Question about Chickamauga

[kudzu]

We have a club tournament down on the chic at the end of September and I dont have any idea what in the world a person needs to be doing down there. I have never been on the lake bass fishing at all just shellcrackers. We are putting in at a boat ramp that is called cotton port I believe. Anyway I am open to any form of fishing whether it is topwater, flipping, rig, cranking or whatever. I am not asking for the secret spots next to teh big tree by the big rock. I am just asking for some help on where I can start practicing at and kind of an idea what I need to be doing. I have no issue making longer runs but obviously if I am practicing I would just as soon put in closer to the area that I am going, so please if it is a long run from cottonport let me know how to get to a ramp closer. I was steered toward this site for information, and I would like to say thanks in advance for any help on this matter. If someone doesn't want to post to everyone send me an im or anything, anyway once again thanks in advance emoThumbsup .

 

[brumpw]

that far up river you could go and fish below watts bar dam. if your gonna stay down then id flip wood and look for minnows and fish in the jumps in the cuts around spence , goodfeild , summerfeild, . the backwaters aruond richland creek . id prefish the mouths of these places and work my way back into the slough. be careful some of these are shallow .use a map or gps and get kinda of a layout of the creeks . as far as lures id flip ,topwater, spinnerbaits . good luck

 

[NRG]

Look at the recent fishing reports , they pretty much tell you all you need, the fish are pretty much the same all over, there will be some deep ( 15-35ft) bites and some shallow bites (2 -15 ft )
The question you need to ask is what am I more comfortable with .. fish your strengths, but pre-fishing days or weeks in advance of a tourney and then relying on those fish to still be there could be a mistake. Fish what you know and the key on this lake is current, the more current the better the bite generally

 

[kudzu]

I appreciate all the information from everyone. Also I understand that prefishing weeks in advance will not guarantee anything, I am not that inexperienced. My questions was just a baseline of what I needed to look for and things I should try in that area. Once again I plan on practicing a few times before then just trying to put a structure plan together and get an idea what I need to look for. I certainly appreciate all the help and look forward to any more on this subject from anyone who is willing to help since I just dont know this body of water and local experience cant be beat. Thanks again

 

[bullet]

one thing to consider is if the water temp. is still high the Hiwasse is much cooler water i would go up it and use spinnerbaits looking for fish chasing shad, and flip all along the river structure.

 

[fishinvol]

Quite a bit of grass up that way, you may try throwing a frog in the grass, or flipping the grass edges.

 

[Triton4Bass]

My opinion, Sometimes asking a lot of questions will hurt you when tx fishing, I would study a map and use water temps to find the fish. Be careful with the info you get and dont let it hurt you, use the map to find some places where fish should be staging; water temp, weather, terrain, water flow, etc. will all make a difference. Just do what you know to do and best of luck!

 

[kudzu]

Like I said I will get several chances to practice maybe 3 or so so I am hoping to use bits of this info to do a lot of searching with the graph and find some nice structure deep along with trying to locate grass. Any help on where the grass is in that area of the lake will be greatly appreciated also. Thanks again in advance guys.

 

[TOPWATER23]

Current is just about everything on the upper end of chic if there is not any current i would advise u to go at least below 60 bridge. If there is current upper end of chic could be deadly.

 

[beetlespin]

I agree with T4B. Most advice is bad advice even if intentions are good. Its about the best way to lose in my humble opinion. Prefish and fish the way you have the most confidence.