Derrick Morris - Fishing

Three of the better fish caught today. Caugbt 12 total, and nothing before 7:45am. Chrome Skimmers were the bait of choice. My Chrome Skimmer on the bottom has been my go to for the last two years. There's no telling how many fish that skimmer has caught. At least 100 since spring 2024. The Skimmer Grande was key once the boat traffic got bad. It was just long enough to handle the rough water. All fish were caught on the main lake in 25-35 feet of water out over brush, or open water in 60+ feet roaming. Definitely a live scope game.

Man it's been a long break from fishing Georgia Bass Trail tournaments! Fished stop #1 at Oconee back in November. Was supposed to fish Lanier in January, but Mother Nature had other plans. We had to reschedule that tournament for later in the year. Either way, we are headed to Clark's Hill for our 3rd stop! Clark's Hill has been pretty good to use the last 4 years. With this warm weather, I am looking forward to getting on the water this week!

We are 8 weeks away from the start of the 2025 GBT season! Looking forward to getting on Lake Oconee in November. The past few years Oconee has been a thorn in our side, but hopefully we can turn that around. If anyone is looking for a fun competitive team trail that's ran with a family atmosphere, check out GBT! To fish the GBT, you must register for all tournaments in a division.

Fished a little club tourney today on Lake Lanier. It’s been just over a month since I last fished Lanier. Dropped 5 for 13.55lb on the scales for a 3rd place. Put a little spending cash in the pocket. I honestly wasn’t prepared for the conditions today. I was expecting partly cloudy skies, winds light and varible, and temps around 79°. We got cloudy skies, winds 20-25 mph, and temps around 77°. Just could not get the top water bite going. Caught fish on Southen Hook Lures Bite Size Herring, and Zoom trick worm on a shaky head. Numbers were there, but quality was lacking for me today. Caught this 4.27lb spot, and another 3lb spot. The rest were 2lb spots.

To say Hartwell sucked today would be an understatement, but to be fair, I think it’s in the post spawn funk right now. Caught 13 bass (2 of which were LM), and 5 hybrids. Top water produced the largest spot, but most were caught on a spot choker scoping suspended fish. I had a number of big spots come from 20’ of water to look at the OG, and a couple different swimbaits, but would never commit. Fished from 20’ to 1’. Water temps were 73 at the ramp, and even seen temps in the mid 70’s up the Seneca. Plan is to practice again Monday, and Friday next week. Unfortunately this was my best two bass, and decide to snap a pic of one of the hybrids

Hit Lanier this morning around 7:45a. Bite was again slow for me at first. Quickly caught one 2lb on a spinnerbait on my first stop. My 2nd stop produced three more 2lb cookie cutters off of the Spot Choker with a Jr Fluke. Decided to run up to Little Hall, and found some spots chasing herring. Picked up 4 on the OG. Around 1:30 decided to run back down to Shady Grove area, and check out some stuff. Quickly found a blow through that was stacked with fish, and herring. Caught 9 more spots on the OG. Snapped a few picks of the better fish. Oh BTW fishing was cut short when the OG caught me! 😂🤣🤣

Fished Lanier today for the first time since January 27th & 28th. Dropped in at Balus Creek, and fished between Little Hall, and Vans Tavern. Wind gave my LithiumHub Ionic Batteries a good workout. Morning bite was slow for me. At noon I only had 3 in the boat, but the bite picked up at lunch. Boated 10 between 12:30 and 1:30. A few good fish. Had one that broke 4lb, and best 5 was 15.21lb. Spinnerbait, Spot Choker with a LipSticker Fishing Baby Fluke and Lanier Baits FZNH2O Jerk Shad weightless. I will be back in the morning to check out the south end.

Finished up the Georgia Bass Trial tournament on Lake Sinclair down in Milledgeville, Georgia Saturday. We didn’t get the “W”, but brought enough weight to the scales for an 8th place finish. It stings a little when all that separates you from a top 5 is .25lbs (4oz). We had a couple key bites late in the day that could have upgraded our bag a couple pounds, but didn’t execute. We caught 95% of our fish slow rolling a 1/2oz white spinnerbait off of one main lake point that was sand with scattered rock. I found this point Wednesday morning, and quickly put 3 nice keepers in the boat, and broke off a 6+. I left the place alone, and started looking for other points that matched what I had found. Saturday morning our plan was to run some grass that had been holding a pretty good Shad spawn, but due to the cooler temps, they were not playing for us. After 10min I pulled the plug, and decided to go ahead, and hit our point. By 7:30a we had a limit in the boat with the largest kicker that I am holding. By 8:30 we had moved to another point that had produced a few good fish in the week, and I picked up the other nice fish that I am holding. By 10:30 the bite pretty much died. I tried to force the spinnerbait bite till lunch, then decided to start running docks at the mouth of pockets with a black/blue jig. Got a few good bites on the jig, but didn’t execute well breaking two good fish off. I would like to give a big shout out to LithiumHub Ionic Batteries for the best lithium battery in the industry! We practiced all day Thursday, and Friday in 35-40mph winds, and still had over 80% battery life left in my trolling motor batteries each day! Next stop is Lake Hartwell where we have historically done well the past 3 years. Should be a top water bite for us. I will be in my element chasing spots off shore over blow throughs, long running points, and humps.

Decent day today in all that wind. Caught this 4lb LM at our first stop. Speaking of the wind…… It was almost not fishable out there today. I will be back out there first thing in the morning for my last day of practice. Weather is changing every day, but water temp seems to be fairly stable