Bass on Chickamauga 9/22

[polo-dog]

Fished near the main lake last night 6:30 to 9:30. If I had known JerDog and DHaun were at Sequoyah I would have gone there. Anyway, didn't catch many but did catch a couple of nice fish. I fished on a 6-9 ft deep flat (same that I spoke of 9/20) and there was tons of bait there. The baits came to the surface right at dusk and it was very quiet up to that point. I saw the biggest eruption of bait and predators that I had ever seen! An area about 20 yards in diameter all of a sudden bulged from the water in a froth. I have seen much bigger areas with fish hitting bait but never so coordinated, all at once. It was unreal. Even if I don't catch much I still have a great time when I'm out on the water where things are "happening". When the water is "dead" I just don't have the same confidence and I don't have as much expectations. Caught a couple of good fish, pot bellied, and about 2lbs after a group hit bait at the surface. Both on rattle traps. The fish were moving so fast and this is such a large area that I was making long casts to surfacing fish. I also caught many good white bass (sand bass) as much of the activity on top was probably from that species. After dark the eruptions quit and I positioned myself out over deep water and cast to the flat. Caught one really nice fish on a spinner bait with a throbbing colorado blade. I still don't have a working black light so when I did throw a worm I didn't have the confidence that I needed.
Fishing around all of the explosions and "anxious" baitfish is always some of my favorite fishing 'cause I know that there are lots of fish in the area, all I have to do is outsmart them. Here's a pic of one that I caught in the dark. My camara date needs to be reset I see. I don't tend to night fish in shorts on New Year's day most years.

 

[jason]

I saw similar activity behind Chatt State yesterday evening. Literally an eruption of bass and shad. All I had to do was wait for the surface action and rip a Spook through them.

 

[polo-dog]

It sounds like the fishing is heating up for the fall. I love the month of October. It's always the best month of the year and the most exciting with huge numbers of shad at the surface getting nailed!