Chickamauga Dam- Night fishing (6-24-05)

[G-MAN]

Fished between 9pm-2pm. Caught several along the rocky bank that run parallel with the bridge. Not holding tight to rocks. Most in about 12 foot of water. Caught on finese worm - carolina rig and "Zoom" Big Critter (crawfish)-texas style rig. Both watermelon seed color and 1/8- 1/4oz weights.

We fished the flats across from the ramp and my partner put a 5.6 lb. large mouth in the boat. We also caught several Kentucky bass on the flat.

We took some live crawfish, but couldn't get a bite. Weird, wouldn't bite real crawfish, but would bite imitation crawfish. Oh well, It was a fun night for fishing. emoSmile

 

[polo-dog]

I'm having trouble picturing which flat you are talking about. Below or above the dam? It's hard for me to picture what rocky bank is parallel with a bridge above or below the dam. Which ramp did you put in at? I have never fished with live crawdads but I have read about it. Did you catch your own or did you buy them? I bought a trap for them this spring but haven't tried it yet. Is there any particular area where a crawdad trap is most effective?

 

[JC1]

Polo-dog, when I was a teenager we fished with live crawdads alot during the warmer months. We had the best luck trapping them among the rocky areas and baiting the traps with small cans of cheap dog or cat food with holes punched in the cans (although cut bait or even chicken bones leftover from dinner filled in admirably when we were broke). Sink the trap and leave it for an hour and come back. If there's crawdads active in the area they'll be on it,if not try a little further down the bank and they'll turn up.  Three to four inchers worked best for us to fish with. We hooked them thru the tail with about a 2/0 hook and split shot 6-8 inches above (but a carolina rig would work well). Cast them to a likely area and let them hit bottom and then work them back. It's a good idea to keep them moving or the little varmints will try to hide and get you hung everytime. The bass love them and so do the cats.  I think the rocky bank that G-MAN was talking about is the limestone that parallels 153 at either end of the dam but I don't know the flats he's speaking of. JC1

 

[G-MAN]

I believe that I even confused myself after reading what I wrote. I fished above the dam. I put in at the ramp between the swimming area and the slough too Erwin Marine. If you head straight out from the ramp, there is a red bouy marker out in the middle of the lake and the depth at the bouy is 8 to 12 foot deep. Before and after you pass the bouy the water depth goes to around 40 feet deep. to the right and left of the bouy is the shallower flat.

The rocky bank I fished is below the bridge. I thought that this was parallel to the bridge. Sorry for any confusion.

Hey, is there any way to get spell check going. I'm the worlds worst speller.

Let me know if you get a chance to fish this spot and how well you do.

My friend caught the craw fish with his son before we went fishing. He caught them in a shallow, ditch near the Bi-Lo in Middle Valley. Just lifts rocks and grabs them up. His son will go catch crawfish with him, but not interested in fishing. He has a small aquarium that he puts them in when he gets home.

I'm going to try that tip on slowly retrieveing the crawl fish and using a carolina rig. I tried a drop rig. (Weight on bottom and hook about 2 foot up). The crawfish would grab onto my line. This may be why I didn't do so good with the crawfish.emoBang

 

[ranman]

We would always use bologna or raw bacon to lure them out when I was a kid.
I second the spell check Idea!

 

[polo-dog]

I plan to try to catch some crawdads. Is rip rap good for them or should I fish a naturally rocky bank? There are a couple of banks up off of Harrison Bay that have chunk rock that you can see out of the water in the winter. I always picture smallies on those banks as I know that they love crawdads and from reading I would expect them to be there at times. I will let you know if I get some. Would you expect them to be fairly shallow or deep this time of year. I used to catch them in creeks too. I still enjoy rock flipping in creeks.