Monday, March 26, 2012

Jimbo's Lake Lake Lanier Fishing Guide Report: 3/26/2012


Hey Gang -

Wow. What a week on the pond this week! I have to begin by apologizing for not getting a report up here sooner. I have gotten "the business" from a bunch of you for not keeping up on my reports! I have been on trips every single day this past week with another one coming up this afternoon. So, after sleeping in a bit and spending some family time this morning, I am finally catching up on my reports!

The fishing has been fantastic. There are many different things working right now in a number of different places. You can throw a Davis Shaky head/worm combo dipped in JJ's Magic along with a trick worm or fluke around rocky pockets/banks/docks and catch as many as you want to right now. We did that some this week and had between 30-50 fish a day doing that. However, we have found a much more active bite on the main lake and mouths of creeks with topwater, swimbaits, jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits. That was the real fun this week and this pattern definitely produced some consistently bigger fish and more action. We focused on rocky points and shoals for this pattern, as well as some rocky pockets.

There are also some early post-spawn females showing up under very shallow docks. Throw a fluke or trick worm around these shallow docks for some very nice surprises in the form of largemouth and spots.

I had a great group of clients this week, some long-time customers and some new ones along with some tournament anglers. Thanks to everyone for coming out with me - a great time was had by all! I have included some pics of this week's action - no shots of the tournament guys but plenty of nice fish! My regular main man Johnny Pond is pictured with a double above - he also had a nice largemouth that day that did not make the photo cut - not enough space for quality photos of everything. Also of note, Scott and Jimmy from NC were out with me this week - they come down every year and we always have an excellent time together - this week was no exception - thanks guys! Lastly, a call out to Richard who is pictured above in the white shirt. Richard had never bass fished before in his life, and this guy came out with me and put it on them! He is a champion skeet shooter, and was able to translate his excellent hand-eye coordination into the use of a rod and reel quite quickly. It was a real treat to see him pick it up so quick and catch some great fish!

I have Thursday and Saturday (3/29 and 3/31) open this coming week. I am booked the first week of April, but I have Mon, April 9th and Thur, April 12th open the following week.

Call me or drop me a line if you would like to get out - it is an absolute blast out there now!

Thanks to everyone and may God Bless! Jimbo

Saturday, March 10, 2012


Hey Everyone -

We have had a very fun week this week and have caught some monster largemouth all week long. Our week culminated with a 3rd place finish in today's Hammond's Winter Trail Classic. My customer and now very good friend, Jimmy Cagle, came to me last fall and asked me to fish the Hammond's Winter trail with him. He hired me to learn the finer points of tournament fishing, as well as specific techniques and approaches to finding and catching fish in a tournament situation. We worked on many different things through the season and I was able to provide Jimmy some insights and really help him grow as an angler - so says Jim anyway. It was awesome to see us really gel today as a team and to see him really put it on them. He has worked hard all season, and he is a tremendous partner. I personally have never met a finer person - Jimmy is just good people and I am proud to know him - thanks Jim and excellent work this year!! I am proud of you brother!

Our day started with me popping two pigs on a jig up shallow early, and then Jim took over and caught 5 fish in 7 casts with a crankbait and we were culling by 8:36 AM. We caught 3 limits through the day, then I popped one more pig at 2 PM, and we finished with 18.10 and 3rd place in the Classic. We weighed a bag of 4 heads and 1 spot. Congrats to Matt Willbanks and Travis Clark for yet another victory with a 22 + pound bag of largemouth. Matt is absolutely on fire. My good buddies Steve Gerbig and Matt Springer edged us out by a couple ounces for second - well done guys. Just a great day and a great end to a super season. A big thanks to Tim at Hammond's for all his hard work in putting together a super tournament trail - the Hammond's tournaments are always professionally ran and attract the lake's best sticks - very nice job to Tim and the gang at Hammond's.

As you can see from the pictures, the heads have been our focus this week. It is so awesome to see these fish making such a strong comeback on Lanier, and as I predicted, these fish have been ruling the tournament scene of late, and today was no different. My clients had an absolute blast catching the lips this week - I offered them all the choice of what to do, and they wanted to catch LM on Lanier - so that's what we did!

We have been working shallow pockets and the backs of creeks for most of our fish. Jigs, jerkbaits, crankbaits, and the FHS have all been producing well for these big fish. It just depends on the day which one is best - today, it was the jig and crankbait.

We will see what next week brings - it should be good! I have Wednesday and Friday open if anyone would like to get out. Give me a ring or drop me a note.

Thanks, and May God Bless -

Jimbo

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Jimbo's Lake Lake Lanier Fishing Guide Report: 3/6/2012


Hey Everyone -

I am finally back again with more information and pictures.

You guys have been keeping me very busy out there - thank you!! I have had trips every day over the last 10 days including a guide trip I did on Hartwell yesterday for a good customer of mine who lives up there and has fished down here with me several times. I went up and we launched from his dock (man that's nice). We fished with all the FLW pros up there prepping for their upcoming tournament. We stayed out of their way, but we still managed a good day in the wind. Crankbaits, Jerkbaits and worms all produced fish for us yesterday - that is a fun lake and I look forward to fishing it more in the future. I also helped set up Paul's new Lowrance HDS electronics and structure scan - he is set to go and will continue catching them good up on Hartwell - thanks Paul!

I have had some great trips on Lanier over the past week. We have caught several big Largemouth and Spots over the week - the fish are biting and it has been fun out there. It was different every day, but with some work, we got on good fish each day. I had some tournament anglers out last week, so no pics of them, but I will say I was out with one on Saturday, which was one of our better days, and we absolutely whacked fish all day in the creeks - just a blast.

It is tough to claim a "best bait" over the last week - some days it was the jerkbait, and some it was the fish head spin. The cranks have also made a comeback over the last week or so. We have been focusing on creek pockets mostly and our fish have been shallow for the most part - 10 feet of water or less. On sunny days, many fish have been around the docks as well as other shore-line cover. In cloudy weather they are roaming much more and the bites are a bit more random. The spots are mixed in with the LM in the creeks right now. Friday, we caught almost all LM, but Saturday, the spots ruled in the same type of places - very cool to have that mix and see the LM coming back so well. The LM will continue to play a big part in the tournament scene out there this spring. They are up and active and it makes sense to target them in many scenarios - again, it's just great to see. For fishing reports on other Georgia lakes, make sure to check out: www.havefunfishing.com

I am booked the rest of this week - again, thank you to everyone. I have had so many new customers of late, and I truly appreciate your business!

I do have some open dates the week of March 12th - give me a ring if you would like to get out and have some fun out there - what a great spring we are having! Give me a call and let's go fish!! 770-542-7764

Thanks to all, and may God Bless -

Jimbo