TWRA Fishing Report...

[DoubleB]

CHICKAMAUGA - (4/10/07) - The water surface temperature is in the 50’s. Look for warmer temperatures in the next few days. A recent cold snap prevented a lot of fishermen from going to the lake, but the fish haven’t slowed a bit. A lot of many types of fish are being caught in all areas of the lake. The bass seem to be in various stages. Some are spawning and some are at the pre-spawn staging phase. For example, a fisherman may fish a bank a time or two with nothing being caught, then fish back down the same bank and catch 16-to-18 pounds. Baitfish seems to be the key. If the baitfish move into an area, then the bass can be caught. A variety of lures are being used depending on angler preference. Some crappie have spawned. The number of crappie that have not spawned may be equal to those that have. Crappie can be caught in water as shallow as a couple of feet and as deep as 10 feet. Minnows and jigs are both being offered to crappie. Casting for crappie has been the preferred method. Some crappie are roaming the shallows and others are holding tight near brush. Plenty of bluegill are being caught in the shallow water areas. A few shellcrackers are being caught. Most that are being caught are small. Rockfish anglers are catching fish near the dam while using shad for bait.



About the Crappie. If only half have spawned, should we expect a return to the shallower waters this weekend with warming temertures? Would they be coming back to the same holes or should I look for similer holes further north in the lake? i.e. I did rather well at HBSP 2 weeks ago, but the bite slowed considerabley as the days progressed. Should I look there again, or find a similar spot a further up river?

 

[polo-dog]

That is a very good question. I would expect that if the water does warm up by the weekend that there would be good numbers of big crappies shallow. However I know that the big fish in Wolftever are not back out to the creek channel again. We fished there today and we caught very few quality fish. I would expect that if you know where the crappies spawn, stump fields in 3-7 feet of water that there would be some good fish there. If however they are not there I would try looking for them on brushpiles nearby the spawning areas in deeper parts of the sloughs or on creek channel drops nearby the spawning areas. If the fish are not on the spawning areas they should be on those cover and structural elements in deeper water nearby. You may have to wade through small fish if you have to go to the creek channel but there even the small fish are a lot of fun if you ask me.