Lanier

[kb_rn]

Hey guys, I am thinking of making a trip to Lanier the last week of January or possibly in the middle of March or both. I've been wanting to fish it for years but just haven't been able to. I love catching spots up here in NC although the bigs ones are fewer and far between than Lanier. I also love the striped fish. Just curious of someone could kinda point me in the right direction as to what is going on with the spots/stripers in January. I go to Hartwell often and the striped fish tend to go way back up the Creeks in the winter and bass kinda follow suit at least in my experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[SkeeterXRi]

This is all just my opinion and it’s only worth what you paid for it (FREE).

In late January the spots are normally still deep. The latest reports have them at 30-50 feet in the creeks and ditches and I wouldn’t expect that to change much in the next few weeks. Spoons, dropshot’s, jighead worms, and jigs are the winter time favorites. If we get a warm spell they can come shallow quick and disappear just the same when it gets cold again.

For the tuxedo wearing carp, the back of some of the creeks are good places to start. Six mile, Flat, and Big Creek are popular.

With all that said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the lake as high as it is this winter and the rain just keeps coming, so I wouldn’t count on it being a “normal” year.

jim

[Bamaman]

Lanier is somewhat of a "mountain lake" where the winter pool is dropped substantially. Heck, many years in Summer, the lake will be 8, 10 or even as low as 15 feet below full pool. It can be a dangerous lake to be in until the winter pool is raised.

I was by Lake Nottley earlier this week up on the NC state line, and it looked to be over 10' low for the winter. Many boathouses and commercial marine operations were on the bottom of the lake. Such places, you have to wait for the water to rise before going fishing.

Our Tennessee River is running 100% on the spillways being wide open. It's quite a sight to see 33 spillways 100' high open on Wilson Dam--7 miles from me.

[John Jackson]

One pattern that is like Hartwell is herring will get into pockets off the main channels and the spots will be with them. You can usually catch 10 to 20 in the first 1 to 2 hours on deep jerk baits then the pattern goes away. But you have to find a pocket with the herring. Probably 5%to 10% of the pockets will have the herring bunched up. After the sun comes up of it gets lighter, the pattern is gone. For me, I change over to crankbaits on red banks looking for largemouths in the cold months.

[printman71]

Lanier is somewhat of a "mountain lake" where the winter pool is dropped substantially. Heck, many years in Summer, the lake will be 8, 10 or even as low as 15 feet below full pool. It can be a dangerous lake to be in until the winter pool is raised.

I was by Lake Nottley earlier this week up on the NC state line, and it looked to be over 10' low for the winter. Many boathouses and commercial marine operations were on the bottom of the lake. Such places, you have to wait for the water to rise before going fishing.

Our Tennessee River is running 100% on the spillways being wide open. It's quite a sight to see 33 spillways 100' high open on Wilson Dam--7 miles from me.

That's normal for Nottley this time of year.

[fly by night]

As stated Nottley and many other lakes in this area are drained down in the fall/winter to generate power for the TVA. People have fought that concept with meetings, etc. for many years to no avail. Many buy homes on the lake during full summer pool only to discover they have a mud hole to look at and deal with in winter which makes for unhappy campers.

[printman71]

As stated Nottley and many other lakes in this area are drained down in the fall/winter to generate power for the TVA. People have fought that concept with meetings, etc. for many years to no avail. Many buy homes on the lake during full summer pool only to discover they have a mud hole to look at and deal with in winter which makes for unhappy campers.

What everyone needs to realize is the first priority of the TVA system of lakes is flood control, power generation is second. Everything else is way down the line.

[kb_rn]

Thanks to all for the information. Is there any dirty water on Lanier right now with all the rain we've had?

[John Jackson]

Yes, north end. Also, with the high water, most of the bass are very shallow all over the lake, in the flooded grass.