Thread: watts bar

Originally Posted by bkgooch

is anyone catching any crappie on watts bar now.i dont seem to here much info bout that lake.

Pretty tight lipped bunch around WB ... that's for sure. I ain't sure if that indicates that nothing much is being caught (or any of any size), or they're killing'em & just don't want the word to get out

It's a great lake, and I love to fish it, and support the local economy .... but, unless the fishing gets much better than it has been (for me & my buds) over the last several years, I can't justify the expense of a 4hr drive each way ... 3days lodging costs, bait & food costs, license costs, etc ... when I can fish locally & do just as good or better. In fact, I'm doing just that, next month ... when I would normally be going to WB, I'm going to Green River Lake (Ky) for my Fall fishing trip. And if I don't get any substantiated reports of a better Spring in 2013 ... I won't be making the trek, then, either.

I'll miss going, & fishing that lake ... but, when it comes to spending my hard earned money, and convincing my buds to part with theirs, it's got to result in a better outcome than what we've experienced in recent years. My buds & I have fished that lake for over 20yrs ... so it's not like we're newbies to this body of water. There are some other site member friends that fished it for the last 10 or so years ... and even they aren't making any return plans, for the forseeable future.

... cp

Ditto!

Watts bar is full of short fish. Most of the guys I talk to catch good numbers but no keepers. You hear a lot of "caught 25 or 30 but only 3 keepers". Should be good next spring if these fish grow at all over the winter. I fished it eight or nine times this year and have been disapointed with size and numbers. I do better on the chic.

Originally Posted by deedoe

Watts bar is full of short fish. Most of the guys I talk to catch good numbers but no keepers. You hear a lot of "caught 25 or 30 but only 3 keepers". Should be good next spring if these fish grow at all over the winter.

This is what I've heard, too ... not only from my other site member friends that fish WB, but from the locals they've talked to when they were there (over the last couple of years).
One can only hope that these fish survive & grow, and that next Spring's spawn is a success. WB has the potential to be a really good Crappie lake, that would draw business from near & far. Maybe it's cycling back up to having the numbers of good sized fish, that it used to have a decade ago. One can only hope so !!

... cp

Checked in on WB yesterday for about an hour. The usual spots yielded about 10 fish in an hour of fishing,
but none were keepers...all about 8" to almost 10" . I do expect it to get better...but no promises !