Posts by Don Baldwin
Lake Juliette Fall Bass… According To Murphy
From a planning point of view everything had been going just fine. The assignment seemed to be straightforward enough. Head down to Lake Juliette just north of Macon and do an article on fall bass fishing. I had always wanted to fish Juliette. This 3,600-acre reservoir has a good reputation for largemouth, with quite a…
Read MoreLake Nottely’s Mountain Magic Bass, Topwater Style
The smash of a healthy largemouth bass attacking a topwater bait is one of those things that avid anglers don’t soon forget. Nothing is more likely to get a serious bass fisherman’s adrenaline flowing than an explosive topwater strike from a big fish on a quiet summer morning. Bass are predators by nature, and they…
Read MoreRed Hot Summer Stripers On Lanier
It would be hard to find a prettier morning than the start of May 9 as Jerry Hester and I scooted over the surface of Lake Lanier in his center-console guide boat. The sun was low on the horizon, casting an orange glow over the water, and the surface of the lake was mirror-like, about…
Read MoreAggressive West Point Crappie
April is arguably the best month to catch a nice mess of slab crappie on Georgia lakes. West Point Lake, on the Chattahoochee River near LaGrange, is no exception. In April, the water temperatures are warming, reaching the range where crappie head to the shallows to spawn, and you can find crappie there in large…
Read MoreKim Carver Conquers The ‘What If’ Factor For March Bass
Tournament anglers have a special challenge. They have to fish according to a tournament schedule regardless of the conditions they encounter on the lake. If weekend anglers see a bluebird sky, or torrential rain, or extreme cold, they can choose to stay home and watch someone else catch fish on TV. Not so for the…
Read MoreStraight-Line For Allatoona Crappie
We were gliding along near the mouth of Kellogg Creek with eight long rods sticking out in all directions over the side of the boat. Four rods were in bow-mounted rod holders and four were in holders along the stern. This is not an uncommon site during March on Lake Allatoona north of Atlanta. Water…
Read MoreShallow Winter Bass At Lake Eufaula
As the big bass boat glided silently through the dead stems of the lily pads that poked sporadically through the surface of the water, we could see the thick beds of hydrilla covering the bottom of the shallow lagoon. The water was only a couple of feet deep, and once in a while we’d see…
Read MoreChattahoochee River Metropolitan Trout
The fly rod made a soft whoosh as it cut the crisp morning air. A graceful arc of line followed its path and unfurled to drop a fly softly on the surface of the fast-moving water. The fine mist, floating above the cool surface, was so thick that the strike indicator was barely visible as…
Read MoreWest Point’s Winter Bass Jigging Spoon Magic
It seems to me that the jigging spoon must be some sort of a miracle. How else could a flat piece of metal that looks as if it has been summarily beaten by a ball-peen hammer produce so many fish? But the fact is, miracle or not, these little flat pieces of metal can load…
Read MoreCheating Summer, Up The River For West Point Bass
Those of you who have been pursuing bass on Georgia lakes through the hot summer months know just how tough summertime bass fishing can be. Soaring air and water temperatures seem to combine to make the fish lethargic and action scarce. While higher-than-average rainfall amounts and lower-than-normal average temperatures have made this summer better than…
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