Watts Bar 5/9

Went out today and caught a few. Got started probably around 8-8:30am. I was just drifting and tight lining minnows in a cove below Tellico dam. I caught a bunch that were short and ended up with 3 keepers. I am still getting used to my boat and trying to control the trolling motor and watch my rods at the same time, I know I missed several fish trying to keep the boat pointed the right way. I was using two rods at first, but I gave up on that pretty quick, you know how it is, every time I would get a bite on one I'd reach for it, and about that time the other would start, and I'd miss both. Or I'd be trying to put a minnow on one and get a bite on the other. :juggle It also seemed like they would only hit it once for just a split second, and by the time you could grab it out of the rod holder they were long gone. I had to just hold the rod to be ready to set the hook right away. After a while the crappie quit and I started catching small channel cats and yellow bass. I moved down the lake then to find some new spots, didn't catch any more crappie but caught 2 largemouth, a smallmouth, and several more channels.

The crappie were kinda scattered, they were all suspended anywhere from a foot off the bottom to maybe only 3 feet deep in probably 15-20 FOW and the females all still had eggs in them. I tried a really good looking bank that had a sandy, gravely bottom and a bunch of submerged brush, it was on a kind of shallow flat right off a bend in the channel, that's where I caught the bass but no crappie.

sounds like you are getting the hand of it and finding spots/areas to fish. thanks for sharing the report.:ThumbsUp

Good report, the one female I caught yesterday still had eggs as well, and all the big fish were deep, staying 1-2 feet off bottom everywhere I went. Felt like I needed a dredge to catch fish. LOL. Be glad you had action on both rods, some days you won't have any action and then you wish for just one bite.

With fish still having eggs it should be good this week with the full moon. Go get them if you have a chance. I will be working my butt off this week to get caught up so I can get out next weekend. Good report. You will be an expert with the trolling motor in no time.