Alright, our next club tournament is going to launch underneath the Chickamauga Dam. There's a lot of rip rap in that part of the river, and I don't really know how to fish it. I've only caught fish using green pumpkin senkos down there. There will be a good bit of current and stained water, but I'm not sure what else to expect. I could probably also throw out some lipless cranks, sqaurebills, spinnerbaits, and the Tennessee rig (3 wire AL rig). My boater said that he would most likely be fishing tubes, and that we will probably be fishing pretty shallow. I don't like fishing the regular tubes, but I may try some fat ikas. How would you go about fishing this?

Squarbills or lipless cranks from what you said. Never count out the senkos or maybe just maybe a swim jig or chatter bait.

 

When is the tournament and do you know how deep you'll wanna fish?

Squarbills or lipless cranks from what you said. Never count out the senkos or maybe just maybe a swim jig or chatter bait.

 

When is the tournament and do you know how deep you'll wanna fish?

The tournament is actually not until the end of this month on the 29th. My boater said that we won't be fishing deep, so I'm expecting a max. depth of about 10ft. I may also try some swim baits, like Berkley's new ripple shad. I forgot to mention that there's a HUGE shad population here. 

The tournament is actually not until the end of this month on the 29th. My boater said that we won't be fishing deep, so I'm expecting a max. depth of about 10ft. I may also try some swim baits, like Berkley's new ripple shad. I forgot to mention that there's a HUGE shad population here. 

If there's a bunch of shad you could go with a spinner bait, or swim bait as you said. Can't forget a possible top water bite! Hopefully it'll warm up by then and the bite will be on! From what you said if I had to choose 5 things to start with I'd say Square bill, Spinner, Swim Jig with a smaller swim bait trailer, Your favorite Top water bait, and a Zoom fluke fished to your choice!

 

But what do I know! 

My boss fishes there a lot and he said he mainly fishes jigs or tubes

My boss fishes there a lot and he said he mainly fishes jigs or tubes

That's what my boater said he would most likely be fishing. We're launching out of Riverpark , so we may even go down river towards Nickajack. I'm not planning on it though.

He told me today he will also throw a deep diving crank let it hit off the bottom and float up a bit for a reaction strike... Trigs are out too many snags

Jigs, tubes, big grubs, cranks

Suspending jerkbait, #7 shad rap, and a t rigged tube or a small football jig. Down there you'll catch a lot of spots up on the bank, but the bigger smallmouth tend to live out off those rip rap banks on the current seams. A jerkbait will catch the bigguns.

Bottom contact is slow right now. The action is mostly jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits and The Rig.