RHuff

Care to share a pattern or two for this time of year?? I'm thinking starting at mouths of creeks and pockets and work my way in..... jerkbaits, chatterbaits, wacky rigs?

May get to hit Chickamauga this upcoming weekend (April 22-24).. Anyone been out there this week that would mind to share what's been working? Been there two other times onces in early March when water was being drawn down (fishing was hard) and once in late June when the offshore bite was good but the week after MLF cleaned it out) so both trips I haven't had much luck..... Thoughts on this weekend?

Awesome... I appreciate the info man... Love this forum best community in bass fishing

I gotcha......I appreciate it..... You familiar with anything north of Dayton? All of my fishing has been south of Richland Creek. I've been eyeing at Poe Branch and Dry Branch and Spence Slough..

Surely someone out there can tell us

I should have included this in the OP but its a spot that Andy Morgan used to win a tournament during that same time of year a few years back..

Anyone that's local please fill me in..... I've gotten the chance to fish a tourny there once and pleasure fish a long weekend there last summer during the offshore bite. Both times I launched at Dayton. For shallow I fished several backwater sloughs around the mouth of the Hiwassee River, Sale Creek, and Possum Creek. Offshore I fished several ledges around Sequoyah and in Chester Frost. I have a couple of new places I want to look up when I head back there during the first week of May for a shallow/Bed bite. Can anyone fill me in on an area north up river between Dayton and Watts Bar called "The Branch?" More specifically, the locals refer to it as "Back Slough" and "Bus Slough"? Anyone care to show me where that is and give me an idea of what the lay of the land is like there??

Thank you so much… Def a new jig combo that will be added into the arsenal. Tell Jacob I said thank you and good luck this year!

Thanks man! i’ll patiently wait here

SR-9

Is it just me tho? Or does it not look matte black jighead, plain brown skirt, dark green pumpkin trailer?

Neither tackle warehouse or Keitech directly offers that jig in a matte or flat brown skirt.. Did he use the Keitech jighead and put a custom skirt on it? It appears to be a brown skirt with green pumpkin craw trailer which would closely imitate crawfish..

Can someone help identify what brand jig this is? It’s a finesse jig that Jacob Wheeler was throwing in a MLF Cup event in Texas… The reason I ask is I am having trouble locating a brown matte finesse jig like this…

I have a Triton VT-17 with a 50HP so I can relate.. easy boat to pull and maintain.. easy on gas.. light by bass boat standards so will get blown around by solid wind (I added motorguide tour pro with pin point = game changer).. I get around 32 on gps by myself with calm slick water.. 27-28 loaded with 2 people.. I’d give ranger the lead on fit and finish but either would be a solid boat for a first time owner like I was…Either of those boats will get you to any spot you want to fish. I have ran mine on Chickamauga from Dayton to Chester Frost multiple times with no issues it may just take you longer to get there… Do I wish I had a big rig? Sometimes.. Am I thankful my smaller, less expensive boat is paid for? Every time I see those big rigs ?

Does anyone keep tackle organized based upon conditions? Say, a cold water box for water less than 55 degrees? What about a cold front box? Punching/Heavy Cover box where all your terminal tackle and favorite frogs and soft plastics are kept together? I usually keep all of my tackle organized based upon the types of baits but I thought about re-arranging my tackle into condition specific groups to see if it helps me produce more fish...

And I’m going down tomorrow to fish tomorrow evening and all day on Wednesday.. Where are these spots ?

I have heard that phrase many times over and was curious about how you guys approach this.. For example.. let’s say you roll up onto a lake you haven’t fished in a while and you look at all the variables (time of year, water temp, clarity, weather, map study) and you pick out a place to start as an educated guess on where the fish should be. You throw a chartreuse squarebill around shallow bank brush and catch a nice fish.. 50 yards up the lake you catch another one... then another one... Do you then tie on all sorts of similar size and color squarebills to start dialing it in? Do you tie on a variety of squarebills in different colors to see if anything works better? Do you think “well if they‘re tight to cover I better start flipping a jig or slow roll a spinnerbait to get better quality fish?? When you get that first sign of “letting the fish tell you what they want,” how do you go about taking it to the next step? Tournament guys, too..

Fished it this weekend for the first time.. Sat, Sun, and Mon.. Only caught 5 bass all weekend and none were over 15 inches. Maybe I just suck? The rain rose the lake over 2 and a half ft on Friday and then friday night they dropped it back down a ft.. then another ft on Sat night.. Water temp had also dropped like 3 degrees.. I don’t know man..

I like the Berkley Squarebull.. The Strike King KVD SB Deep.. and the Rapala Bx Brat...

Well, let’s talk about it... Go on.. haha ?

Jerkbait Jig Walking Bait Crankbait Spinnerbait I feel like I can fish fast or slow with those baits from the top to the bottom of the water column and if I don’t get bit on one of those I am not going to get bit

Will do.. Thanks buddy!

ahhh.. So being I run a Triton Aluminum with a 50HP do you recommend me staying on the north end of the lake closest to Dayton? I wanted to try to get down as far as Possum Creek and fish Sale Creek and Grasshopper Creek as well ......

So I am thinking of upgrading my trolling motor on my 2007 Triton Aluminum VT-17 from a 12V to either a new 24V Motorguide Tour Pro or an Ultrex. I want gps anchoring. I have a few questions regarding my battery setup. 1) Does anyone know if the wiring is good enough to handle the upgrade? (I would think it should be being a Triton) 2) I currently run an interstate deep cycle and an interstate marine cranking battery. On my cranking battery, I actually have three leads and I cannot figure out what the last lead is used for. I have the black to the negative terminal, an orange one to the positive (boat starts and runs fine, has for years) and a red terminal that isn't hooked up to anything. Would anyone happen to know what the red is used for? Also, I understand I would need to add a second battery of the same type in order to run them in line at 24V. I would also add either a 50amp fuse or circuit breaker to the positive lead for the upgrade.

I’m hoping the lake will be back up close to normal pool by then but I know it’s probably unlikely isn’t it