East TN Afternoon Fun

Seeing all the pics of these big bluegill caught lately has had me itching to bust out the ultralight gear. I spent a few hours on the water yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, we don't have any copper nose here in East Tennessee, but I still enjoy the 6-8" fish that are plentiful in our waters. Caught a few 8" fish drop shotting off a rocky point 18-20 feet deep. Caught several more throwing a purple haze trout magnet. I'm sure my catch rates on the trout magnet would improve greatly if I could ever master Alphahawk's twitch method. All in all it was fun day and that is what fishing is all about.

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Nice catch. You know our waters here in TN don't have copper nose...and doubt we ever get them in our public waters. I have not fished for bluegill in the north eastern part of TN but have fished all the lakes in Southeast TN....Middle TN.......and a lot of lakes in West TN. Many lakes just don't grow 9 inch bluegill. Below the dam at Cordell Hull you will find thousands of Gills stacked below that dam in summer but they will all be around 5-6 inches. The 3 TWRA Lakes that are in Williamsport TN could have giant bluegill but the lakes are small and the creel limit is twenty a day. In the spring for about 50 days straight anywhere from one to two thousand Gills are taken home each day. They just don't have time to get big. But KY Lake....Pickwick......Center Hill.....Guntersville...the part in TN.......and Dale Hollow have some great Gill fishing with 9 inch fish quite common. But no matter I have fun catching what the lake gives up. Today I was fishing from the bank out at Willamsport and the fish were only 6-7 inches but it was a lot of fun. My boat should be ready to put in the water on or before 15 September......the first place I am heading is below Pickwick Dam and fish the dam wall right under the spill gates hoping to catch a bunch of 9 inch Gills that are so dark they look black. Meanwhile I will still beat the banks and catch what I can, and like you, have a lot of fun doing it.


Regards

Nice catch, thanks for posting.

Nice looking mess.

Nice looking gills... I'm in east tn myself... I'm really close to va shoot me a pm if you think you might be close! I use a lot of tm's myself

Nice mess of fish - best eating size. I like the 8" & 9" BGs to eat, less waste on the fillets, and (I think) the best tasting fillets...

"All in all it was fun day and that is what fishing is all about." X 2

Ah - have you tried float tubing? Use to really enjoy it - wish I could still do it...

VaCrappieMan I live about 15 minutes west of Knoxville so I'm probably a couple hours away from you unfortunately. I usually fish Watts Bar, Fort Loudon, and Melton Hill lakes.

Good to get out on a mess of gills. Thanks for sharing.

I'm in kingsport so yeah we got a little distance between us... I'm hoping to try Douglas sometime

Also... On the tm if your gills like purple haze they might like purple redemption even better... I have good luck on it... Happy fishing!