Tight_Lines - 6/19/2017 7:35 AM
I finally got to fish the North Chickamauga Creek on Sat. had a great time! I put in at the North Chickamauga Creek Greeenway back behind their gardens. the best place to put in if you are by yourself there. though the water if you can believe it was SUPER low!! at the last tier of the ramp the water was still another 4 or so feet down at which it is usually level. anyway was throwing crank baits in deeper pools and in 5 hours time only caught 5 small fish. (nothing over 8 or 10 inches) though i was excited to finally check this river/creek out.
Is there a better time of year to fish this river/creek? any good size fish in here? and what are some choice baits to use?
Good Fishing to all!!
Glad you had a great time. I actually live on the N chickamauga myself. Currently last I checked the creek is navigable up to a little past the earth fare parking lot put in. From past experience it is difficult navigating past the golf courses until the Hixson pike bridge due to many logs(as in to keep going you may have to dismount and remount the canoe). A few years ago I made it past the hixson pike bridge and behind the apartment complex i found big schools of big carp, just swimming around. Im talking 20-30 inches at least, and like 5 schools of 10.
In general there are not very many huge fish, however i have definately seen some monsters while paddling. I know there are some good sized catfish, carp, and perhaps some other fish. What is really cool, is in early september, to late october, we get TONS of MONSTER Largemouth bass, and striped bass that come up the creek. I have never had success catching them, but they sit there in schools, suspended. At least one striped bass I have seen was probably at least 30 pounds.
I am really a novice fisherman who can get frustrated easily, so I cannot help you much in terms of how to fish, but I have found success with worms, chicken liver, jigs and corn. Best time to fish is perhaps spawning season. Once i caught some really good sized bluegill, and i have caught a 20 inch or larger largemouth bass. The hardest thing about fishing in the creek is the abundance of woody material in the creek, that makes it really easy to lose lures and get snagged.
Species I know that have been found(some perhaps seasonal) in the creek are: Spotted bass, Largemouth bass, Bluegill, Warmouth, Rock bass(the brown and panfish type), Sunfish(an abundance), Channel catfish(also a large amount), spotted gar(small and semi rare), crayfish, water snake(so far only seen the harmless type so far, and also rare), trout(mainly near thrasher pike where they are stocked, but my neighbor has caught some on his property before, we are near the greenway), white crappie, black crappie(mostly smaller fellas), drum, striped bass, carp.
