We’re fast approaching the end of August and typically it can be a challenge here on Lanier when chasing spotted bass. It’s been a long hot summer and we’re nearing the home stretch. This summer specifically, has been one of those summers that we’ve gotten very little rain (to date) and the corps has been moving very little water. Of course, that could all change with one of those late summer tropical systems that come bubbling up from the south and drenching us with that sticky humid rain. So far, knock on wood, that hasn’t been the case and hopefully it won’t be anytime soon.

This week I picked up where I left off last Friday. The spybait, spoon and topwater was the deal. I was kind of excited about this week getting because of the cooler temps and the prospects of a better topwater bite. On Monday I started out with the topwater and spybait option with just a little flutter spoon thrown in. I was seeing more surface activity than usual and the more I saw on the surface the more I wanted to throw topwater. I cruised out to the main lake very early, found a nice breeze, a moderate chop as well as this late summer sunrise pictured above.

Late last week the bass started showing some interest in the topwater so I picked it up and started throwing it around the surfacing fish on Monday. If I wasn’t getting any interest with the topwater I was throwing the little spybait to get my bites. The picture below was one of my first bigger fish Monday on the spybait after catching a couple of smaller schooling fish on my topwater bait. Turns out, it was one of my biggest this week on the little spybait.

After that fish I focused more on the topwater and working it over brush for my bites. Don’t get me wrong, the spybait was getting me bites but the topwater was getting me more acrobatic bites. The spybait is more or less a finesse bait and it takes some time to cast and retrieve. You need patience to use the spybait with success and it’s a slow process, but the process is well worth it when that rod loads up on that big fish and you successfully get it to the boat. Here’s a video I made a few weeks back that covers the basics of spybaiting and a nice fish I caught on the spybait at the end of the video. The spybait tactic is one that I would use for the next few weeks and maybe into late September.

Another bait that I used this week and in the past few weeks with success and a bait you can’t rule out for the next few weeks and that’s the Spoons. I really like the Georgia Blade 5-inch flutter spoon and it’s about the only spoon I use anymore. I like the chrome or white pearl and they are a lot of fun to throw out on points and humps on the main lake. Here’s a video I made of the Georgia Blade 5-inch spoon in action a few weeks back. The spoon accounted for a few nicer fish this week and I’ll have the spoon on deck until late fall.

The next bait I had on my deck this week was a very fun topwater bait and the topwater bait in my latest YouTube video. The Berkley 105 chrome Choppo is the bait I used this week that accounted for all the fish in the pictures below plus a few more. It was a fun week although short due to boat issues, but I needed to turn the boat in for some scheduled maintenance anyway. Be sure and check my YouTube page for the baits I’ve been using and the baits I recommend having on the deck for the upcoming week or two. Scroll down for a link to my latest video. Water temps are in the lower 80’s and the lake is dropping to 2 feet below full pool. The corps is generating a few hours in the evenings.