This weeks report is brought to you by CrappieMan - Allatoona Guide Service! If you are looking to catch and learn more about Allatoona Crappie, Give Jeff a Call @ (678) 229-8110. Tell him you saw him on Red Rooster's weekly Lake Allatoona Crappie Fishing Report!
Air Temp: High: 90 - Low: 61
Wind: 5 mph
Lake Level: Approx. 836' and dropping (Click Here For Current Water Level)
Water Surface Temp: 80 - 82
Water Clarity: Clear Green, Murky Green in places
Area Fished: Kellogg Creek, Victoria Area, S-Turns & Blockhouse/Clark/Tanyard
Jigs Used: Fried Pickle - Small Fry, UV Shad -Bluegrass - Small Fry, Cajun Chicken - Small Fry, Cajun Chicken - Dagger & Jive Turquee Chartreuse - Kic'n Chic'n
Technique: Casting & Trolling
Allatoona Weekly Crappie, Shellcracker & Bluegill Fishing Report:
We had a couple of nice fall mornings at the beginning of the week where we saw water temps at 78 and were able to find some active Allatoona crappie! We caught several keepers as well as small crappie. The cooler overnight temps had the crappie moving around and were eager to bite. Towards the middle to end of the week the temps rose back into the high 80's and 90 degrees on a couple of days which warmed the water a couple of degrees. The lake is dropping and is rapidly approaching the 835' mark or 5' down from full pool of 840'. As the water level drops and the water temps start cooling down into the 70's we are getting ready for some prime fall crappie fishing! Keep your eye on the water level and for the overnight temps to drop into the 50's...the water temps will drop rapidly in October which will trigger some nice trolling days. We are ready to see the Allatoona temps drop which will trigger the crappie to start schooling and move off the brush & structure to the mouths and the middle of the creeks.
Crappie: The lower overnight temps are triggering the crappie to move around a bit and are becoming more aggressive. We were able to throw larger jigs like the Red Rooster Small Fry around the brush and catch some nice keepers on those larger jigs. Now that the water level is dropping the deep water brush is sitting in 15' of water and the crappie are suspended in 8' - 10' above the brush. When this happens you need to throw a 1/32nd or 1/24th jig head so that it doesn't sink to fast. We threw towards the brush and counted down 7-10 seconds and slowly reeled the Small Fry in Fried Pickle and Bluegrass colors just above the brush and got whacked! We were on the water by 0700 before the sun got high. Once the sun came out around 0900 the crappie would not chase the larger bait so we switched to the Red Rooster Dagger in Cajun Chicken, Watermelon Red and a test color we call PayDirt which is brown with gold flake and an orange tail. Crappie fishing is about to take off once the water cools a bit! Our buddy Crappieman trolled some areas in the north end of the lake and had several crappie on a Cajun Chicken Small Fry and a Jive Turquee Chartreuse Kic'n Chicken.
Bluegill: The bluegill should be in the shallows in the early morning and then moving a little deeper to 4' to 8' in the afternoon/evening. We found several schools of bluegill around shallow brush such as old Christmas trees. The early morning bluegill were aggressive and hit a Red Rooster Dagger. We paired the Dagger with a 1/32nd jig head and swam it slowly around the brush and they came up and whacked it. 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 in the morning and then changing the bobber depth as it gets later in the day to pick up some deeper bluegill.
Shellcracker (Redear sunfish): We haven't fished for shellcracker too much this summer but we tried a few times this past week as the water is cooling down and caught a couple of nice ones fishing around docks and slowly dragging worms along the bottom around stumps and shallow brush. Now that the water is cooling down and the lake level is dropping we will start looking around at shallow brush to try our luck. The rig we use 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. We are primarily using either a red wiggler or nightcrawler.
Lord willing we will have a better report for you in the coming weeks! We are ready for fall weather and cooler water temps!
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. Lord willing we will have another report for you next week. Be sure to check out the archives for September 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: From the rising of the sun to its going down, The Lord’s name is to be praised. ~ Psalms 113:3.
Crappieman and his buddy tried their hand at trolling and managed to hit a few Allatoona crappie in the head!
A nice early morning Allatoona Crappie caught on the Red Rooster Small Fry in the Fried Pickle color.
Another nice Allatoona Crappie caught on the Red Rooster Small Fry in the Fried Pickle color.
The Small Fry in the Bluegrass color had some luck as well!
