2022 12 03 nickajack TN River

[coldfront]

weather was just too good to pass up today.  plus forecast for next two weeks shows quite a bit cooler.

light rain, overcast (obviously), light wind and TVA was running current at 45000cfs which positions fish nicely and makes eddies, current seams a lot easier to find/read.  Water was clear/green with about 2 feet or more of visibility.  Water temperature was 55.5°F and has been about that for past few weeks.  STeady.  waiting a bit on the rain had me on the backside of the cold front.  good day to find CURRENT... as current fish are a heck of a lot more willing to play.

Woke up to rain.  worked on breakfast, finding proper layers and the heaviest drops to move out.

got out on the river and fished the usual suspects:  shad imitators.  Couple of small, but fat spots jumped on the 3" keitech easy shiner (1/16 ounce ballhead jig) early.  got one to 'go' on a shad pattern DT6.  Then a big cabin cruiser came through, put up a 3-foot swell and trashed the shoreline (muddy, muddy, muddy).  tried to work the mud-line, but no fish.
moved on to a different section of river and kept on tossing the 'finesse' keitech. Bites were steady.  Probably swing about 20 over the side today.  about even mix of spots and smallies.  a few largemouth were in the mix.  no giants.  all in that 12 -15 inch class.

ran the 1/16 ballhead keitech easy shiner on spinning tackle with an 8# flouro leader.  also had a 1/8 ounce ballhead threaded with a keitech fat swing impact 2.8 swimbait.

could use any color I wanted;  but the fish were pretty dialed in on the 'sight flash' color.  even more than that?  needed 'just a touch' of chartreuse added to the tail to really get the commit.

couple of the better fish.




yoiu can see how I rig and color the bait in this shot



a little later in the year, will start to rotate in the jig-worm (berkley half-moon head and the 4" max scent flatworm).

[Donald Garner]

CF, congrats on another successful outing.  Tks for sharing the trip and those pictures with us also.