Nickajack Dam Flathead Bank Fishing 9-10-2006

[DHaun]

I took the kids bream fishing below Nickajack from the bank today from 3:00-4:00pm. My daughter caught a couple nice bream on squirreltail jigs tipped with waxworms and my son hooked a decent bass that took him into the rocks and broke him off.

There were 2 boats below the Dam and only about 8-10 bank anglers. Not a whole lot of activity but there sure was a lot of bottles and trash thrown about...with garbage cans easily accessible just up the hill....that was dissapointing to see how folks have trashed such a nice area to fish.

Current was screaming and in between helping the kids out I threw a 1.5oz glow shad for stripers but there were no takers. I moved the kids over to the pier to get them out of the rocks and as they continued to bream fish I jigged a 1/4oz Cordell spoon around the pilings and in the eddies. I hooked what felt like a nice cat on my 10lb spinning reel but it pulled and bent the small hooks after a minute or so of taking drag.

After I lost my smaller spoon to the rocks I went back and tied on a larger 1oz Cordell spoon jig on my 20lb baitcaster and went to the same spot jigging it in the current and got nailed by another hard pulling fish. It felt like I was hung until it ripped upstream and tried to take me under the pier. I could not believe how hard this fish fought in the swift current...it went wherever it wanted and tried to take me under the pier 3-4 times as it swam upstream against all the current thrashing its head. I thought it was a nice rockfish for a minute or so...I just kept the pressure on with my ugly stick trying to keep it off the bottom and out of the pilings and rocks.

The kids were yelling and by the time it finally surfaced in the current other anglers around the pier had walked up to watch - one told me it looked to be 40 pounds swimming on the surface, but after we landed it the scales showed it to be a stout 25lbs - my personal best Flathead. My daughter was excited to see this action and helped me out taking pics and fetching the fish grabbers. My son was with me when I caught the 60+ blue 2 weeks ago so he had seen big cats before...he smiled and said that this one was uglier than the last one All fish were safely released.

 

[Guest]

Nice flattie there David. Those fish really have the power. Seems like now that you have caught some bigguns they kind of gravitate to you.
Good report.

Cheez

 

[rsimms]

Wow! Too cool... you and those jiggin' spoons. emoThumbsup

 

[MrWiskers]

The few flatheads I have caught have been extremely hard fighing fish as you found out today. Nice!!!

Now the hard part is catching one on purpose.emoPoke

 

[hooker771]

I have never heard of much less seen a flat head?/ It looks llike a MONSTER Blue gill? What "family" is it in?

 

[DHaun]

MrWiskers - 9/10/2006 6:07 PM

The few flatheads I have caught have been extremely hard fighing fish as you found out today. Nice!!!

Now the hard part is catching one on purpose.emoPoke

Yep - spoon jigs catch nearly everything that swims in my experience...I forgot to mention I had 2 bream and a skipjack on the 1/4 oz spoon before I lost it. I had 2 good bites in the same spot today both cats...I wondered as I drove home if I went down there next week jigging a spoon in the eddies next to the pilings if there might be more I could catch on accident emoBigsmile

Hooker771 - the first pic is an actual monster bluegill - The second is a flathead catfish...known for being partial to live bait and as of today lures that emulate a dying shad.

 

[foodsaver]

theres that jigging spoon once again. Way to go david.

 

[shsimons]

DHAUN,

That is an impressive flathead. I bet that was a huge challenge getting that fish in with the current ripping through. Makes me want to go down and check out Nickajack Dam sometime, if that kind of stuff is swimming around!

 

[Fat Albert]

Dhaun, what a great way to spend an afternoon. Memories are made for the kids.... glad you had a good time....emoThumbsup emoThumbsup

 

[MadBomber]

Shoot, I'm impressed with that 25lb bluegill!!!emoLaugh

 

[Liveliner]

hooker771 - 9/10/2006 6:11 PM

I have never heard of much less seen a flat head?/ It looks llike a MONSTER Blue gill? What "family" is it in?

I am not sure but I think that I detect a little confusion here.. I think Hooker is looking at your destorted pic of the bluegill thinking that it is some sort of monster "Flathead Bluegill".
If that was the case, Iknow I would be out there catching those 25# flathead brim. Imagine what a filet you could get off that thing.emoScratch

 

[Fishing machine]

Good report David, looks like you had a good time and a good fishing trip.
Have you ever fished from the pier at Raccoon Mt. ? I talked to a guy below the dam the other day and he said that they catch a lot of cat fish over 30 lbs. off of that pier.

 

[hooker771]

Confused! Confused! Confused! Im not used to seeing all these different types of fish being caught in the area. Every time I read this site I see new fish. Dont even get me started on the padlefish.

As far as the monster flathead bluegill that is some great camera work. Im going to remember that technique! With her just holding it out like that you cant tell that its real close to the camera. Im just glad I posted that on "game day" after a few.

Im truly an idiot.

 

[DHaun]

Fishing machine - 9/11/2006 9:08 AM

Good report David, looks like you had a good time and a good fishing trip.
Have you ever fished from the pier at Raccoon Mt. ? I talked to a guy below the dam the other day and he said that they catch a lot of cat fish over 30 lbs. off of that pier.

I have fished around the Raccoon Mtn pier external areas from a boat and never caught anything above 15lbs...I think MrWiskers has done better down there than I have. Never fished directly from the pier but I have seen all the lines tossed out from the sides so I assume they must be catching a few. It's a beautiful area to fish too.

As far as the monster bluegill...I think I saw a similar pic on RSimms site that gave me the idea to shoot it that way.