Hiwassee/Bass/6-18

[jason]

We got on the river around 3pm and started in the back of Gunstocker where we got bit yesterday. I caught two keepers on my first two casts between the islands and then the jet skis came roaring in. Rather than trying to tolerate them while fishing, we packed up and headed back out to the west corner of the creek mouth. We fished the laydowns all the way down to the power-line crossing with spinnerbaits and caught a ton of short bass. I knew there were better fish in there so I convinced my father-in-law to double back and fish it slower. There are three great crappie brushpiles that were put out in early spring when the water was down and now they sit in six to eight feet. With a 8" lizard and a jig, we caught a couple keeper largemouth off each of them. Around 8:30 we headed back to the 58 bridge and fished the new rip-rap wall. Although we didn't score any bass worth bragging about, I did catch a 8lb cat with a Chatterbait stuck to the side of his head. I took of my spinnerbait and tied on the Chatterbait...lost it on the first cast emoLaugh!

 

[MadBomber]

My experience has been that it takes a couple years for new rip-rap to become effective. I guess it takes a while for the crawdads to get established.

 

[ranman]

man when it does look out! that is going to be one honey hole!It drops staight off in the the deepest part of the channel on the south side.

 

[jason]

Ranman, we saw several fish on the graph suspended in 18' at the drop. There are also few rock piles down there that must be construction debris and we saw what appeared to be a school of baitfish suspended on one of them. We spent a few minutes with a DD22 and a c-rig but couldn't come up with a bite.

Madbomber, the new section of rip-rap is home to bluegill and 10"-12" bass. As you already know, the old section by the ramp holds some decent largemouth that can be suckered by a toad or lizard at dusk. The second bay on the left as you enter Gunstocker has a section that is two years old and we have caught a few good ones there.