Chickamauga Dam- Night fishing (9-30-05)

[G-MAN]

Fished the Lake side of the dam (11pm-4am). Hit the flat straight out from the ramp, the rip rap beside the dam, and a couple of other close spots. Picked up only one or two at each stop and all were small. Fished pumpkin Lizard carolina rigged and Big Critter Craw (red) texas style rig for most part.

The fish were jumping like crazy above the turbines and along the gates. Could not get one single bite and couldn't tell what they were. Threw everything I had to offer without any success. I tried rattle traps, 200 splatter back, chug-a-ug, broken-back zura and a fluke not to mention what my buddy was throwing. The fish wouldn't hit anything and were so active that I was surprized I didn't accidentaly snag one. The fish never stopped jumping. I did manage to catch three bass by ignoring the top water activity and throwing the critter where the bank meets up with the dam.

Does anyone have any idea of what type of fish those could have been and what else I should have tried.


emoBang emoBang emoBang

 

[flip1up]

Might have been stripe, a roostertail has worked for me in simialar situations (white).

 

[DHaun]

It could also have been skipjack...that's what I caught last time I fished in there using a small spoon or tiny crappie jig. Great for striper and catfish bait.

 

[G-MAN]

I've heard the name before- "skipjack", but that's about it.

 

[flip1up]

Skipjack Herring, I dont know the difference between them and large shad though.

 

[polo-dog]

Some people call them a "Tennessee Tarpon" as they look like a small tarpon as they should as they are closely related. Threadfin shad only grow up to 9 inches( in some references) however that would be a world record I think. They are the schooling shad that we see most. A Hickory shad tends to get a lot bigger and can reach 24inches in length. They are not as common and rarely caught in this area on hook and line in this area. Skipjacks however are caught frequenty and usually are caught on very small baits. They can get to 12-18 inches in length and are what you feel pecking on your rattletrap when you throw into the large bait schools along the banks in the fall but are just bumping the bait. Most locals just call them "shad".

 

[G-MAN]

Thanks. Know what your talking about now. Use to go below the dam and jerk a white hair jig through the water and catch some pretty good ones. They looked like a tarpon when they would jump up out of the water. We would try and flip them off the hook without touching them when we got them in. Fun to catch when nothing else is biteing.

 

[Jmax]

You hit the nail on the head Polo-dog those things can drive you crazy when you get into them. They will also hit that silver buddy and the bigger ones say a pound and up fight just like a small tarpon. They have a couple samll sharp teeth in front and you do not want to lip them if they are big. A skipjack makes real good cut bait for cats and the smaller ones are good for live bait bass fishing. They will come up on the lake and look just like schooling bass but unless they are big enough or you are using something small they will not get hooked.emoBang