3/6/08
Fishing excellent for bass and catfish
By Terry Madewell

Warm seasonable weather has had the forecasted; expected and hoped for results … fishing is much improved for several species of fish. Plus, it will probably get much more productive better during the next couple of weeks. If I were you, I’d leave for the lake right now. As soon as I finish this report, I’m going.

The largemouth bass fishing was already decent, but has improved dramatically. Reports are being received now with great success. Large numbers of big fish, as well as lengthy stringers of fish, are being caught throughout lakes Marion and Moultrie. Much of the action has been in the shallow water areas. If you want your string stretched by a hawg largemouth, now is the time and our backyard lakes of Marion and Moultrie are the places to go.

Overall fishing news remains very good to excellent for a number of species on lakes Marion and Moultrie for other species as well. Again, the low water conditions create difficulties for some anglers getting on the fish, but the catfish and crappie fishing are both excellent. Plus, a few catches of shellcracker have been reported. If we get the predicted string of good weather conditions over a week or two time period, everything in the lake with a mouth will want to bite something.

Outstanding largemouth action is being enjoyed on a wide variety of lures. Bass anglers are using spinner baits, crank baits, worms jigs and other lures to produce some really outstanding catches. Local anglers are faring well with a smorgasbord of their favorite lures as well. The key now is to get on the lake and fish.

The crappie are mixed in different depths throughout the lakes based on various reports. Some anglers are making good catches in the shallows, while others are doing well fishing over deeper brush piles. Both minnows and jigs are producing good results. Some of the crappie are still staging in deeper water and these have actually produced more consistent fishing for most anglers. Brush, logs and stumps in the 6-14 foot depth range have produced action with bright colored jigs such as chartreuse and yellow as well as live bait have produced crappie action.

The catfish action is best in water from 15-22-feet deep but some action is occurring in shallow water, especially for blue catfish. The blue catfish action is best using herring and shad and for channel catfish, night crawlers have produced some good catches.

The shellcracker fishing is fair. Often we’ll get a good bit of March shellcracker action … the water temperature will determine how good it will get. But some are being taken on worms right now.

Fishing along the coast continues to be fair for redfish using mud minnows as bait. In addition, very good reports of bottom fishing action continue to be received on black sea bass, snapper and grouper further offshore.