ANY LUCK

[Dogdays]

Has anyone had any luck latley. The last time I went out I zeroed and the few times before that I didnt do very good. Im just wondering if it is just me or is it just real slow now.

 

[ranman]

Its been a little slow lately but people are still catching fish.weights in my monday
tournaments have gone from the teens to less than ten this week.I think the bigger fish are on to us!emoSmile

 

[polo-dog]

If the bigger fish have been harder to find, in my mind I would think that they have just moved away from the honey holes that people have been milking all this summer. Where do you think they've gone? Maybe they have just gotten conditioned but if they have moved I would expect that they are just a bit deeper. The water temps seem to be up at least here in Wolftever and I don't feel the cool water upwellings that I felt a couple of weeks ago. What that has meant in the past is that the thermocline is deeper. If it were me I would target cover on structure or at least just structure that was 3 to 5 feet deeper than you have been targeting. Had you been catching them shallow? Offshore in 5 to 15? Or deeper than that? What depth do you find the thermocline? Can you mark it? If it were me I'd try outside bends of channels in 10 to 20 feet of water where the maps show stump beds or you know there is cover. The bends would hold more fish if they were off shore and harder for others to find and target. Less pressure, easier and bigger fish in my experience.

 

[ranman]

I heard a report yesterday that the fish were so shallow that the guys were spooking them with there boat while flipping so they backed off and started throwing a buzzbait and spinnerbait and cleaned up.Hiwassee is a shallow water fishery for the most part until you get downriver towards the TN. The thermocline
is still very shallow here around 4-6 feet and the water is cooler(some spots up river are still in the 70's) I think the bigger fish can tell the sound of MY boat from
the others that I fish against and stop biting when they here me coming!Or I just suck lately I'm not sure which.

 

[polo-dog]

Do you know what the surface temp is where you tend to fish? I know that in Wolftever the surface temp has been in the upper 80's to low 90's during the day. I know that the Hiwassee starts out really cool, 50's but I would expect the surface temp near the TN river to be nearly that. Can you see the thermocline on your depth finder? If the surface temp is in the 80's I would doubt that the 'cline is deeper than 4-6 ft in the river, maybe it is but that would be strange. If it were that deep if you got into the water, you could feel the really cold water would be easily reachable with your feet. It hasn't been that shallow in Wolftever since May. I know 'cause I swim in the lake sometimes 3-6 times per week. You can learn a bunch by being in the water, feel the current, check the thermocline, feel the upwellings, it's interesting. The fish being shallow may be secondary to the upwellings near creek bends. In the most recent Bassmaster mag. I believe that it was Fritts or one of the other crankbait specialists that said that they think that people fish too deep in the summer and he targets areas that are in the 7-12 foot range(from what I remember). Unless there is grass to keep the dissolved oxygen level up in the area that hot water just won't have enough oxygen for the fish to be there.

 

[jason]

If you're looking for quality largemouth, we have done well fishing laydowns that have branches in the 4-6ft range and a steep drop in depth nearby. With a texas rigged Zoom Brushhog weighted with a 1/4oz bullet, you can get reaction bites from hefty bass that have passed up the myriad of spinnerbaits that have passed over their head. For the last two months, I have caught three or four largemouth on every outing in excess of 3lbs with this method. If you are looking for sheer numbers of bass, find the shad in windblown coves and clean up on spots during their intermittent feeding frenzies.

 

[jason]

My wife thinks that in the above post I am bragging...if I came off that way, I apologize. I am having an unusually good summer on the river and thought I would offer some tips that are paying off for me.

 

[DHaun]

Thanks for the info jason! I would say you were being quite generous sharing a successful pattern with the rest of us. That's what this forum is all about and I bet someone will take note of that same summer method using it soon... On the flip side though - You been letting her catch some too haven't you??? I'm normally getting outfished by my sweetie so I brag anytime I can. emoToast

 

[Dogdays]

Ya thanks for the info Jason. I need all the advice I can get. What part of the lake do you usally fish. I am going to try the brushog next time I go out.

 

[ranman]

Jason,what color brushhog do you use?are you throwing the big ones or little ones?
I did get a few bites on the TN side of hiwasse island last night on the rip rap on the north end of the island.Do you fish those little islands down there?

 

[jason]

On the Hiwasse I use the junebug Brushhog and on the Tennessee I switch to green pumpkin. When I don't get bit, I swap over to a similar colored Yum lizard. I use the big one until fall at which time I switch to the Junior. If you can find them, Strike King's Wild Thang works just as well, if not better.

Ranman, if you head down the Hiwassee and turn left on the Tennessee you will quickly see a cornfield on the left with a dock on the bank...I've seen the TWRA put in there. There is a ton of submerged wood in deep water along that bank past the dock. You can also go straight onto the Tennessee, rather than left, and fish the back of the island where the Tennessee first splits around it. There is a curved indention in the gravelly bank and out from it the current flows over a deep weed bed and there is good wood along the bank. If you continue around the corner of the island and turn left on the Tennessee there is submerged wood about a 100yds downriver on the left. The last area we hit is the giant weedbed on the interior of Hiwassee Island.

 

[polo-dog]

Jason and ranman, it sounds like you guys know the Hiwassee very well. Do you know what the surface temp is right now? I was out in Wolftever and Harrison bay last night for about a half hour and the temps there were 88 to 89 degrees. In the creek there wasn't a well defined thermocline but out in the bay it was easily marked at around 15 ft. There was very little activity outside the creek channel in the bay and almost none in less than 20 ft of water. In the creek there were baitfish everywhere, on top, some up to 15 ft deep. The whole water column was full of shad top to bottom in a deep hole where a spring comes out from a bluff bank and a huge school of bait that hung over a huge brushpile that I've made over the years. If you didn't guess, I just hooked up my new depthfinder and checked it out last night. Amazing definition and the color is incredible even in bright sunlight. I fished only about ten minutes and didn't have my tackle box with me. Hopefully this new bottom machine will help me catch a lot more fish. I am curious what the temp is in the Hiwassee as if it is much cooler, that may be why the fish are shallower. It could be that the smaller fish are targeting this year's baitfish and that the larger fish are targeting the mature bait that tend to be deeper until fall.

 

[ranman]

It varies,At b&b where I normally put in it was low 80's like 82 or so
,further down mid 80's. If I am reading my graph right the thermocline is
at 2 1/2 feet on most of the Hiwassee. They have really been playing with the water alot this year so the level changes alot from day to day.From Monday night to
Wed afternoon it had dropped almost 2 feet.That really makes it hard to pattern the fish,but it has kept the river oxygenated and cool this year.There are a few Guys on Monday night that can look at the water (how fast or slow it's moving)and know just where to go to find feeding fish.If it's not moving at all they will run to the TN.and fish and not even bother with the Hiwassee.
My problem is that I believe a fish can always be caught regardless of the current.
Whether the river is moving or not the fish still have to eat.

 

[Guest]

Thanks ranman, I don't know what level the thermocline is but if it really is at 2 1/2feet that would be very strange. It would be easy to check if it were that shallow as all you would have to do is hop in the water for a second and if the water at your waist wasn't freezing cold, then the thermocline is much deeper. If you had a temp. probe you could check it too but who has one of those? The water down deep or at the 'cline would still be in the 60's or low 70's and that feels very cold to bare skin. Cool swimming pool water is in the low 80's. Water in the mid 70's gives you hypothermia very quickly, probably less than an hour or two if you aren't doing much "work" in the water. A plunge into the water some time when somebody gets overheated with this hot weather will tell me if the thermocline is that shallow. If anyone would check it out, it would settle this once and for all. It would be interesting to have the question answered, any takers?

 

[polo-dog]

emoScratch emoUpsmile
Oops, that was me on a different computer.

 

[ranman]

I would try it out today but I'm sick of fishing in the rain!