Above the Dam last night

[DHaun]

Went out last night for an hour above the Dam just scouting - it was dead just above the Dam until I went upriver about a mile to the first green marker on the bank next to a deep water rock point at the entrance of a cove with some nice homes in it. The entire area was covered in several acres of bait - saw a few big splashes as I pulled in and then jigged a spoon for a bit only to get a drum and a few yellow bass. This might be a promising area for anyone out on the lower end this week.

 

[flip1up]

Thanks David, I think next time I go it will be here at home. I like fishing around that area.

 

[fishinvol]

That whole area is good! That's my old catfish hole. When the current is running good, it can be outstanding right there!!! There is a sand bar straight out from there that is great for some bass too.

 

[polo-dog]

David, that's great info. I think that much of the bait is on the mainl lake or at the mouths of the creeks because the water in the creeks is too cold for them to survive. Here's an interesting site: http://www.insideline.net/1997/gustaveson-1112-97.html

How in the world did you find all of those fish? You don't even own a side scanneremoAngel .

 

[Nickajack Angler]

An eye opening article. Thanks polo...

 

[Kingfish]

Great article polo. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[WLG]

Thanks Polo..Very informative...although I dont usually fish for bass..I would imagine other predators will be there under the bait balls as well . I have done well jigging a spoon even back in the summer.....may be time to break it out again!!!

 

[polo-dog]

I think that you are right WLG, everybody is interested in getting a free meal, I'm included. There would be lots of predators there I would expect. I read in another post that DHaun is mounting a side scanner on his rig, gosh, you guys are so lucky to have those "toys". We all know about boys with their toys don't we? Maybe I'll splurge one of these days once you guys have all the bugs out of 'em.

 

[team-d]

That is good info, I was wondering earlier this week how the shad survive up on Melton Hill when the steam plant shuts down. Last Saturday water temps at the discharge were 63 and around 60 a mile downstream - Saturday night they shut down and the next morning temps at the discharge were mid 40s and a mile downstream around 50. There are billions of threadfin in the area, I thew my castnet for the first time last Saturday to see if I could catch any gizzards - I'm terrible at throwing that thing and even when it didn't open up very well I was bringing in a bunch of little threadfin - on the rare occasion that it would open up somewhat it would have hundred of the little suckers in it. Will be interesting to see how many are still around once they get fired back up again...

 

[polo-dog]

team-d, those threadfins will catch you some fish. I have even used them after they have been frozen for a season and they still worked well.

 

[john faulkner]

Polo: that was a real interesting article on Threadfin Shad ,never understood some of the movements and dying process as that discussed.GOOD ARTICLE,THANKS!
John! emoGeezer

 

[polo-dog]

The more I know about the bait and predator species that are in the lake the better I seem to do with my catching on the lake. Understanding that most of the fish in the lake use threadfins as their number one food source makes me want to understand as much as I can about why they do what they do and what affects them. That's one reason why knowing where the springs that really produce in the lake are because the water there is about 54 degrees year round coming from them and that's great for in the summer and it keeps the baitfish alive in the winter. Sometimes when the water temp drops really fast the bait just packs into the spring areas and whole water column is packed from top to bottom.