skipjack???
 

Anyone catching any at oh dam, gsp, or cordell hull, maybe even cheatham dam?

Bump

skipjacks
 

Plenty of jacks at boils gsp couple days ago.

Being from IN I would ask what a skipjack is?

It's a river herring i believe and it's great catfish bait and striper bait.

AKA Tennessee Tarpon due to their pound for pound relentless fighting abilities. Straight up fight from hook up til you land them

They are a member of the herring family, and they are one of the premier baits for cats and stripers. They are also a blast to catch on light tackle. They fight like a miniature tarpon, and look like it, too...hence the nickname "Tennessee tarpon."


Chris

Skipjack Herring
 

http://www.tnfish.org/PhotoGalleryFi...rNegus_jpg.jpg

http://www.tnfish.org/PhotoGalleryFi...rNegus_jpg.jpg

Wow, they get that big? I bet they're a blast to catch on ultralight rigs! Ummm...what size do folks usually use for striper bait?

Thanks for the information. I'll be there before sun up tomorrow launching out of flippers. I hope to get some skipjack for stock and some kitty cats. If anyone wants to say hi I'll be by myself in a grey 17ft xpress aluminum boat with no trolling motor. Some idiots hit my boat and broke the head off my trolling motor.

If you fly fish I think a white streamer can out fish spin tackle. Great times.

Trophy class Bait ... <'TK><
 

The average skippie around here runs between half a pound to two pounds. Biggest one I've ever caught was a hair over three pounds. The world record is 4 pounds, out of Watts Bar - I think there may have been another skipjack that tied this one out of Old Hickory, but I couldn't find anything to confirm that this morning.

For the fly fishermen, a pink and white clouser minnow is deadly. If you're not catching fish, you're probably not fishing fast enough.

By the way, if you can't find any skipjack at the Steam Plant boils, try going downstream to the ash pond discharge and fishing there. I can usually find some clustered up in that area starting around Thanksgiving. They usually tend to be smaller than the ones around the Steam Plant, but if you're desperate for bait, they're better than nothing.

bd

They sound like they would be a lot of fun on a light fly rod. Sounds like a pink and white clouser is a good place to start. How deep do they usually reside?

I did a bunch of surf fishing down in the FL Panhandle this year and caught a mess of what they call skipjack or ladyfish. They're fun to catch out of saltwater too! There is one as my profile pic...