Today around 1pm or so I was fishing behind the dam( I am land locked/no boat) and noticed the stripe hitting the surface hard after the smaller shad,I threw everything I could and only got a couple of sniffs. Any ideas on what would work or are they going to be really picky this time of year?? I did notice the water was really clear,so that may of had something to do with it. Thanks in advance. By the way I am a newbie to this forum and it's great to have!!emoCool
Catching stripe/rockfish behind the Chickamauga dam 7-5-2006
- Thread starter fishinvol
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DHaun
Well-known member
Welcome fishinvol and thanks for the report! I assume you were on the downstream side of the Dam. I have had some luck throwing zara spooks, redfins, and even carolina rigged spoons to surfacing striper. Sometimes the skipjack hit the surface too, which require much smaller jigs.
rsimms
Well-known member
fishinvol.. I was on the water below Chick this evening and saw the same activity. What I saw was some stripe (white bass) but mostly shad (river herring). I didn't see anything that appeared to be large enough the be stripers. Water temp is up in 80's now so I'd be real surprised to see rockfish activity. From what I could tell shad and white bass were feeding heavy on very small fry... probably the threadfin hatch. I'd suggest throwing something very small and very flashy. Rooster tail or small jigs... small topwaters plugs will work on the white bass, but typically you'll have to cast right on top of them, inside the circle they make when they hit top. Random casting, as you experienced is often frustrating. We were chasing catfish so we didn't fish them any. Sabiki rigs work great for the shad. I'll often weight my sabiki rig with a 1/4 oz. hair jig. Shad will hit the sabiki's while the occasional white bass will take the larger jig. Good luck.
I thought it was unusual myself,but I got 2 real good looks from the peir(that's where most of the activity was) and they were definately rockfish/hybrid. I had 2 blow up on my spook but by that time the birds were trying to eat my lure.
rsimms
Well-known member
Wow! That's interesting. It has been a strange year. We caught several rockfish in early June when water temp was in 70's. Guess they're still around and perhaps I should fish 'em some? In June it was always a very early bite... you had 30 to 45 minutes at sunrise and maybe a late bite at sunset but that was about it. Caught a couple on redfins or spooks, but the majority we caught drifting live shad. And actually Great Blue Herons put a really good fight, but they taste real fishy. emoBigsmile emoBigsmile
minner
Well-known member
I find this kinda funny or odd I guess. I always thought the stripe were no where to be found during the hot summer months, until Monday. I took my wife with me to catch some skipjack since my stock at home was getting low. We were set up and ready when they turned the generators on at high noon. Long story short, I had something huge break off, and my wife landed two small stripes and a hybrid all on maribu crappie jigs were using for skipjack. I could see small stripe busting the shad like crazy too. Oh and by the way this was at Guntersville dam, so I guess it's not just a Chickamauga dam occurance.
I have good success in the hot summer months catching rockfish below some of the dams of deeper lakes like Norris, Melton Hill, Center Hill where the dishcharge is colder water. They really like the oxygen rich water that comes from the turbulence below the dams. Nick, Chick, and others may not have cold enough water to hold the fish there during the summer but I bet there are some rockfish close to the dishcharge. The generation has been a little sporadic it seems this year.
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