Hiwassee(Roger's Creek)-Bass-4/1

[jason]

Who said the trap bite was deademoScratch? On the Hiwassee, it is stronger than ever. We pulled into Roger's Creek around 3pm and doubled back to the left where the creek channel forks and forms an S-curve. There is a little bay in the curve that is wind protected and has a some pretty good cover in the shallows. The water temp was up to 69 on the flats so we assumed they were bedding (water was too dingy for sight fishing) and started slow with lizards, tubes, and senkos. We couldn't get a bite going until I got nailed by a fat LM while doing a high speed retrieve for a re-castemoIdea. From that point until dark, we chunked traps across the flats and ended up with 11 quality bass and a ton of "barely-legals". Best LM, a 7.2lbr, was caught by my son on a junebug Yum Zellamander...he spent the rest of the afternoon advising us on presentation and technique . Both my father-in-law and I caught a couple LM in the 4lb range on Lucky Craft LVR-7s. None of the bass appeared to have spawned yet and none had bloody tails.

Almost forgot...caught two rock bass on the point of Roger's Creek near the channel on our way out. I thing you guys call them red-eyed bass. Anyway, I've only caught them in clear lakes up north and didn't know they inhabited southern waters. Anyone else caught any? They are built like a short, stubby LM with red eyes and they put up a pretty good fight.

 

[flip1up]

Might be what us hillbillies call a Black Perch.

 

[HangnMoss]

jason - 4/2/2006 8:36 PM
Almost forgot...caught two rock bass on the point of Roger's Creek near the channel on our way out. I thing you guys call them red-eyed bass. Anyway, I've only caught them in clear lakes up north and didn't know they inhabited southern waters. Anyone else caught any? They are built like a short, stubby LM with red eyes and they put up a pretty good fight.

I wade the Sequatchie river on those hot and stagnant summer days that make you regret stopping the boat to fish. Its full of rockbass (redeye), smallmouth and largemouth. Those 90+ degree days aren't so bad when you're in 65 degree water from the waist down. The fish aren't as large, but on ultralight tackle they're tons of fun. That, and its always nice to get back to nature.

 

[jason]

Where I used to fish up north, Owasco Lake, rock bass are pretty much considered panfish. When the smallmouth bite got tough, you could always pound the bank for those feisty little guys. Saturday was the first time I've seen them down here.

 

[SNUFFY]

we caught one today and couldn`t decide if it was a smallmouth or a lm and it had a red ring around it`s eye`s...but not like what I called redeye as a kid....I think we called them rock bass too...small/with big head on em....the one we caught today was abou8-9 in. long and shaped like a lm...kind of a neutral color and if you looked real hard you could almost see a real faint line like a LM....we decided it must be a meanmouth

 

[jason]

Sounds like a MeanMouth...a rock bass looks like a cross between a largemouth and a sunfish, with bright red eyes. If I'm not mistaken, it is a member of the sunfish family and not a true bass.

 

[CherokeeRidge]

I have also heard them called Warmouth , Used to catch lot's of them off the rocks at Nick-a-Jack near the cave, on a Rebel Wee-Craw

 

[flip1up]

I believe that we have 3 or 4 different species here that we are talking about. Anybody good at putting pics on here?

 

[flip1up]

I googled Rock Bass and thats the fish that I wade in the creeks and catch every year. I have to wait til about July or August so the water is down enough to wade. We always called them Black Perch, the biggest I ever caught was under a pound. I use live crawfish. I fish a creek near Bell Buckle Tn. its named Garrison creek. And have waded the Duck and the Elk, Bradly creek in Coffee Co. All these areas have good populations of "Black Perch" in them. And I always catch some spots and smallies too.

 

[ranman]

I've caught a few in that part of the river before too Jason.

 

[jason]

It's the first time we've cut back to the left in Rogers. Usually we follow the channels towards the bridge at the back. I think a man could put a yearly pattern together consisting of Rogers and Candies...just a matter of determining whether the bass are in or out.