Center Hill trip

[fisherman550]

Camped at Floating Mill 7/25-7/29. I troll for walleye, but only got one walleye, some nice spots and a few good sized blue cats. Water on the lower end of the lake from about Hurricane bridge all the way to the dam looked like tea. I went all the way to Davies Island looking for clean water. Found it there and trolled the island and in to Johnson's Chapel ramp, then back out to the island. Water was better looking, but no fish. I got the one walleye within a couple of hundred yards of the ramp at Floating Mill. Water temps started about 86* early in the morning, all the way up to 94* in late afternoon. Trolled crawlers on spinners. Thinking I may wait until September to go back-just too hot to stay out there all day right now and I'm too set in my ways to try to night fish-I would go to sleep and fall out of the boat.
Interesting note: Late yesterday afternoon I saw something on the bank that got my attention. It was two rattlers doing the "mating dance". Never saw that before, and to be honest, don't want to see it again. They let me get really close, but my camera is broken, so no pics.

[Travis C.]

Has the lower lake levels affected your fishing up there?

It has been a really long time since I fished that side of the Dam.

[fisherman550]

I've gotten used to the lower levels, so they don't bother me much now. Had trouble finding the right places to fish when they first lowered it though. They are actually keeping it up a little over 2 feet above where they have had it for the past few years.
Will probably have to learn it all over again when they raise the water though.

[bd-]

Woah - 94 degrees? Those surface temps are insane! That's like a hot tub.

I'm not surprised it was slow - even if it's a bit cooler down deep, I'm sure the fish would rather wait until after dark for it to cool down before they'd want to go chasing food around. I'm like you though - I just never have enjoyed night fishing very much. At the rate we're going, it may still be too hot in September - you might have to wait until mid-October!

The tea-colored water on the lower lake is weird. We haven't had enough rain to discolor the water. Even if we did get some, the ground is so dry there would not be much runoff. My best guess is that there is a massive algae bloom going on. We had a ton of rain in the spring, which has surely flushed large amounts of "organic material" into the lake. That acts like a big dump of fertilizer - indeed, much of the material is fertilizer runoff and livestock waste from farms upstream, as well as water treatment byproducts from upstream towns like McMinnville. This organic fertilizer and the extremely hot surface temps create a greenhouse of sorts for algae to grow out of control.

It will be bad news for the lake's water quality as the year progresses and the algae starts to die off. At that point, the amount of bacteria in the lake increases, and the bacteria consume dissolved oxygen, especially in the deeper cooler water where the fish are currently seeking thermal refuge. Fish have to choose between having tolerable water temperature and having enough oxygen.

I noticed that the Corps is already opening a sluice gate during generation now, which is a sign that dissolved oxygen in the deep water coming through the dam is already depleted. It is really unusual to see that happening in July. Most years, we make it until at least mid-September before the oxygen levels get so low that the sluicing is necessary.

bd

[fisherman550]

I know it would put some material into the lake, but I would love to see a couple of good heavy rains at night, or very early in the morning while the air temp. is cooler-I think that would drop the surface temp a few degrees.
I had to get in the water a few times each day just to cool off-water temp around my knees and lower was a few degrees cooler.

[bd-]

I agree that some rain would help. You don't get as much runoff from summer rains as you do from the big spring rains, so it doesn't result in quite as much "nutrient loading." And it would definitely cool the surface temp a bit. I'd even be happy with some days with some clouds in the sky instead of 100 degree sun blazing down all day.

bd

[fisherman550]

I had a call from a friend in Decherd today. He fishes Tim's Ford a lot. He got a limit of walleye today (Sunday) Very bright sky, high water temps, but he said the water is clear there. Wonder what the difference in the two lakes are...hmmm-have to be something different to make them turn off at Center Hill and turn on at Tim's. I'm going to go fish with him next week. I will try to figure something out and report here. Also talked with him while he was fishing there yesterday-it was raining a little and overcast-he only got one walleye then.

[bd-]

That murky water might be your difference. If I'm right that there has been a big algae bloom on Center Hill and now the deep water oxygen is depleted, the walleye might be stressed from being forced into warmer water to breathe. That wouldn't put them in an eating mood. If Tim's is clear and still has some oxygen in the deeper water, the walleye may be more willing to eat there.

bd

[thehick176]

Fished Center Hill last night from 7 pm until 4 am. Put in at Hurricane and the water was tea colored like I've been hearing about. We ended up doin ok with smallmouth and spots fishing points at the mouths of the creeks. Jigs and spinnerbait were all we could get bit on.

I found it odd that the water temp stayed right around 90.8- 90.1 all night long. My home lake Old Hickory cools at least a couple degrees at night.

[Travis C.]

I found it odd that the water temp stayed right around 90.8- 90.1 all night long

That is not good in late July early August for the tailwater. :(

[thehick176]

Do you think the tea-like water color had something to do with holding heat like that all night long? I know Old Hickory isnt the clearest of lakes but even it loses 1-4 degrees during the night.
The bass we were catching on the points fluctuated depths all night. One point would have them in 2-5ft then we would hit another identical point and they would be in 17-20 ft. But, thats Center Hill for you, she makes you work for everything she gives up!

[fisherman550]

I think you may be onto something about the colored water holding the heat. We were trolling in about 20 feet, running our spinners close to the bottom. We did catch several spots at those depths. We put two of them in the livewell to eat. They did very well in there, even after a few hours in those temps-not much sign of stress at all. The one walleye rolled over after less than an hour, but we got it on ice, so it didn't go to waste. It went to waist instead :)