The one time of year I get the most funny looks from customers on guide trips is during the prespawn on Lake Lanier. When you open the bait tank and the customers see rainbow trout and gizzard shad that are no less than twelve inches long you can see skepticism on their faces. However, once their rod tip starts to shake uncontrollably it quickly turns to excitement. Once you see a thirty pound place striper knock a bait two feet into the air you are never the same. By using a bait that is this big, you will cut down on your number of bites but every bite you get will create a memory. Early Spring is the one time of year you can not use a bait that is too big. Personally at the peak of the prespawn, I would rather have two baits over twelve inches than a dozen between ten and twelvefishing blogs.

What drives this desire for a striper to want a huge meal you might ask when the water temperature is still in the fifties? The need to reproduce. Even though striped bass do not reproduce in most reservoirs they still go through the motions. The large female striped bass feed heavily to produce roe. They travel upstream into the rivers and wait with the mature males until the conditions are right. The time period that is the most consistent to produce a true trophy is the time period leading up to the spawn before the fish head into the Chattahoochee and Chestatee Rivers. This normally falls somewhere between the Full Moon in February and the Full Moon in March. All of the baitfish will packed into the very back of the creeks due to the water being warmer. It is easy to see the stripers will be in the same area munching on the over abundance of easy food. With everything being in the back of the creeks you have narrowed your search down to less than five percent of the water in the lake, greatly increasing your odds to hooking that fish of a lifetime. Combine that with the fish being shallow and less likely to break you off into the deep timber and you have the complete recipe for success.

The complete recipe would be warmer water, plenty of baitfish, and prime structure. Creeks that have stain warm faster. It is a basic principle that is important in all types of fishing. On Lake Lanier, this tends to be creeks like Flat Creek, Four Mile Creek, Wahoo, and Little River. Each of these creeks hold their stain more than the others. Go to the very back of the creeks where the water is no more than twenty feet deep. Most of the time you will be fishing in less than ten feet of water. Each of these creeks are magnets for big females on Lake Lanier. The prime structure is any point or ledge that creates a good ambush point. It does not have to be much of a point. Any small outcropping from the bank can be the hideout. The fish do not want to spend much energy. With the abundance of food, they want to sit up shallow soaking in the warmth of the sun and wait for the food to come to them. This is also the reason why the large baits are the better choice. A large female needs to eat 1 to 3 percent of its body weight each day and during the prespawn this leans more toward the 3 percent. This equates to about a pound a day. If you want to gain weight, do you want to chase down one meal or chase down every small meal that comes by?

The types of rigs needed to hook up these large baits varies as much as the number of plastic worms on the market for bass. Ask ten anglers and you will get ten answers at least. The one rule of thumb that is never to be forgotten is to match your hook to the bait, not to the size of fish you want to catch. Never weigh your bait down with too large of a hook or hooks so that it impairs the action of the bait. On the larger baits, the hook or hooks rarely impair the action of the lure. It is more about how much hardware you want visible. A thirty pound striper did not get big being dumb. A thirty-pound fish has been swimming around for at least ten years. It is not his or hers first rodeo.

Lets talk about gizzard shad first. Gizzard shad are the larger of the two shad species found in any reservoir in Georgia. It is not uncommon to catch one that is twelve to fifteen inches and weighing over a pound. Many times it is harder to catch the bait than it is to catch the stripers. The gizzards love dirty water so be sure to look in the back of the creeks you plan to fish. A large cast net is required. On Lake Lanier, most of the guides throw twelve foot radius nets. Very rarely can the proper baits be found in the local bait shops. It is worth a call to check and see if it is your lucky day. They are just too hard to catch in large quantities. Plan on throwing the net for at least an hour or two. Also plan on spending some time on cleaning the boat up afterwards. Catching shad in the back of these creeks is a mess.

On the gizzards that are over a pound, they are normally hooked up front with an octopus hook and in the back with a treble right near the dorsal fin. Most of the fish will be caught on the back stinger. The front hook can be smaller than expected if you want to increase the number of bites. Use a 1/0 up to a 5/0 Mustad octopus hook up through the top of the mouth. Connect the stinger hook with a heavy piece of monofilament or braid to the octopus. This is one point fishermen tend to make a mistake. Due to the short distance from the octopus hook to the stinger it takes a lot of force when the strike occurs. Be sure to use at least forty pound monofilament for this connection. Sixty pound or better is really more appropriate. It does not hurt for the stinger to be 1X or greater as well.

Rainbow trout are the other type of bait that is commonly used for the trophy stripers. The hardest part is finding a bait store that carries the proper size. Due to their slender nature do not be afraid to use one that is close to two pounds. Stingers can be used on the trout as they are with gizzard shad but they are more commonly used without a stinger. The rainbows are much harder to handle and it is very easy to end up with the stinger in your hand as it is in the bait. Trust me I know from experience. Depending on the size of the trout, a 5/0 to 8/0 Mustad octopus hook right up between the nostrils is all that is necessary. If the big female wants it, she will catch it.

Connect these baits to a minimum 20-pound P-line flourocarbon leader. A fifty pound striper is not out of the question so you may want to use a little heavier line. The lake record is 46 pounds but I would not be surprised if a fifty shows up one day soon. The leader needs to be about six to ten feet and connected with a heavy duty Spro swivel that is rated for at least fifty pounds. On the main reel, use twenty pound monofilament and be sure to use a reel with a plenty of capacity like the Penn 310. This is one application where the standard bass reels like a Garcia 5500 are just not adequate. The rod needs to have some backbone. The most common being a 7 foot medium action Shakespeare Ugly Stick.

Now that you have the proper equipment you still need a couple more items. You need balloons and planer boards. For the rods behind the boat, freeline the baits about 100 feet out behind the boat. About 10 feet above the bait, tie on a simple balloon blown up about the size of a tennis ball. Slowly troll the baits over any likely ambush points like a hard clay point. Do not be surprised when some of your bites come in five feet of water or less. Closer to the bank the warmer the water, especially late in the evening. This is also the reason why you need the planer boards. You do not want to run your boat right over the fish. Put on a planer board like the Church TX-22 planer board about 10 feet above the bait. Yellow Bird also makes a very popular planer board that can be used equally well. Run the board out about eighty feet from the boat and slowly bring them across the ambush points. If a striper blows up on the bait but does not appear to want to take the bait. Pick up the rod and knock the reel out of gear. This allows the bait to stay in the area longer and free swim more naturally. If the striper did not kill the bait, they will many times come back and crush it when you stop it right in their face. Also don't be surprised if the stripers occasionally blow up on the board.

This pattern is not only relevant to Lake Lanier. It is relevant anywhere stripers swim across the United States. Even though it can be really cold this time of year on the lake, do not let it pass you by. All of the creeks have a ramp nearby. The trophy you have been looking for is swimming in the back of a creek near you. Get your cast net out, or call your favorite local guide and go catching not fishing.