Nickajack Dam 2-4-2006

[BigFishGuide]

Fished Saturday morning below Nick-A-Jack dam and we have been catching some nice small mouth, spotted bass and largemouth on live bait along the walls of the dam. We have been doing better on bright sun shine days around 10 am to 3 pm. The live bait that I'm using is what I call a yellow tail. I'm acquiring this bait by using my cast net and graph. The bait ranges from 15 feet deep to 21 feet deep. Rock fish are still scattered and we are catching a few drifting live shad in front of the turbines. I'm catching more Rock fish and Hybrids by trolling an umbrella rig in front of the flood gates in slack water than anywhere else.

Captain Berry A. Fraley

 

[DHaun]

Welcome BigFishGuide and thanks for the report! Are YellowTails the same as Threadfin shad? If so, we caught a few larger ones in the deadlock last time I went and marked some below the power lines. How big are the ones you are using? I have seen folks troll Umbrella Rigs down there before and have been thinking about trying one sometime. Is there a certain depth you try to maintain when trolling them?

 

[JerDog]

Hey BigFishGuide,

Are you a guide in the area? What kind of umbrella rigs you using? Fishing at the dam has been real scattered, sometimes they are there and then not...do you find that springtime is the best time of year for them below the dam?

 

[DHaun]

Image posting instructions are here:

http://www.chattanoogafishingforum.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=44

Here is the pic I was sent...It's a nice lookin pig!

 

[flip1up]

Nice fish, glad to hear things are picking up below Nick. I need to get back out there, its been a while.

 

[polo-dog]

Has a pretty small mouth, looks like it was a spot. Was it?

 

[flip1up]

Looks like a largemouth to me, but I have been fooled before.

 

[2jigs]

That's smakkmouth sure is green & has a realy LARGE mouth polo.

 

[polo-dog]

The mouth looks small to me for that size of fish and it looks like he caught him on the river. I just reviewed the differences again between spots and LM's and I think that you are right. It looks like the dorsal fins are probably separate, there aren't markings above the midline spots and but some of the scales below the midline spots do seem to have spots on them. If I could just close his mouth or feel his tongue I would know for sure. The one who caught him should be able to tell us if he had a tongue patch.

 

[BigFishGuide]

Yes the Yellow tails are threadfin shad. The shad that we are using are 2 1/2" to 4" and some may be 6" long just depends on which school of shad you happen upon and getting a cast net on. I have found that the Bass tend to prefer the smaller shad and its easire to hook them up. With the larger shad you need to feed them a little longer. The umbrella rig needs to be trolled about a foot above the bottom of the lake. As you and I know the contour of the bottom changes so your ticking the bottom occassionaly. And you will hang it sometimes but they come out pretty easy by just backing up past the hang point and giving it a good tug. I use a All Pro 8' flipping stick with 12/60 spider wire so I've got lots of backbone and no line stretch. Just make sure you loosen the drag so If you do get hung up on a fish or the bottom that it doesnt rip the rod out of your hands.

Big Fish Guide

 

[BigFishGuide]

Yes I am a guide. I am a USCG liscensed captain. I am just starting my guide service. So I'm looking for Clients. My primary target is Rockfish, Hybrids, Largemouth, Smallmouth and Spots. I typically start catching the fish from February thru November. The umbrella rig that I use, I bought at Bass Pro which has four arms and can hold up to 9 baits which by law can only accomodate 1 bait with a hook. They Rocks are scattered right now but you can find them by just trolling and making several different passes untill you get hooked up with one and usually make the same pass you will catch another. By the end of this month when we typically get some warmer days with some warmer rains they will get fired up.

Big Fish Guide

 

[BigFishGuide]

I took a friend of mine fishing Saturday mrng. He caught that fish In about 6 feet of water on live shad. The fish was a largemouth. I checked it myself for a tooth patch on the tounge and none could be found. We have been catching smallmouth, largemouth and some whopper spots.

Big Fish Guide

 

[JerDog]

Sounds like you know what is going on....Do you ever fish for stripers above Nickajack? I am familiar with below the dam quite well, it is above the dam that is a mystery to alot of us. I read articles about patterns to use above other dams and here above Chickamauga and Nickajack it does not work and never hear of people catching them above the dam. Do you have any information on if the stripers are above the dam in the summer and how you fish for them?

 

[drc]

JerDog - 2/7/2006 4:56 PM

Sounds like you know what is going on....Do you ever fish for stripers above Nickajack? I am familiar with below the dam quite well, it is above the dam that is a mystery to alot of us. I read articles about patterns to use above other dams and here above Chickamauga and Nickajack it does not work and never hear of people catching them above the dam. Do you have any information on if the stripers are above the dam in the summer and how you fish for them?

That is what I have been wanting to know for a long time now. How do you catch big striped bass in the lake during the summer months? A few years ago I hired a guide to take me out on Wattsbar for stripe, mainly to try and "copy" him and use his technique on the Chick. He didn't really give any good info (I believe he thought I was gonna steal his spots or something), but I did watch his graph when we were looking for fish. A friend and I used the same guide a year or so earlier for a catfishing trip and from what I could tell he was doing the exact same thing, just using live bait. We didn't get any trophy stripers but a lot in the 8-15lb range. I think the stripe and smallmouth must be his main money makers cause he didn't care at all to give lots of specifics on how to catch those BIG cats.

 

[BigFishGuide]

At the mouth of the Nick-A-Jack cave is the only place that I have ever caught rock fish and hybrids. Its fairly deep and the bait seems to stay there pretty much through out the year. So they dont have to travel far to eat and the water is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter time with the cave system there. I have thought that you might could catch some Rock fish on grays point 50' + deep and a nice quick break line that runs parallell to the channel of about 15' deep on the top edge. But I have not had any luck other than catching a few small spotted bass. If you figure them out on the lake PLEASE let me know. But other than the cave area which I have only caught maybe 3 or 4 there I have not caught any Rock fish any where else on the lake. Maybe its to grassy???? or shallow. Or maybe not enough current flow. I prefer to fish for the rocks and hybrids below the dams.

 

[JerDog]

I'll have to check out the caves this summer..I know where you are talking about..They are a bit of a mystery around here, but they have to go somewhere because they hate warm water and the low Oxygen levels. I have not had my umbrella rigs out since the new law was passed a couple of years ago about having more than one hook. Do you find that most of the fish you catch on an umbrella rig are on the trailer fish with the hook? I have used white and green for colors and they produce well. What colors do find to be the most productive?