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. 834' and dropping (Click Here For Current Water Level)
Water Surface Temp: 58 -64
Water Clarity: Clear Green to Murky Green depending on lake level and turnover
Area Fished: Blockhouse, Kellogg Creek, Victoria Area & S-Turns & Little River
Jigs Used: Splatter Back - Dagger, June Bug - Dagger, Chicken Pox - Kic'n Chic'n, Sour Grape - Kic'n Chic'n, Sour Grape - Slab Dragon & Cajun Chicken - Small Fry
Technique: Casting & Trolling
Allatoona Weekly Crappie, Shellcracker & Bluegill Fishing Report:
What a great week to be on the lake! Fall is in full swing and the long line trolling bite is starting to pick up! The weather this past week was absolutely beautiful with the fall colors and active crappie. We are starting to see some schools of crappie as they are moving around in this cooler water. The water temperature dipped into the 50's at the beginning of the week which is prime time for long line trolling. It's time to get those reels spooled up with new line and organize your crappie jig tackle box for prime action!
Crappie: We got out a few days this week and were not disappointed in the weather or the crappie bite. The only drawback we had was one day the lake was extremely foggy from daylight until around 0900 before we could safely make a run to hit some locations. We focused on the mouths of creeks and flats and found schooling crappie. We trolled a combination of 1/24th oz, 1/16th oz roundball jig heads as well as custom Red Rooster 1/24th & 1/16th underspins and had great success. We trolled speeds of .7 to .9 mph to keep our jigs in the strike zone. The crappie were suspended between 8' to 12' in depths of 15' to 20' of water. The water clarity was clear to murky green due to a rise in lake level and lake turnover. We trolled several different colors and some test colors that we were trying out. The Kic'n Chic'n in the Chicken Pox and Sour Grape colors did well. The Slab Dragon in Sour Grape and we had a couple of nice keepers on the Small Fry in the Cajun Chic'n color. Our test colors were a Slab Dragon in Chrome and Chartreuse tail aka Silver Comet and a Pink/Blue Glitter Flake with a Chartreuse tail. We hope this a good sign for great crappie fishing for the rest of the year!
Bluegill: We found some nice bluegill around docks and caught them on red wigglers while looking for shellcracker. The good thing about fishing with worms is...you will catch everything! 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): This past week the shellcracker were very aggressive and were hitting crappie jigs on a 1/24th oz. jig head. We found shellcracker anywhere from 5' to 10' deep. They are hanging around shallow stumps and brush and we caught several on a Red Rooster Dagger in the June Bug color. We let the jig sink to the bottom and slowly reel the jig back to the boat keeping it close to the bottom. 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: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ~ Colossians 3:14-16.
Let the Good Time Troll! Robbie with some nice Allatoona Crappie caught while long line trolling!
Danny showing off his trolling skills with a nice Allatoona black crappie caught on a 1/16th oz. jig head and a new test color.
Danny with another nice keeper crappie on a 1/24th oz. underspin and a new test color.
Danny with double vision! 2 Nice Allatoona crappie caught while trolling a mix of 1/16th, 1/24th and 1/16th & 1/24th Red Rooster custom underspins.
The two test colors that worked well for us this week. They are not on the website and we don't have a name for them yet but are available if interested, call or text for more info!
Nice White Crappie caught on the Red Rooster Dagger in the Paydirt color.
Look at this chunk shellcracker caught on a Red Rooster Dagger in the June Bug color!
A nice early morning Allatoona Crappie caught on the Red Rooster Dagger in the Splatter Back color
Another shellcracker caught on the Red Rooster Dagger in the June Bug color reeled slowly across the bottom in 5' to 10' of water around stumps and small brush.
