Because of it proximity to Atlanta it’s one of the most popular lake in the country with millions of visitors every year.

The lake is surrounded by 8 marinas to dock your boat, over 30 parks for a picnic and 9 campgrounds for your tent or RV.

The largest park, right in the center of the lake, is Red Top Mountain which is far-and-away the lake’s most popular destination.

Trolling has Fair this week. Pull your Mack Farr u-rigs 120 feet behind the boat at 2.75 miles and hour…….

Guys now that Carters Lake is open. We are now booking trip to Carters for the Months of March and April. Even thou I guide Allatoona 95% of the time. I know Carters Lake as well as anyone. My clients have held two lake records there in the past two years. Give me a call and lets make it Three…

Please check out my fishing forum.www.lakeallatoonafishing.net This site is a family friendly site devoted to striper fishing on Lake Allatoona and Carters Lake.

Fish Species: stripers

 
• Capt. Robert Eidson

 

• March 2, 2008 

 

• Lake Allatoona – Freshwater Fishing Report
    

 
This Lake Allatoona fishing guides report for striper and hybrid has been brought to you exclusively by Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service

 
• 770 827-6282

 

• www.firstbiteguideservice.com
    

 

• email: eidson6260@comcast.net

 
Line side fishing is Good. The line-side bite is still going strong on Lake Allatoona. We held our first www.lakeallatoonafishing.net Hybrid tournament on Allatoona this past weekend. I think we had well over 90% of our boats weight fish in. The southend bite has really slowed down this week. But the mid-lake bite is still as strong as ever. The fish have really move deep this week. Do to the cold front we had on Tues. We are catching most of our fish deep. When I say deep I mean really deep. Look for these fish over a 65-80 bottom at 45-55 feet deep in the river channel. Shiners, Trout and Shad are all working great right now.
 
 
Trolling has really slowed down this week. The lake is cover with trash right now and has a stain to it. Look for the trolling bite to pick up by the first of the week. As the lake starts to clear up.
 
 
I would like to CONGRATULATE all the winner of our first tournament. Wtg, Guys this was a great tournament.
 
 
1ST ANNUAL LAKEALLATOONAFISHING.NET HYBRID FEST
 
SATURDAY 23, 2008
 
1st Place Team First Bite
 
2nd Place Team Campinrob
 
3rd Place Team Reel Fun
 
4th Place $25.00 Team Hybitual Violators
 
Biggest Fish Team First Bite
 
15yo or younger biggest fish. Team First Bite “Rainbowlover”
 
 
SPECIAL NOTE. Just because the lake levels are falling don’t think you can’t load the boat with fish. The best fishing every year is when the lake is at it lowest. Remember with less water this also means less boats and less fishing pressure. I look for the lake record striper to be caught this year. And I truly believe it will be caught by one of my clients. First Bite Guide Service has its boats wet slip on Allatoona. Even if all the ramps close. We will be open all winter. Please call and book your trip today. STRIPER TALK. If you like to fish for stripers on Allatoona I got the website for you. www.lakeallatoonafishing.net we are a family friendly site. Please come join us membership is FREE…. 

This good news comes because Lake Allatoona is many times smaller than Lake Lanier when it’s full, but its drainage area into it is just a little bit larger than Lake Lanier.

“So, all things considered if Allatoona’s drainage basin and Lanier’s drainage basin got the same amount of rainfall people would notice Allatoona’s level coming up a lot quicker than Lanier’s,” said Mark Williams with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

It is still difficult to tell whether the lake will be ready when the heavy demand of the summer season begins is really hard to say right now. However, more rainstorms that bring one or two inches of rain will start to refill Allatoona quickly.

 
• 770 827-6282

 

• www.firstbiteguideservice.com
    

 

• Email: eidson6260@comcast.net

 
Line side fishing is Very Good. Guys nothing has change since last week. ..   Guys this has been a very strange winter. Two  weeks ago we where showing signs of a shad kill. And fishing was very hard. But as of last week it has been a different story. The warm weather we had this week warm the lake up a little along with the Stripers and Hybrid. The bite this week has even been better then last weeks. We have not seen numbers like this since early Nov.. The Hybrid are schooling and the schools are big. Some of these schools have 100′s of fish in them. And the best part about these schools they are feeding. The morning bite is very good right now. And the afternoon bite isn’t bad either. These fish are scatter threw out the water column and the lake. I have seen these schools from Allatoona creeks and as far north as Kellogg’s creek. They are busting the top early morning. And are eating shiners, trout and shad fish ed on flat lines and planner boards . As the sun comes up these fish will go deep. I have caught fish this week as deep as 55 feet down lining trout. The u-rig bite is also very strong right now. A 4 arm Mack Farr u-rig loaded with 9 jigs fished 140 feet out at 2.5 miles and hour has been working best for me..
 
 
SPECIAL NOTE. Just because the lake levels are falling don’t think you can’t load the boat with fish. The best fishing every year is when the lake is at it lowest. Remember with less water this also means less boats and less fishing pressure. I look for the lake record striper to be caught this year. And I truly believe it will be caught by one of my clients. First Bite Guide Service has its boats wet slip on Allatoona. Even if all the ramps close. We will be open all winter. Please call and book your trip today. STRIPER TALK. If you like to fish for stripers on Allatoona I got the website for you. www.lakeallatoonafishing.net we are a family friendly site. Please come join us membership is FREE…. 

This Lake Allatoona fishing guides report for striper and hybrid has been brought to you exclusively by Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service, 770 827-6282. www.firstbiteguideservice.com Lake Allatoona, Georgia email: eidson6260@comcast.net.

Line side fishing is Fair. Guys fishing this week is the same as last week change nothing…. Well the winter pattern is really starting to heat up. This past week my clients caught fish on many different techniques. Early in morning we did very well using Trout on planner board, free lines and even down lines where getting a bite or two right at sun up. By 930am the live bait bite really slows down. This is when you want to swap over to your U-Rigs. The U-rig bite is the strongest bite going right now. I have been doing very well pulling my rigs between 930am -1pm mid lake. The key to catching these fish is your speed. 2.5 miles and hour has been the best for me.

SPECIAL NOTE. Just because the lake levels are falling don’t think you can’t load the boat with fish. The best fishing every year is when the lake is at it lowest. Remember with less water this also means less boats and less fishing pressure. I look for the lake record striper to be caught this year. And I truly believe it will be caught by one of my clients. First Bite Guide Service has its boats wet slip on Allatoona. Even if all the ramps close. We will be open all winter. Please call and book your trip today. STRIPER TALK. If you like to fish for stripers on Allatoona I got the website for you. www.lakeallatoonafishing.net we are a family friendly site. Please come join us membership is FREE….

Local Water Users Concerned 

“What we worry about right now is supplying water to the region, but also (the question of) is this lake going to be able to fill up next year,” said Christopher Purvis, a park ranger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
 
 
The Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority has a couple of worst-case contingency plans if the water level at Lake Allatoona continues to drop, General Manager Glenn Page said.
 
 
The utility pumps about 45 percent of its water from Allatoona and the rest from the Chattahoochee River to provide drinking water to about 800,000 people in Cobb and Paulding counties and portions of Cherokee, Fulton and Douglas counties.
 
 
Mr. Page said temporary water pumps could be run to a deeper part of the lake about a mile away from where the utility’s water intake tower is now.
 

Lake Waters More Stable in Recent Months
 

The lake’s water levels have stabilized somewhat since the Army Corps at the beginning of December reduced water releases from the reservoir by almost 50 percent, Mr. Page said. The recent rainfall also has helped, he said.
 
 
Mr. Page said the water provider also has its eye on the possibility of using its fourth and lowest intake gate at Allatoona if the drought persists.
 
 
The gate never has been used since the water intake tower was built in the mid-1960s, so decades of sediment must be cleaned off first to make sure it is functional, Mr. Page said.

Lake Allatoona in 2008
 

He said he is concerned about weather projections that call for a greater chance of below-normal rainfall through March.
 
 
“Based on those predictions of rainfall, we would anticipate Lake Allatoona to continue to drop,” Mr. Page said.
 

Business Reactions to the Water Levels
 

Pam Alford, store manager for MarineMax boat dealership in Cartersville, Ga., said the onslaught of media coverage about the drought has created some misconceptions about Lake Allatoona water levels.
 
 
People not familiar with the lake are stunned to see the exposed banks, but she said locals know to expect the barren scenery when the Army Corps drops the lake 17 feet in the winter.
 
 
“Our customers are used to it, and we’re not shocked about it,” Ms. Alford said. “It’s pretty much business as usual, but for someone new who hasn’t seen the lake, with the publicity, they’re probably scared off.”
 
 
Business is still “pretty solid,” and boating sales representatives still can take customers out on the water for test drives, she said.
 
 
The drought, however, affected the dealership’s annual Christmas party, Ms. Alford said.
 
 
Instead of a boat parade on the water, she said, MarineMax had a rain dance theme party on dry land.
 
 
Joe Holvey, a sales consultant at the dealership, said he hopes the attention the drought has cast on Lake Allatoona will encourage the Corps not to lower the lake a full 17 feet in winter for flood control.
 
 
Lowering the lake 10 feet instead would suffice, he said.
 
 
“If they kept the full pool at 840 and drew it down to 830 in the winter, that gives them plenty for flood control and keeps us from running out of drinking water, because that’s the scary part right now,” Mr. Holvey said.
 
 
Mr. Purvis said the Flood Control Act of 1944 requires the Corps to lower Lake Allatoona 17 feet each winter. Changing that would require action by Congress, he said.
 

Boat Ramps Still Open
 

Mr. Purvis said of the lake’s five boat ramps that are in use all year, three remain open. Low water levels have closed the others, he said.
 
 
He said some local fishermen have expressed interest in donating materials for the Corps to extend some of the boat ramps so they will be able to use them earlier when the water rises.
 
 

Line side fishing is Very Good right now. Guys nothing has change since last week.  The bait is still out over the river channel and so are the fish. Down lines are working best right now. And the fish are deep. The best bite is between 24-40 feet deep. Gizzard shad and threadfins are working best. Mid lake seems to be holding most of the bait and fish right now. But in the next couple of weeks we should start seeing more bait on the south end of the lake and with the bait comes the fish. This has been one of the slowest fall’s we can remember for stripers in years. We hope we are just a few days away from some good striper fishing on Allatoona. And on the flip side of this. The Hybrid bite has been off the charts this fall…

If you really enjoy talking striper fishing. And if you fish Lake Allatoona then you need to visit my fishing forum. Www.lakeallatoonafishing.net. This site is about striper fishing o n Lake Allatoona. There are a lot of great guys on this site. Please come join us.

The next party boat trip will be on NOV 24. The cost of these trips is $100 per person. We only take out 4 people at a time so book your spot fast. These trip fill up fast. These trips are from 7am – 11am these are 4 hour trips. These trips are a BLAST. Meet new friends and catch fish. I don’t think I could thing of a better way to spend my Sat…( Can You ) SPECIAL NOTE. Just because the lake levels are falling don’t think you can’t load the boat with fish. The best fishing every year is when the lake is at it lowest. Remember with less water this also means less boats and less fishing pressure. I look for the lake record striper to be caught this year. And I truly believe it will be caught by one of my clients.

FIRST BITE GUIDE SERVICE WILL BE OPEN YEAR ROUND THIS YEAR JUST LIKES YEARS PAST. I have a slip on the lake that is in deep water. November is one of the 2 best months for striper fishing for numbers and April being the other. FISHING IS GREAT RIGHT NOW. Call today to book your Nov. and Dec. trips

So far this November, guide Robert Eidson has just 11 fishing trips scheduled. This time last year he worked 29 days in November.
 
 
 

“Last December, I fished every day but Christmas Day and Dec. 29,” says Eidson, who fished 320 days in 2006. “This year, I’m booked for just two days (in December).”

The Corps of Engineers agrees:
 
 
“We normally reach this level every year, but we reach it in January,” says Chris Purvis, spokesman for the corps.

Allatoona Fishing is Best in November
 

Even at winter pool says guide Fred Duncan says, “there is plenty of deep open water out there.”
 
 
April and November are typically the best months to fish for the striped bass and hybrid bass for which Allatoona is known, says Duncan.
 
 
And the lower lake level makes the fishing even easier, guides say.
 
 
“When the haystack is smaller,” says Eidson, “it makes finding the needle in that haystack a lot easier.”
 
 
It didn’t take Eidson long to find fish shortly before sunrise Thursday. About 10 minutes after leaving the Galt’s Ferry boat ramp, 8-year-old Wesley Burnley of Douglasville reeled in a 4 1/2 pound striped bass. Brother Tyler, 6, soon landed a catfish. And it wasn’t long before Wesley caught another striped bass.
 
 
If only Eidson could pull in customers as quickly.
 
 
Both guides say nowadays when they’re not in the boat, they’re on the telephone, calling past clients and telling them to come on in, the water is fine.

What Do You Think?

Is the media making the Lake Allatoona problem worse than it is? Is this really a crisis for the area and local businesses?
 

This Lake Allatoona striper and hybrid fishing report fishing report has been brought to you exclusively by Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service, 770-827-6282. eidson6260@comcast.net. www.firstbiteguideservice.com.

Line side fishing is Great. GUYS CHANGE NOTHING FISHING IS STILL THE SAME AS LAST WEEK. There are a lot of fish moving up on the flats now. Flat lines and planner boards along with down lines will catch these fish. Also mid lake is really starting to heat up. I have caught alot of fish this week north of Stamp creek. But there is still alot of fish south of the dam. And these fish are still deep 30 to 50 feet deep and live bait is really starting to work well. I still think the spoon bite is a good bite. But not as good as the live bait bite.. .

Troll these areas with the Mack Farr umbrella rigs. As soon as you find one of these mega schools, drop live bait down to them or use a 1 oz spoon on them. The top water bite is really starting to get good. Look for these fish on top early morning and late afternoon. It’s hard to beat a Sammy when these fish are schooling on top.

If you really enjoy talking striper fishing. And if you fish Lake Allatoona then you need to visit my fishing forum. Www.lakeallatoonafishing.net. This site is about striper fishing o n Lake Allatoona. There are a lot of great guys on this site. Please come join us.

The next party boat trip will be on NOV 24. The cost of these trips is $100 per person. We only take out 4 people at a time so book your spot fast. These trip fill up fast. These trips are from 7am – 11am these are 4 hour trips. These trips are a BLAST. Meet new friends and catch fish. I don’t think I could thing of a better way to spend my Sat…( Can You ) SPECIAL NOTE. Just because the lake levels are falling don’t think you can’t load the boat with fish. The best fishing every year is when the lake is at it lowest. Remember with less water this also means less boats and less fishing pressure. I look for the lake record striper to be caught this year. And I truly believe it will be caught by one of my clients.

FIRST BITE GUIDE SERVICE WILL BE OPEN YEAR ROUND THIS YEAR JUST LIKES YEARS PAST. I have a slip on the lake that is in deep water. November is one of the 2 best months for striper fishing for numbers and April being the other. FISHING IS GREAT RIGHT NOW. Call today to book your Nov. and Dec. trips.