Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis C.
Depending on how recent you have been fishing it, the water has been kind of messed up with generation and holding water.
Usually this time of year with "normal" conditions you can find fish from up lake to the Dam in all stages of spawn from pre to post. I haven't been recent enough to be on top of them right now. Based on history the creeks should be doing pretty well. Pick a big one that feeds the main lake and fish it top to bottom. You will find the fish.
Shaky's are a good bait there. There is no real depth they don't excel at. I would not limit yourself to just that though. Chart/white spinnerbaits, big worms and cranks all have a role too. With bluegill getting ready to spawn or some may be on, I would definitely have a gill swimbait or a chartruse jig to swim around those shallow silty bottoms.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim
Old Hickory is not the easiest bass fishing lake. It takes a little while to figure out the patterns. With that said, the bass fishing on OH has been really good this spring compared to some years for both largemouth and smallmouth. It seems like a lot of fish and some really bigs ones are being caught. Like most years the bite has moved around with bass staging to spawn. There was a good early spawn this year and we are still catching many bass with beat up tails (spawning).
A couple general hints. The emergent grass near the mouth coves has been holding a lot of fish recently. They are not always right up in the grass but are within a long cast of the grass on a drop off if not in the grass.
Also, the shaky head is good, but not the only good bait. I have seen the retrieved speed be very slow on most days. This is when the shaky heads and all soft plastics do well. Maybe you are just fishing the good areas too quickly. It is hard to slow down if you are not sure if you are in a good area, but there are a lot of good areas on OH and plenty of bass. Once you find them, you can catch them from that area for the next few weeks at least.
Good luck,
Jim
|
Jim,
Your suggestion that I may be fishing too fast due to my uncertainty may be dead on...I had never considered that. I'll try to slow down and see if that helps. Also, about the only place I've found any fish so far is in grass. But I've been fishing around the immediate edges and not out from it any. I'll definitely give that a shot. But regarding the drop offs near grass, would a crank bait be the best option? It seems as though, lately, I've been reading a lot about spinnerbaits being the go-to bait right now.
Again, thanks for your suggestion to slow down...I think it's a good one!