Nickajack Angler
Well-known member
Nickajack Angler, Bear Creek Lake - Tuckasegee River Chain, LM Bass, 3/12/2011, Kim & Doug
Good childhood friend Kim and her husband Doug are always after me to come up to the "mountains" and fish their deep water lakes... Gin clear waters can be finicky at times, and I think the last time I was there I referred to it as "the Dead Sea". We have caught a handful of bass on our best outing up there, and the last two years I've constantly said "When the spawn comes, I know where we can go..." So, I was hopeful we would get into the right water temps and find the pattern crawling up the mountain from the TN river. The first lake we went to was Cedar Cliff. Very narrow and deep-gorge like lake that has now taken the namesake "The Dead Sea". Water was way colder than I imagined and not stained as I thought it would be from all the rain we've had in the past few days. But it wasn't and the best I saw for temps was 42 degrees. I didn't see a single bait fish or fish period... other than on the graph in way deeper water than I thought would be bass, as trout are found in these lakes fed by native and stocked streams at multiple points throughout the lake. So, we pulled out of there at 2pm and were on Bear Creek Lk by 3pm. At the landing we saw right off the bat the water temps was 52 degrees and I was thrilled after spending a handful of cold hours on 42 degree water with nothing to show for it. Immediately went to the end of the lake for the head waters creek and wood that I had fished and found fish in the summer. I threw a square bill in SS color to bounce around some wood and small secondary points. Then a 1/2 hr in I decided to throw a spinnerbait on a wind blown point. BAM! First fish was a solid 3.11lb beauty and inhaled the bait. The best bass I had caught there to date. We fished another 15 minutes without a bite and continued up to shallower water, and deeper up the creek. Fishing the main channel and blow downs that are as prolific as on Parksville. I really worked stumps near blowdowns shallow 2-5 ft, but that first fish had come from 5-7 ft... so I moved off the trees and started fishing the submerged canopy's, reeling so slow as to maintain contact with the bottom and caught a nice 4.11 beauty that too enhaled the bait. Felt as though I had established a pattern and inside the first 45 minutes... we all had on spinnerbaits. This lake puzzles me still... never found any concentrations of bass... but picked up one and two's in different areas that matched that pattern of relating to wood/stumps in 5-7 ft and had green grass growing nearby. 8 LM over 2.5 lbs, only 1 15 inch slick. Squarebill - 1 fish. Spinnerbait 8 on a slow roll. We worked to the other end of the lake where the Tuckasegee pours in and the temp was 42 and did not get bit.. and the trash that had washed in was aggravating as well as the color was no longer clear.
My partners caught notta... I gave them the same lure I had on, but they just never hooked up. Felt good after about 6-7 trips up there last year to feel like I knew where to target and then catching 9 solid fish in 2 hrs. Should have started there this morning but the urge to fish new water was pretty compelling when we were riding in the truck. There are four lakes up there on this chain... Wolf is the one I want to fish. But feeling that the spawn pattern is only going to get better, I'll try to stay on Bear for another month as I hope to fish Nick next week.
Good childhood friend Kim and her husband Doug are always after me to come up to the "mountains" and fish their deep water lakes... Gin clear waters can be finicky at times, and I think the last time I was there I referred to it as "the Dead Sea". We have caught a handful of bass on our best outing up there, and the last two years I've constantly said "When the spawn comes, I know where we can go..." So, I was hopeful we would get into the right water temps and find the pattern crawling up the mountain from the TN river. The first lake we went to was Cedar Cliff. Very narrow and deep-gorge like lake that has now taken the namesake "The Dead Sea". Water was way colder than I imagined and not stained as I thought it would be from all the rain we've had in the past few days. But it wasn't and the best I saw for temps was 42 degrees. I didn't see a single bait fish or fish period... other than on the graph in way deeper water than I thought would be bass, as trout are found in these lakes fed by native and stocked streams at multiple points throughout the lake. So, we pulled out of there at 2pm and were on Bear Creek Lk by 3pm. At the landing we saw right off the bat the water temps was 52 degrees and I was thrilled after spending a handful of cold hours on 42 degree water with nothing to show for it. Immediately went to the end of the lake for the head waters creek and wood that I had fished and found fish in the summer. I threw a square bill in SS color to bounce around some wood and small secondary points. Then a 1/2 hr in I decided to throw a spinnerbait on a wind blown point. BAM! First fish was a solid 3.11lb beauty and inhaled the bait. The best bass I had caught there to date. We fished another 15 minutes without a bite and continued up to shallower water, and deeper up the creek. Fishing the main channel and blow downs that are as prolific as on Parksville. I really worked stumps near blowdowns shallow 2-5 ft, but that first fish had come from 5-7 ft... so I moved off the trees and started fishing the submerged canopy's, reeling so slow as to maintain contact with the bottom and caught a nice 4.11 beauty that too enhaled the bait. Felt as though I had established a pattern and inside the first 45 minutes... we all had on spinnerbaits. This lake puzzles me still... never found any concentrations of bass... but picked up one and two's in different areas that matched that pattern of relating to wood/stumps in 5-7 ft and had green grass growing nearby. 8 LM over 2.5 lbs, only 1 15 inch slick. Squarebill - 1 fish. Spinnerbait 8 on a slow roll. We worked to the other end of the lake where the Tuckasegee pours in and the temp was 42 and did not get bit.. and the trash that had washed in was aggravating as well as the color was no longer clear.
My partners caught notta... I gave them the same lure I had on, but they just never hooked up. Felt good after about 6-7 trips up there last year to feel like I knew where to target and then catching 9 solid fish in 2 hrs. Should have started there this morning but the urge to fish new water was pretty compelling when we were riding in the truck. There are four lakes up there on this chain... Wolf is the one I want to fish. But feeling that the spawn pattern is only going to get better, I'll try to stay on Bear for another month as I hope to fish Nick next week.
