Very New Member with a Very Old Report (Nickajack and Watts Bar)

[Fisher-o-Men]

Guys and Ladies,I've been reading your postings for over a month or two and enjoying them very much. I live in NE Georgia near Athens and get to make 2 or 3 visits to the fantastic fishing you have up there below Nickajack and Watts Bar. I am a biologist with the Corps of Engineers on Lakes Russell, Hartwell, and Clarks Hill. I also operate a part-time guide service down here and specialize in taking families and children fishing in a Christian atmosphere.Anyway, I had my first opportunity to take a father and son to Tennessee back in April. They had asked me on a fall trip down here where was the "best freshwater fishing I'd ever experienced". That was an easy question. Fishing the Nickajack tailrace had always been a high point of my year.We headed up there in early April and there was practically no generation occurring at Nickajack at all. So I made my first ever visit to Watts Bar, and we probably had more success than we deserved. I have some photos to share, and I apologize in advance that I did not post these in a more timely manner. My work and guiding has kept me extremely busy.I do hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did taking them. By the way, I received a lot of assistance from Capt. Berry "BigFishGuide". My thanks goes out to him.I'll start with pictures of a friend who joined me on day one to show me some spots and techniques on Watts Bar, where I had never been.

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

The striper above as well as this fish came on day one (6 April) in the boils.  This is my 15 year old son Will with another nice fish.

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

In addition to the stripers, we caught numerous drum, channel catfish, and white bass on day one.  I immediately fell in love with Watts Bar as I had with Nickajack.  Here is the first fish I caught there, on a white spoon....what a fight! (I know you must get tired of drum there, but we don't have them in our Savannah River lakes.)

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

Day two was the day of the terrible tornadoes and storms in Gallatin, TN.  My customers didn't arrive until very late in the day.  We headed straight to Nickajack, and found tons of drum waiting to welcome them.  They were impressed, and the photo belows shows the father amazed at the pair he and his son just landed.  I weighed them in the net together and the total was 42 1/2 lbs!

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

Day 3, a Saturday, found no generation at Nickajack until very late in the day again.  So we headed up to Watts Bar, located some shad, and had an incredible day! Here are two nice stripers landed at the same time.

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

One of many nice Watts Bar catfish!

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

Another nice Watts Bar fish!

 

[MrWiskers]

There is nothing wrong with drum. I catch them a lot in the spring while fishing for bass. Mostly on crawfish imiataions. I love to hook into a 10lb drum on bass tackle. The problem becomes when I finally hook a 4-5 lb bass I always think it must be a drum at first. That is until it leaves the water.

Nice pics!

 

[JerDog]

Great report and awesome pictures, keep them coming. What method do you use to fish below the dam? Live bait or artificials?

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

For me, the highlight of the entire trip came near the end of day three.  Neither my son nor I had ever caught a smallmouth.  I managed to catch my first ever on day one, a nice fish of about 1.5 lbs.  My son Will, who is quite an angler, did not get one until day three....but what a remarkable catch his first ever smallmouth turned out to be!

Below are some of the pics.  By the way, I told him he might as well quit smallmouth fishing, as I doubted he'd ever top his very first (and only!) smallmouth!

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

It's hard to believe, but the pictures do not do this fish justice.  It was so fat, it was nearly round!  I did not dare put the digital scale hook in the fish's gills to weigh it, but instead placed it in the landing net and attached the hook to the rim of the net.

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

In the net, the digital scale bounced between 7 lbs 14 oz and 8 lbs 3 oz!!! I was absolutely astonished...but my son did not consider for a second keeping (and killing) this beautiful fish.  We instead were thrilled to see her swim off back into Watts Bar to grow even larger!

Again, you are truly blessed with the finest fishing of anywhere I've ever been!

God bless,

William

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

MrWiskers, I agree with you that the drum make many a trip an exciting experience...and I appreciate the way that they will sometimes attack lures with reckless abandon!

JerDog, I use live bait when I can catch them but I am also always fishing artificials as well.  I had success with bucktails, sassy shads, and jigging spoons on this trip in addition to the live bait bites.

 

[rsimms]

Awesome stuff... thanks for joinging in and sharing. What a smallmouth. That old girl (or boy) had been gorging on threadfins in a big way. I hope you gave her some Pepto Bismol before you turned her loose! emoBigsmile

 

[craazyboutbass]

Those are awsome fish! And thanks for the pics, we always love pics!

 

[fisherpal2k]

Awsome reports and pics, even belated reports work here. Thanks for the pics and for giving credit when it is due. I am sure BFG would help anyone out there. Glad you got to fish in TN but its still hard to beat the home waters of GA emoLaugh Thanks for the post!emoThumbsup

 

[DHaun]

Welcome to CFF Fisher-o-Men! Thanks for the great report and congrats on the pics of those trophy fish. Please let us know how you do next time you get out on the water!

 

[Fat Albert]

welcome to the site F-O-M. your pics were really cool.. folks die for a chance to hook and land a smallie such as your son caught.. What size line was he using and how long did it take to get her in? The biggest I have is 6 and it was exciting down at Pickwick. emoAngel


AIN'T GOD GOOD???

 

[drumking]

Welcome to CFF F-O-M. Fishing below Watts Bar dam has been the most awesome fishing that I have ever done as well. This year was a little off as far as Stripers go, but there are still a few to catch and your photos certainly prove that. Two years ago, it was super fishing at WB. Hope to see you up there really soon.

 

[Fisher-o-Men]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words and welcomes! I'm glad to be part of this forum.  It's one of the few I've seen where the members truly seem to care about each other and share tips to help people catch more fish!

I'm headed up your way on Friday to fish a couple of days, and I'll be sure to post my results...and the news won't be two months old this time!

I certainly hope it won't be in the 90's like it is here now!

Again, thanks and great fishing to everyone!

William