I am taking my wife out to Knoxville for a reunion the 28,29 & 30 of march any where there I might find a spot to scare up a crappie?
Dirtdgger
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I am taking my wife out to Knoxville for a reunion the 28,29 & 30 of march any where there I might find a spot to scare up a crappie?
Dirtdgger
Douglas would probably be your best bet, maybe some of the guys that fish up that way can offer some more info.
Boat or shore? I can give you some good places in the Concord/Turkey Creek area on Ft Loudon and below Ft. Loudon Dam from the bank.
I'll Be fishing from the shore. I thought while she was at her reunion I would get in some fishing.
Dirtdgger
Well, below Ft. Loudon dam on the lock side is where I have had the most luck. There are steps and a side walk where you can fish and then riprap/chunk rock on out past the end of the sidewalk. There is a specific spot where there is a gravel bed on the bottom and supposedly a spring enters the lake there, too. Some days you can be 10 yards to either side of it and not catch a thing, usually you can walk up and down and find a fish or two here and there. They really bite good from daylight till about 8:30-9am and then pick back up later in the day. A lot of times it seems like you can catch 4-5 real quick, then nothing for about 30-45 minutes then a few more, etc. Most everyone uses a float and fly, they seem to outfish minnows there probably 5 to 1. You have to get there super early, especially on Friday, Sat, and Sunday to get a good spot. PM me and I'll tell you exactly where I catch them. I'm a little protective of that one! It seems like every time I go there are more people there, last time I went I was catching a few and no one else was, one guy walked about 5'-10' to my left and one to my right and started casting right on top of me. I have gotten there at 6:30 am before on Saturday, daylight was after 7, and there was already 8-10 cars in the parking lot.
In the concord area on Ft. Loudon, there is an old bridge where they built a new wider bridge directly beside it, and left the old one for people to fish off of and under. They even put in a Port-A-John. It is about 10 minutes or less from my work, I run down there on my meal breaks which are usually at 8-9am, (I work early) and fish minnows and jigs around the pilings from above. The only problem you run into is if it is windy, since you have 30' of line between you and the water, and a big swoop in it from the wind, and pretty soon you can't feel those light bites. But anyway the pilings are "H" shaped, the fish seem to hang right under the cross piece on the side facing the main channel. I have had by far the best luck by tying a small jig head on a dropper loop maybe 12"-16" up and then another on the end of my line. I put a minnow on the top one and a Bobby Garland or a marabou on the bottom. I have tried it with two jigs or two plastics, but without the minnow I didn't get a single fish. Every time they hit the jig, except for one time when I got a double, a fish on both. I thought I had hooked one H of a crappie or maybe a small stripe until I got it up and saw it was two. I swing it back up under the bridge so it lands right beside the cross piece, close the bail and let it fall alongside it. Sometimes they may be right up near it, other times a little deeper. I start shallow and if I don't get a bite I'll count it down in increments until I do. In about 30-40 minutes I caught 10 on Monday and 9 last Friday, I think it was, doing that. If one piling doesn't produce I try the other ones and the other sides, etc. You can also walk down under the bridge from both ends and cast to the first piling, the rest are too far. A lot of people night fish there too for crappie and also channel cats, they catch skipjack from the bridge with minnows and cut them up.
Honestly if I had to choose, I would probably go to the bridge, I have maybe caught bigger fish at the dam, but they are really funny, if they turn on the generators or shut them off, sometimes they will start to bite really good for about 30 minutes and sometimes they will just completely shut down and not hit anything. If they bring a barge through the lock, generally the fish will totally quit. Its about 45 minutes from my house, so it's frustrating when I drive that far and can't catch anything. I feel like I have to stay half the day because of the gas to get there. I'm off Friday and if this cold snap goes away I'm going to the bridge. To get there, take Concord Rd. from Kingston Pike, left at the light, when you come to the roundabout, take the first exit to the right, and then you will see the bridge. There is a bait shop on the left just before the roundabout where you can get some minnows. There are also some fishing "piers" along through there too where TWRA has put in some brush and stuff, but they get pretty heavily fished.
Wow, I sure do appreciate the info! I think I will try the bridge sounds like a good spot. I'll give it a try and let you know how I do. I got familiar with Knoxville this past year when my wife was out there I came out every two weeks so I should be able to find the bridge I really like the Knoxville area and the smokie mountains.
Dirtdgger