8 oz. In clear water lakes such as Lanier and Hartwell Roboworms are a great choice. On Oconee I prefer Zoom Magnum trick worms. The size and colors are more visible in our far more stained waters. Finesse jigs in the same size range and believe it or not SPOONS! HA!!! Yes indeed. In fact, I caught a nice spot with Mack on a spoon.

 

Fishing speed- This is a slow go guys. The colder the slower. Mack even recommends using the trolling motor to slowly drag the worm or jig. These fish are stuck under rocks, in cracks, under shelfs. However, after you catch one or two the others will get aggressive a lot of the time.

 

Tips- If you take what we can learn from fishing a deep clear lake like Lanier and apply it to Sinclair or Oconee you will see trends appear. These trends though need a good map to decipher. Your electronics are going to play in here. One Oconee and Sinclair we don’t have a ton of roadbeds so look for tight contour lines on your maps that are in water deeper than 20 feet and that taper out toward deeper water and main lake channels. Use colors appropriate to our darker water. I like Junebug, various forms of Green Pumpkin and even mud bug bi-color options.

 

Folks, this is an awesome way to fish, and I had a blast with Mack. We caught a good many and ended the day with a 5 fish limit that would have gone 15 to 16 pounds. We never found a 5lb spot that day, but I’ve caught a ton on Lanier that size. They are there. And if you are fishing a tournament… You better find them, or you will be on the outside of the money crying.

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