The Nick--7/29

[adamwstewart]

Fished Nickajack yesterday afternoon with very little success.

Three bites total:

1st cast to a grassbed with a Castaic jerkbait--small bass rolled on it but didn't hook up. A bite on the first cast is ALWAYS a bad sign.

2nd bite later, different grassbed, aggressively retrieved jerkbait--fist bit TWICE and didn't hook up.

3rd bite, deep water (15 feet) on a C-rigged watermelon/chartreuse Lake Fork craw. Little squeaker fish, but had a bulging gut--he had been eating well.

AWS

 

[cutthroat]

THANKS FOR THE POST ADAM.i CANT BELIEVE I HAVE NOT BEEN ON NICK THIS YEAR!

 

[JerDog]

Hey Adam,

Were you above the dam? Where do you launch out of? Did you see any schools of threadfin out there? I have yet to go fishing above the Nick this summer and wanted to know if you are seeing any tiny shad. The shad are everywhere above Chickamauga and so maybe a smaller lure to match the bait will help.

 

[adamwstewart]

Jerdog,

I was above--launched out of Marion county park.

I didn't observe shad in very shallow areas. They were small, and near deep water. If you have a topo map, look across the river channel from Hales Bar marina--there's a small cove that tapers out downstream to the channel. There's a moderate grass bed submerged from the shoreline that goes out to about 13 feet of water--it extends out a pretty good distance from the shore. Once the water reaches that 12 to 13 feet, the grass abruptly ends. It was the only place I observed any baitfish. I should have used some 2 inch Lunker City slug go's, but didn't think of it. Usually, though, I start seeing some of the larger shads up shallow by this time, but no dice saturday. And I did have fish rolling on larger baits.

What I've heard (last year, anyway) was that the bass were going very deep--30+ feet. I don't know if that's the case this year or not. I don't fish productively past about 20 feet, myself. I think I need to build a good drop-shotting rod.

Hey, if you go on the Nick, make sure all your safety gear is in order--TWRA was out checking saturday--I've seen them a lot this year. They checked for license, fire extinguisher, pfd's (wearable and throwable), registration, and horn/whistle. The warden is a decent guy.

AWS

 

[JerDog]

Hey thanks,

I am always up to date on the safety equipment. I have never been checked but am always ready. We have to get out there and fish when it gets cooler. Thanks for the tips on the location. You got any good spots for smallmouth?

 

[Guest]

The baitfish are schooling a bit of everywhere. Grass is coming on!!

 

[Bprice]

I know fry and baitfish are thick as thieves on the bluff walls above the Dam

 

[adamwstewart]

No. I've never caught a smallie out of Nickajack. Largemouth and a few spots, usually.

I know a guy with a 4 pound smallie mounted on his office wall; he claims it was the last smallie caught out of Nickajack.

I've wondered about fishing the rubble from old Hale's bar dam. It sort of pinches the current when TVA is running a good bit of water through, but the bottom is something like 40 or 50 feet down. There's definitely rubble with current flowing over it; it's just that it's so deep; plus, there seems to be a pretty fair-sized scour hole on the downstream side. Reckon it could be drop-shotted?