WATTS BAR 11-20

[SNUFFY]

PUT IN AT ROCKWOOD ABOUT 7;30 RAN TO ISLAND FLAT IN FRONT OF" THE LANDING" TRIED TO FORCE FEED ROGUES AND JIGS .. NO LUCK.... FISHED TO THE BACK OF LONG COVE THROWING CRANKS JIG AND JERKS ALL THE WAY TO BACK......OODDLES OF MINNOWS NO FISH..WENT ACROSS CHANNEL TO ANOTHER COVE CAUGHT NICE 16" FAT PIG SMALLIE ABOUT 2 1/2LB...BIG AROUND AS IT WAS LONG GOT IT ON 1/16 SHAKY HEAD W/SENKO.....WENT DOWN BELOW SAND ISLAND AND GOT ON BLUFF...CAUGHT SEVERAL SMALL SMALLIE AND LARGEMOUTH....AND ONE PIG LARGEMOUTH... JUST KEEPER....FISH MUST BE PIGGING OUT ON MINNERS... AND MY FISHING BUDDY CAUGHT ANOTHER 3LB LARGEMOUTH....CAUGHT A COUPLE ON ROOTBEER BANDIT, COUPLE ON BROWN AND ON BLACK BLUEJIGS...SEVERAL ON SHAKY HEAD W/WATERMELLON SENKO......NOT A BAD DAY AT ALL...VERY FEW BOATS AND A LITTLE ON AND OFF WIND AND ZERO CURRENT...

 

[JerDog]

Sounds like a pretty good day on the water.

Any word on the striper fishing there at Watts Bar below the dam?

 

[SNUFFY]

TALKED TO 3 GOOD OLD BOYS COMING DOWN THE BLUFF IN A LITTLE JON BOAT...AND THEY SAID THEY HAD CAUGHT ALL KINDS OF SMALL BASS AND 15LB DRUM AND BIG STRIPER ON MINNERS... SAW SOME ISOLATED FISH IN SCHOOLS OF MINNERS AND A COUPLE OF THEM WERE FROM LONG DISTANCE AND THEY WERE TOO BIG TO BE BASS...BUT JUST LIKE IT WAS ONE HERE AND THERE NO BIG SCHOOLS....I THINKS THEY`RE CATCHING STRIPERS BELOW MELTON HILL DAM AND THERES NEARLY ALWAYS SEVERAL BOATS BELOW LOUDON DAM....PAPER SAID THEY WERE CATCHING THEM AT THE I-75 BRIGE ON TN RIVER BELOW LOUDON...NEARLY ALL STRIPER FISHING IS DEPENDENT ON THE GENERATION SCHEDULE...HAVEN`T REALLY HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT BELOW WATTS BAR...SHOULD GET BETTER AS IT GETS COLDER THOUGH

 

[polo-dog]

SNUFFY, great to hear that some of the bigger fish are hitting. When you say you got on a bluff, would you say that the fish were right on the bluff face or were they in the eddies above and below the bluff? Most of the main lake fish I've been catching are in the eddies rather than on the vertical bluffs themselves. Were there any small points coming out from the bluff that concentrated the fish? When I catch fish on the bluffs, it's usually on something that I find later after I catch the fish and take a look at the area with my depth machine.

 

[SNUFFY]

THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO RUN VERY LITTLE WATER THRU WATTS BAR DAM AND FROM WHAT I COULD TELL THEY WEREN``T RUNNING ANY ...WE COULD JUST SIT THERE WITHOUT RUNNING THE TROLLING MOTOR AT ALL AND FISH VERTICALLY......SHOULD HAVE DONE THE DROP SHOT THING BUT WE WERE TRYING TO JUST KEY THE "DIFFERENT" STUFF INSTEAD FISHING EVERY INCH OF THE BLUFF...POINTED OUT CROPPINGS , RUBBLE PILES . LITTLE SWAGS WHERE YEARS OF NORMAL EROSION HAVE COLLECTS ROCKS...MOST OF FISH CAUGHT ON THE FIRST LITTLE SHELFS. SOME BIG ENOUGH TO CALL A TABLE MAYBE, DOWN ON THE BLUFF FACE CAUGHT THEM ANY WHERE FROM 8-10 FT DOWN TO 25-30