Thread: Crappy Bluegill day at Nickajack. 20119

Dr Phil Gawthrop and I only had 1 hour and 45 minutes to fish before he had to leave for an appointment. We thought that we could put a bunch of Bluegills in the livewell before he had to leave. Wrong! Only one Bluegill in all that time fishing Trout Magnets with crappie nibbles on size 8 hooks and a drop shot weight.

But there were a lot of other fish in that location that were more than willing to have fun this am. Crappie up to 13.75” in length and Yellow Bass in abundance, some big enough for me to keep. I love eating these little fellers. Very tasty and if you haven’t tried them, you should sometime. You will be surprised at how good they are. Be careful with their razor sharp gill plates.

Water temp this am was 46.3 which was a little surprising to me as it was only 44-45 degrees yesterday afternoon on Chickamauga lake. We were fishing Nickajack lake at the Riverpark which is the lake downstream of Chickamauga. But I was with Mr S in his boat yesterday and in mine today, so that may be the difference in water temps.

Our setup was a #6 or #8 jig hook with Trout Magnet and crappie nibble impaled on it. The fish were both shallow and deep. We were sitting in water that was 18 feet most of the time, but we did throw into shallow water from time to time. We kept a few fish and released many in that short period of time. We used two different colors and it didn’t seem to make any difference to the fish.

Originally Posted by M GO BLUE

Way to go DK! ....So you didn't try to throw any flukes on jigheads down there???

They were still spilling at 78,000 cfs and no one fishes that much current. We got out of the current and fish about 50 yards away from the fast water. But, the good Lord willing, Dr Phil and I are going below Watts Bar in the morning and see if we can score. They are scheduled to be running 59,000 cfs and there is one spot that I hope we can fish for Stripers. If not, then we will get in the lock area and fish for Walleyes.