This weeks report is brought to you by Bayne's Fishing & Outdoors located in Cartersville, Georgia. If you need quality fishing products, live bait, kayaks or rod repair stop by Bayne's Fishing & Outdoors. Tell him you saw them on Red Rooster's weekly Lake Allatoona Crappie Fishing Report!
Air Temp: High: 75 - Low: 39
Wind: 5-15 mph
Lake Level: Approx. 833' and dropping (Click Here For Current Water Level)
Water Surface Temp: 55 - 58
Water Clarity: Clear Green to Stained depending on area of the lake
Area Fished: Kellogg Creek, Victoria Area & S-Turns & Little River
Jigs Used: UV Shad - Dagger, Watermelon Ghost - Dagger, and Gray Ghost - Dagger
Technique: Casting & Trolling
Allatoona Weekly Crappie, Shellcracker & Bluegill Fishing Report:
What a difference a week makes! Old man winter decided to pay us a visit at the beginning of the week in a big way! I hope this is not a sign of things to come. The temperature dropped from 77 to 37 in two days...wow! The wind was howling for the better part of the week with gusts up to 25 mph. Not a great time to be on the water. Also, add the fact that the infamous 40 day government shutdown closed many of our boat ramps. If you were not keeping up with the ramp closures you found yourself pulling up to locked gates trying to figure out which ramp was open. Hopefully the shutdown will soon be resolved and the ramps will open back up.
Crappie: We did manage to get out on the water a day before the weather went south and managed to find some crappie at the north end of the lake. We tried our hand at trolling for a couple of hours and just couldn't find any schools of crappie so we went looking around with our electronics to see if we could find any. We did manage to find some schools hanging along the creek channel. Some schools were holding tight to the ledge break and some were roaming the flats close to the creeks. We managed to entice a few by throwing to them with a Red Rooster Dagger in the UV Shad, Gray Ghost and Watermelon Ghost colors. The middle part of the week the water temperature was only 55-56 degrees which was a 6 degree drop from before the cold snap. When the temps drop rapidly it tends to shut the bite down for a couple of days until the crappie recover. Crappie are generally not affected by gradual temperature drops but quick drops knock 'em in the head. We are seeing a lot of schooling crappie on flats in and around creek/river channels but they are not in the mood to bite. The crappie schools were suspended 12' - 15' deep in depths of 18' - 28'. When trolling, and you see schools at these depth's you will want to pull 1/16th oz. and 3/32nd oz. jig heads at speeds between .7 - .9 mph to get your jigs in the strike zone. Our good buddy Jeff "Crappieman" Albright was on the lake mid week and was seeing schools but the bite was very slow. They managed a couple of crappie and spotted bass trolling 1/16th oz. jig heads and Red Rooster custom 1/16th oz. underspins.
Bluegill: Nothing new to report this week with the cold front moving in. When the weather and temps stabilize we expect bluegill can be found in the normal locations. Keep looking for bluegill hanging around shallow docks and shallow brush, stumps and laydowns. They will be feeding up for winter and should be pretty aggressive. The tried and true method is to use a #4 - #6 gold Aberdeen hook with 4 - 6 lb. test fishing line and a bobber set about 8" - 12" above your cricket or worm. Aggressive bluegill have been hitting crappie jigs on a 1/32nd oz or smaller jig head as well.
Shellcracker (Redear sunfish): Nothing new to report this week with the cold front moving in. Shellcracker will be few and far between during the winter. We will start targeting shellcracker again early spring (March time frame). The tried and true rig for shellcracker is a #2 hook on 4 - 6 lb. test fishing line and a #5 clam shell split shot pinched on the line about 12" - 18" above the hook. The red wiggler or night crawler is still the number one way to pick up shellcracker.
Lord willing we will continue to have good reports as we move through fall and into winter!
If you don't know what colors to choose check out our Combo Packs, this will save you a lot of time with proven stained and clear water colors. Be sure to check out the archives for November 2024 and see what we were doing this time last year!
Make sure to download the Red Rooster Long Line Trolling Guide for tips on how to troll for Allatoona Crappie.
Verse of the Week: Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. ~ Psalms 100:4.
A nice Allatoona Black Crappie caught at sunset! UV Shad Dagger on a 3/32nd oz. jig head to get the jig down to the 15' range in a hurry.
Another keeper Lake Allatoona Black Crappie on the Red Rooster UV Shad Dagger with a Red Rooster custom 3/32nd oz. Jig Head.
Smaller crappie are common this time of year as they are bunched up in schools.
