Thread: Old Town Lake tips

Planning on taking a trip to OTL here in a couple of weeks, never been on this lake before but heard good reports from buddies of mine that have fished it over the past few years. Just wanted to know if anyone could give some tips on fishing it, i prefer to use jigs and wanted to know some good colors to use also

you aint gonna hear much till after the tourney this weekend. tight lipped when it comes to tournament money...

Mitch26, I fish it regularly and suggest that you use blue/white/ and black/ chartreuse skirt jigs. Use the lightest jig head that you can use. Water temp is still about 8 degrees too cold for the spawn right now. I fished White River Reserve Oxbows last weekend and had no luck. Old Town warms up quicker than the rest of the lakes around there. Try the area on the other side of the lake from the concrete ramp first then work your way north as this part of the lake warms up first. Try the shallower water and fish about 18" deep and if no luck, work the Cypress trees and tops in the center part of the lake. Most of all be careful because that lake is rarey over 6 or 7 feet at its deepest and has cypress stumps all in it. If you are not familiar with the boat lanes you will hit a stump before the day is over.

Originally Posted by Gut Shot

Mitch26, I fish it regularly and suggest that you use blue/white/ and black/ chartreuse skirt jigs. Use the lightest jig head that you can use. Water temp is still about 8 degrees too cold for the spawn right now. I fished White River Reserve Oxbows last weekend and had no luck. Old Town warms up quicker than the rest of the lakes around there. Try the area on the other side of the lake from the concrete ramp first then work your way north as this part of the lake warms up first. Try the shallower water and fish about 18" deep and if no luck, work the Cypress trees and tops in the center part of the lake. Most of all be careful because that lake is rarey over 6 or 7 feet at its deepest and has cypress stumps all in it. If you are not familiar with the boat lanes you will hit a stump before the day is over.

Hit a stump before the day is over??? I was thinking more like the hit one in the first ten minutes:D

If you go across from the ramp and back to the right a bit there is a ditch drainage that comes in, we have stacked 'em up there a few times. Black/char has always worked well for us too on OTL. Catch a bunch.

How did the guys do at the tournament?

Blair, I stayed at Maddox Bay and fished the White River lakes but a few of the people staying there fished Old Town and they did no better than we did ( which was not that good) but I am unsure if they were in the tournament. All indications are that it will still be another week or so. Maybe starting this weekend depending on the weather. Surface temp on the Refuge lakes that I fished were around 50 to 52 degrees.

thanks for the info guys

Mitch. I do not know if you have ever fished Reelfoot lake in Western Tennessee but think of Old Town as a "Mini" Reelfoot. Same thing just smaller. Lots of Cypress trees and shallow. Keep slowly working your way through the treees and tops. When you get on them fish it for a while then move on and come back later. It will not take long to find the pattern once you find a couple of places where they are stacked up. Also keep in mind that this lake is in a rural area and there is only one store on the lake and it has limited supplies. The nearest town that has a WalMart, etc. is about 25 miles away. If you think that you might need it then make sure that you have it before you get to the lake. That includes gas.