Chickamauga 3-12-2006

[churly]

My partner and i put in at about 3:00 yessterday evening. Man it was on! The first hole yeilded a good one just shy of 5lbs. Next stop produced an even larger fish that would go over 5. We caught 6 keepers in all, best five would be 17-18lbs. I cant complain. The sad part is that the lake was dropping and the fish we caught were in shallow water. If you could catch a day like yesterday with rising water-ooooohhhhh! All but one fish came on traps the other on a jerkbait. We fished Nickajack on Saturday, we were trying to find some new places and I think we did. We ended up with 3 solid keepers on Saturday all came off the traps. It was windy and the bite was tough, but I think we figured out a new bank to fish. Good luck to all and please release 'em all!

 

[polo-dog]

Great to hear that the bass are shallow. Were they in classic spawning sloughs or were they on creek channel or main lake flats? I was waiting for the "trap" bite to pick up. I have some flats that hold a lot of fish this time of year but they just haven't been on there yet the days I've been out. Mostly smaller fish on the flats that I fish with an occaisional good fish. I am trying to gear myself to fish deeper to pick up some more of the females as they seem to be only shallow for short periods, where the males seem to be all over the flats this time of the year. Were you fishing the middle or upper end of the lake? It could be that the bigger fish in the lower end of the lake are more conditioned and therefore not as easy to catch but that's where I normally fish. I still catch tons of fish on "traps" early in the spring. A little later it seems that it takes something else to get the bites.

 

[churly]

I think there are big bass from one end of the lake to the next. I know fish in the lower end are more pressured but its closer to my home. I always try to fish baits that are a little different from what everyone else throws. i am by no means an expert but I have spent my life on this lake. if I was out there today i would back off the flats and find a ledge/drop/channel with stumps or brush and work a jig real slow. This time of year it seems like I have to cover alot of ground to put 5 in the sack. I guarantee you those same fish are not out still roaming the flats. They are hid under a stump or sitting in the brush. part of being good at this game is being flexible. Both of the big ones we caught this weekend were females and they were aggressively feeding. We did catch a bunch of small bucks but the females are right there with them. warm trends and rising water should move 'em up and cold fronts and high pressure will push 'em back off the drops, textbook spring fishing good luck and let me know if anyone is able to get out there this week.