Out last night for a few hours after work. Thought I had a window to dodge some rain showers moving through the area. that didn't work. but at least I was packing rain gear IN the boat this time.Heard it coming through the trees about 6 minutes before it got to me. Down on the river chasing current break fish.
Weather: rainshowers/downpours. on Accuweather, these were 'red cells'. Kept my bilge pump working. Air temps were nice: 78°F. Wind minimal blowing 'down the canyon' where I was. Basically out of the north.
Water temps were 83°F. Clarity was stained with about a foot of visibility. Visibility though was 'variable' as muddy water was coming in from feeder creeks upstream a ways... so there were what I would describe as 'pulses' or 'waves of varied clarity coming through. Not fully mixed.
Chickamauga release rate: 31343 cfs
Nickajack release rate: 29645 cfs
Here's what it looked like
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AM-JKLUvwQ5Mel-u7HKlsqaJ62yb591_OrFJXXeKqLdVespoZ5CLNfUwAUPj_X8W0mHFn0rJcaoTy19OXdAIy44aK4Ax-xZPj1VNmY3uGh6bYz2NdSVUGzyX5-Nm-kDTeNCboNmLXrd7OaPHTqF8PqImaZB0=w1423-h955-no?authuser=0)
started out tossing the new strike king shallow runner in real bluegill pattern 'cause that's what I had tied on. First cast a nice 1.5 lb LMB piles on. Caught three more, each smaller than the previous, off that current seam/break before moving on. Did run some t-rigged soft plastics through a few times with nothing playing.
Kept working UPSTREAM and picking my spots. unweighted and weighted t-rigged soft plastics were the ticket the rest of the way as current shut down and bite got tougher.Best fish of evening was a 17.75 inch LMB from backside of a floating dock. one or two that pushed 15 inches and the rest were assorted smaller sizes.
all of them had 'the heart of a lion' though. mixed bag of LMB, spots and SMB.
That picture to me is absolutely breath taking! Beautiful!
agreed. the fish are usually little guys (mixed spots, lmb and smb), but the scenery and the river are amazing.
more and more houses keep popping up. not sure how I feel about that. but it is what it is I suppose.