Watts Bar tailwater Thur 1-4-07

[drumking]

Dr Phillip and I looked for stripers below Watts Bar this morning. We were still looking when we left. Only caught 1 measly white bass the 2 hours that we fished. I did hookup on 1 striper that pulled off. Oh me! Water temp this morning was 49 degrees and 40,800 CFS. There was plenty of bait, birds working, but no fish.

I did get a reply to an email that I sent TWRA concerning striper stocking in the reservoirs. They said that they haven't stocked Chickamauga reservoir, (Watts Bar tailwater) since 1979 because gill netting is allowed on Chickamauga. The stripers that are there come through the lock as barge traffic, boats, etc are locking through. The good news is that they did stock 600,000 stripers in Watts Bar lake in 2006. I need to make a few trips to Loudon dam.emoGeezer

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Yep that's only ONE fish .. but its a nice one!

TT

 

[drc]

Iv'e always thought those were small stripe bass because of the dark color on top. How can you tell the differance between a small white and a small stripe?

 

[fishinvol]

drc - 1/4/2007 9:07 AM

Iv'e always thought those were small stripe bass because of the dark color on top. How can you tell the differance between a small white and a small stripe?

White bass have broken lines and and shorter,and don't get nearly as big. Stripes are long with solid stripes(usually).

Hey Drumking,if you ever want a parter for a Louden trip give me a holler.

 

[rsimms]

RE: stripes vs whites, etc

Let me see if I can confuse this more... white bass is technical name for the fish that many people have ALWAYS called "stripe" (long before rockfish existed).

When rockfish came on the scene as a result of stocking and lots of people started calling them stripers it caused much confusion... and when hybrids came along (a cross between a rockfish and white bass) it got even more confusing.

When I say "stripe" I mean white bass.... the native fish that have always existed in the Tennessee River... when I say "stripER" I mean rockfish... hence I typically always try to use the word "rockfish."

Now to drc's question about telling the difference in small ones... a small rockfish (or stripER) will be very torpedo shaped, so much so you will not be confused. It will be obvious. It is very unusual to catch those small rockfish... I have no idea why.

The fish drumking is holding up is a white bass (stripe). More of a football shape. Typically they'll be a darker green than the small rockfish... however it is always a mistake to depend totally on any fishes color for identification purposes because colors vary dramatically in all species. Physical characterisitics are the only real way to make definitive identifications.

drumking... I knew about the lack of stocking below Watts Bar and to my knowledge there has NEVER been a stocking on Nickajack or in Guntersville. Hence I've always been amazed that those fisheries had ANY rockfish. It was about 15 years ago when biologists dicovered that lo and behold, these supposedly sterile stocked fish were actually reproducing naturally in those rare occasions when environmental conditions were perfect. The most important factor in that is having extremely high water flow during the spawn. I believe rockfish/hybrid eggs must have a minimum of 36 to 48 hours "float" time to successfully hatch. Unless there's a massive of amount of flow, the eggs settle to the bottom and die long before they reach that 36 hour mark. It's my opinion that is one of the reasons we have up and down years in the tailwaters where rockfish are not stocked... when we have particularly strong year classes of natural reproduction. But even among the professionals, there's still a lot of guesswork? The definitive answer will always be to throw a hook out there and see what bites it?

 

[WLG]

Thank you for that info Richard!! I have always wondered the difference. I always enjoy reading your posts on here....I learn alot! Now I just need to hook into one of those BIG STRIPERSemoCool

 

[drumking]

Richard pretty much summed it all up about the differences between white bass and striped bass. The term "rockfish" is a generic term for the stripers that are naturally ocean going fish. Sort of like "bream" is a generic term for sunfish which includes bluegills, redear sunfish, green sunfish, longeared sunfish, coppernosed, pumpkinseed, etc. The list goes on and on with these little critters.

I have only caught 2 or 3 stripers under 5 pounds in my entire life. A two pound striper is torpedo shaped like Rsimms said and is much whiter in color. The are round like a pack of sausage whereas a two pound white bass is wider from back to belly and thinner. The lines are very dark and distinctive and not broken like white bass. White bass, expecially in tailwaters are darker green on top than white bass taken in the lower end of the lakes and I don't know why that is either.

Anyway, if you fillet a white bass and take the red streak off the fillet like you would a striper, it is just as good. I don't like white bass if the red streaks are left on. Too fishy tasting to me, if you know what I mean. emoBigsmile Another month or so and the big white bass will be running in the tailwaters and if you like to fish for them, it is bonanza time. They are easy to catch.emoGeezer

 

[drc]

Thanks for the clearing that up guys! I'll give the white bass a try when they move into the tailwaters (never actually fished for them, just get them on accident sometimes).... what are some good lures to throw?

 

[Guest]

drc - 1/4/2007 4:06 PM

Thanks for the clearing that up guys! I'll give the white bass a try when they move into the tailwaters (never actually fished for them, just get them on accident sometimes).... what are some good lures to throw?

DRC I like to use spoons and silver buddies. small jigs work extremely well too. Sometimes we catch lots of whites on Lake Weiss on Little Georges and Rattletraps. When they are running there is not much that is any more fun to catch and like DK said they are great to eat if you remove the red streak next to the skin. Very firm mild tasting fish.

Cheez

 

[drumking]

drc - 1/4/2007 4:06 PM

Thanks for the clearing that up guys! I'll give the white bass a try when they move into the tailwaters (never actually fished for them, just get them on accident sometimes).... what are some good lures to throw?

In the tailwaters, a 2-3" curly tail chartreuse grub on a jig head is hard to beat. I catch the hound out of them while I'm striper fishing with 4 and 5" flukes and sassy shads, so I know that curly tailed grubs are dynomite.!!

 

[fishinvol]

drc - 1/4/2007 1:06 PM

Thanks for the clearing that up guys! I'll give the white bass a try when they move into the tailwaters (never actually fished for them, just get them on accident sometimes).... what are some good lures to throw?

You tear up some whites on rooster tails too. When nothing else is biting good,it's alot of fun to catch the whites on ultra light tackle!

 

[minner]

Lets not forget the Yellow Bass too. Sometimes they can be lighter color also. At some time or another I have heared all of them correctly or incorrectly refered to as "Stripe". I didn't hear the term rockfish until I moved up here, but I like it. It can be very confusing.

 

[Guest]

Rockfish is pretty much a Tennessee term because when I have mentioned them in many other parts of the country people ask what I'm talking about.

Cheez

 

[polo-dog]

minner, thanks for the pics for comparison. I know that the vast majority of "stripe" that I catch are not white bass but are yellow bass. I think that the quickest and easiest way to tell the difference is to feel the tongue. The white bass has two "tooth patches" or rough patches at the back of the tongue but a yellow bass does not. These species often look very similar and I'm not much on measuring length of anal spines and things like that. Just like figuring out if a fish is a LM or a spot, feeling the tongue is the easiest way that I know of. I rarely see large numbers of yellow bass hearding a school of minnows to the surface and "popping" them, usually this is a big school of white bass. I also rarely if ever catch yellows fishing with a topwater bait but whites will hit topwaters without reservation when they are on the feed.