Autumn fishing on this Georgia Power impoundment
Fall 2024
Article and photos by Jimmy Jacobs
Back last spring, I headed down to Milledgeville for the annual Georgia Outdoor Writers Association Conference. Those events are moved around the state to allow the group’s members to experience all the varied outdoor recreation opportunities the Peach State has to offer.
In this instance, it was the coming together of several factors that made the trip a delight. It had been some years since I’d visited the city that was the sight of Georgia’s former state capital. It also put me very near the shores of a Georgia Power Company’s Lake Sinclair that offers outstanding fishing. Sinclair was created back in 1953 and covers 15,330 surface acres.
The last time GOWA had visited that area was way back in 1994, when we fished Lake Sinclair. I was looking forward to once again testing those waters.
Then GOWA President Dottie Head and her guide fishing Beaverdam Creek in front of the now closed Plant Branch during the 1994 Milledgeville conference.
The other factor was that Georgia Power and their parent Southern Company have been long-time sponsors of GOWA. That should come as no surprise. Besides providing electricity for most of the Peach State, Georgia Power owns 100,000 acres of Georgia property, a good bit of which is forest land on which they permit some level of public hunting access.
You can also add to that the 15 reservoirs across the Peach State that total just shy of 58,000 acres of water that the company controls and are open to fishing. Among those are both Oconee and Sinclair. Obviously, Georgia Power is a boon to Peach State outdoorsmen.
In the fall, Lake Sinclair is known mostly for its crappie and hybrid fishing. That is especially true in regard to the hybrid bass. During our conference back in the mid-1990s, I fished the lake, and again last spring. Between those times, I saw little difference in the angling, with one major exception.
Plant Branch was a coal-fired power station located on the Beaverdam Creek arm of the lake. Its warmwater discharges into the lake had a siren-call effect on bait and game fish, drawing them to the area in the fall and winter. After the plant was retired in 2015, that pattern ended.
With regard to the angling, the lake is known for largemouth and hybrid bass, as well as crappie action. The fall provides a number of probable hotspots for all three of these fish. Here’s a look at some of those.
Largemouth Bass
According to the Georgia Wildlife Resource Division, reproduction of bass has been good over the last several years in Sinclair. As a result, the number quality-sized largemouths in the lake should be improved over the next couple of years.
Diving crankbaits are a good choice for fooling Sinclair bass in the fall.
Anytime water is being released through Wallace Dam from Lake Oconee into Sinclair, the resulting current generally turns on the bass bite. One pattern that is dependable is targeting the down current side of docks using crankbaits or stickbaits.
Another good option for finding largemouths in the lower end of the reservoir is just northwest of the Airport Islands. This deep area is the sight of an old quarry and is a good place deep-diving crankbaits, or dropping down jigging spoons.
Those diving crankbait also will work along the riprap at the bridges on U.S. 441. Those cross the Little River and Beaverdam Creek arms of the lake.
Hybrid Bass
Areas for finding hybrid bass are a bit more abundant. The region from the dam up the lake to the mouth of Island Creek is a place to look for bait fish schools being driven to the top by the hybrids. Circling and diving gulls usually accompany the action. Tossing small spoons, bucktails or twitch baits into the surface feeding frenzy is the ticket.
The same kind of action can be found on the lakes main channel farther upstream around the mouth of Nancy Branch, which enters reservoir from the westside. Similarly, the hybrids can be found in the upper end of Sinclair in Rooty Creek, from its mouth up to the where Cold Branch joins it from the north.
Crappie
If trolling jigs for crappie is your game, Sinclair has some good areas in the fall. On the west side of the lake in the lower end of the reservoir, the entire length of the Reedy Branch arm is worth a try. Also take a look at Beaverdam Creek from its mouth upstream to the U.S. 441 bridge.
Up the Oconee River arm of the lake, Goat Island is located on the east side of the channel. Trolling all around the island is another hotspot for fall papermouths. Similarly, trolling in the big cove to the east of the south end of Boy Scout Island – or Optimist Island as it is also known – on the Little River arm of the lake can produce some slabs as well.
If you prefer your crappie fishing to be stationary, look for the sunken fish attractor that lies directly southeast of the end of Boy Scout Island. As the weather cools in the fall, targeting crappie under any of the bridges with live bait can pay good dividends.
While You Are There
If you want to make the fall fishing trip a family getaway, nearby Milledgeville can provide all your needs. Campgrounds, hotels and restaurants are plentiful, covering a range of prices and amenities.
The Milledgeville Historic District is worth a drive through to see all the antebellum homes, while tours of the old Governor Mansion and State Capital building are available. You can also tour the home of famed Georgia author Flannery O’Connor at Andalusia Farm.
Jimmy Jacobs is the editor of Georgia Outdoor Adventures, as well as being editor/publisher of On The Fly South. He also is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association. He makes his home in Marietta with his English setters, Luke and Lulu. He can be contacted at jimmyjacobs@mindspring.com.