Fish That are Biting at Lake Martin

With the news reports of this being the worst drought in our history and lake levels being so low, lots are folks are wondering if they should even bother coming to Lake Martin.  I’m here to report that Lake Martin is doing fine with lots of fish being caught daily on the lake.  There’s still plenty of water up here folks! 

I have received reports of dawn to noon fishing trips yielding catfish, bass, bream and small stripes.  They were catching these off rock piles or on bottom where it is rocky using night crawlers and even better results with red worms.  These anglers found some huge Shellcracker.  I’m thinking that bream (Shellcracker) aren’t usually on the bed this late. Surprise! This angler assured me that he has seen them on the bed as late as July in a slough across from Castaway.  

Night fishing trips are also yielding good catches.  Large strings of crappie are being caught on a regular basis upstream near Wind Creek State Park and Elkahatchee Creek.  Lake Martin has excellent crappie fishing with the state record white crappie being caught here in May of 2000 weighing in at 4 lbs. 9 oz.  Look for larger crappie around stumps and brush piles using live minnows.

There have been reports of anglers catching Bluegill this week.  Lake Martin is a great lake for catching Bluegill.  Our clear water makes it easy to locate fish that are bedding.  Bluegill spawning activity begins in May and can continue through September or October around the full moon each month.   Take your time and approach the bedding areas slowly for a great catch!  They like live crickets or you might try a small beetle-spin. 

I was sitting around talking to an old time Lake Martin fisherman this week and he began telling me the finer points of catching catfish with Ivory soap.  Now, I’ve been around fishing all my life, but that was a first for me.  I’ve always known that catfish will bite about anything and now I am convinced!  But don’t try this in our 81 degree water in Lake Martin right now.  You will just end up with a bunch of melted Ivory soap, lots of bubbles and no catfish!

You can contact me by email at dduck821@windstream.net with your latest best fishing story or any hints you would like to pass along.  Together we’ll fish Lake Martin bringing in those big catches and telling even bigger stories!

Member Comments…