A well-placed Texas-rigged finesse worm is generally all you need to pick a few of those bass out of the brush. The bite can be subtle, however, so use light line and tackle in the clear water, and pay close attention to any unusual line movement as you jiggle the bait in the brush. When you do connect, you'll find these fish to be aggressive fighters that are a lot of fun to catch.

During the late-spring and summer months you may see schools of spots working baitfish on the surface. When you find a school churning the water, cast a surface lure like a Pop-R, Spook or Sammy into the fray, and you're almost guaranteed to hook up immediately.

NOTTELY LAKE
This 4,000-acre Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir near Blairsville is a classic example of a North Georgia mountain impoundment: deep, cold and clear. It offers some great action and beautiful scenery in a pristine mountain setting. The black-bass population of Nottely consists primarily of spotted bass. The largemouth population has been on the decline in recent years owing to the relatively low survival rate of young largemouths, according to the Wildlife Resources Division. Biologists assigned to the lake believe this fry mortality to be caused in part by the introduction of blueback herring. The prolific bluebacks were illegally dumped into the lake in the 1990s and have adapted to the environment altogether too well, competing with newly spawned largemouths for food, and showing no aversion to eating the small bass as well.

As a result, the WRD has embarked on a largemouth stocking program for Nottely and they are beginning to see results of their efforts. The plan includes stocking largemouth fingerlings too big to be preyed on by the herring, creating more shoreline cover, and introducing more hybrid and striped bass to feed on the bluebacks.

The best locations on the lake for largemouths are in Ivy Log Creek, Young Cane Creek and other feeder creek arms of the middle to upper lake.

LAKE WALTER F. GEORGE
When it comes to famous bass reservoirs it'd be hard to be better known than this 45,000-acre impoundment of the Chattahoochee River near Columbus. Often called "Lake Eufaula" after the nearby Alabama town of the same name, the lake has been in the headlines of tournament bass fishing for about as long as the sport has been around. From the beginning, huge strings of giant largemouths were the hallmark of this great body of water. In the early days of Tom Mann and his counterparts, it wasn't uncommon to see tournament creels averaging 5 pounds per fish or more.

As at most bodies of water, there have been peaks and valleys in the angling here. But today this reservoir still provides a great largemouth fishery. Even though the overall bass population has declined somewhat in recent years the WRD still describes the lake as having better than average largemouth fishing. Fish in the 14- to 18-inch range should be plentiful, with significant numbers of bass above 5 pounds in the mix. The lake's 14-inch minimum-size limit for harvest has tended to increase the overall size of bass in the lake.