Lake Lanier Striper Fishing Report – October 26, 2026

By Captain Matthew Haynes | Lake Lanier Striper Snipers

Today, my buddy Bill Grissom and I headed out for a scouting trip on Lake Lanier. Our goal was to see how far the stripers had moved up the lake and check out some different areas.

We put in around Wahoo and Little River and started looking around the bay. We saw some fish there, but they looked small, so we decided to keep moving and see what else we could find.

After going under the bridge, we checked the river channel and a nearby hump. There were quite a few fish in that area, and I feel confident we could have put some baits out and caught a few. But this was a scouting trip, and we wanted to keep looking for a bigger group of fish and hopefully some better-sized stripers.

Finding Fish Up the Lake

As we continued up the lake, we marked fish around Holly Park. Eventually, we decided to put out some planer boards around Gainesville Marina and pull toward River Forks.

About halfway there, we hooked a nice striper that weighed 14 pounds, 13 ounces. That fish ate a shiner rigged with two split shots and set 50 feet behind the planer board. We also caught a spotted bass while pulling through the area.

We picked up and continued scouting around River Forks, where we found more fish. From there, we checked Duckett Mill and Little Hall, finding fish in those areas as well. We caught stripers around both Duckett Mill and Little Hall.

What the Stripers Were Eating

We caught fish on several different baits during the trip:

Blueback herring
Gizzard shad
Shiners

It seemed like just about anything we put out had a chance of getting bit as long as we were around fish. The shiner produced our biggest fish of the day, but the other baits worked too.

Keep Moving Until You Find the Right Fish

We were expecting the fishing to be a little tougher with the full moon. Some groups of fish seemed reluctant to bite, so the important thing was to keep searching until we found the right group.

What stood out to me most was how spread out the fish were. In just a few hours, we marked fish in several areas up the lake, and I’ve also been catching them farther south. Based on what I’ve seen, the stripers are scattered all over Lake Lanier right now.

If you’re marking fish that won’t bite, don’t be afraid to keep moving and check another area. Once you find the right group, have your baits ready!

I enjoyed getting out and doing some scouting with you, Bill. Lake Lanier Striper Snipers is at it again!