The Chick

[inthebox30lbs]

Just wanted to make a comment about some of my results since I have moved here. Living about 1 mile from the lake I have had the opportunity to fish a lot in the last 7 months on the Chick. Growing up in the north and living in Florida I have had the opportunity to fish alot of awesome bass lakes, Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, Onieda Lake, the Niagara River, Kissimmee, the Winter Haven chain, the Big O just to name a few. THe lakes up north and even in Fl. for the average guy it didnt take long to get on fish certain times of the year. I have had 50-100 fish smallmouth days concistentely on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river. ALot of club tournaments that I fished in where on the FInger lakes in NY and many of the lakes I had rarely fished and always had decent sacks at the scales weigh in time. THis lake is different I have spent hours on this forum, talking to others and experimenting different tactics and concistency has been hard to come by. You need to be a complete angler to be successful here on a daily basis. I have caught alot of fish but size and numbers have never been together. Being a school teacher allowed me to be on the water a ton this summer and fishing was tough to say the least for me. Yet it always amazes me at the sacks that are weighed in at local tournaments no matter what time of the year it is on the Chick. There are alot of really good fisherman in this area more so than I have seen up north and in Florida combined and I havent even lived here that long and its plain as day to me. Just my opinion. Just wondered what are some other opinions about the Chick.
Scott

 

[dec1]

Chickamauga is a very hard lake to figure out and be consistant on. You probably won't find to many areas in the south that have so many good open water or structure fisherman. I heard Steve Daniel (B.A.S.S. Pro from Chatt) comment at a Tx weigh-in he fished on Chickamauga about how good some of the local guys are at it and even better than some of the guys on tour. It will take alot of time on the water. Many locals create their own spots with brush and rock piles. You have been fishing on this lake for one year, some of these guys over 30 yrs, so don't get frustrated. This forum provides a ton of knowledge so at least your in the right spot.emoThumbsup

 

[Louie B]

Crazy Lake. It wouldn't be hard certain times to catch bass using 10 different baits in one day on Chickamauga. Tomorrow you could catch a bass in 6 inches of water and immediately pull out into 40+ ft and catch bass, just never know what it's gonna take.

LB

 

[team-d]

I'm with you Scott, I haven't had a chance to fish the Chick much but have put in some time on Ft. Loudon, Tellico, Cherokee, Douglas, and Melton Hill. Had some good days here and there and even won a few small checks on Cherokee but it's tough for me to be consistent - decided to quit trying to fish the weekend circuits and put in some time on various waters and have some fun - it's expensive enough without donating money to the local experts. I lived in the NW fishing the Columbia and Snake River systems along with several lakes in eastern Washington and got to the point where I was pretty consistent in finding decent fish and making a check - even on bad days could usually scrape something out to break even. I know what you mean being able to catch 50+ quality smallmouth in a day, haven't seen anything like that in this area. I think there are a lot of factors involved - I don't have near as much time to spend on the water as I used to (my first wife seemed to think it was a bit excessive), I spent 20+ years fishing the same 8 to 10 bodies of water, the fisheries here are highly pressured compared to what I'm used to, and the water levels and temps fluctuate more than I'm used to. I've been here almost 2 years now, so another 18 years and I should have things figured out pretty well emoLaugh I am having a lot of fun fishing for the different species that weren't available back "home", such as blue cats, stripers, whites, musky, etc. I have to thank Dhaun and all the people here for sharing a ton of info and helping speed the process of learning the new systems!

 

[inthebox30lbs]

I hear ya teamD. THe fishing pressure in other areas of the country is more diverse, what i mean is alot of guys chase walleyes, perch, trout salmon etc. I lived for several years on Lake Ontario the Henderson Harbor area and on 90% of the summer days you would never see a bass boat yet alone people fishing for bass, yet those bays off the lake are choked with smallmouths and largemouths. I do have to admit I love the lakes here in TN. The diversity of fish is awesome, and the size of the fish in these lakes speaks for itself. I also agree this forum is awesome, i spend alot of my nights reading all the reports and other things goin on. THanks Dhaun
scott