Kayak Trip Report, Cotaco Creek

I fished Cotaco today from 7AM till around 5PM. The water was 64 degrees when I started and had warmed to 70 by the time I left. I put in at Sharps Ford and fished the bridge back down to the Tennessee River finding baitfish schools and willing fish all down the creek. I kept 9 the size I like (9 to 10 inches) and returned 46 that were larger. No slabs, but lots of 11 to 12 inches fish. Shorts were everywhere along will gills, stripe and a few bass early. All Crappie came off single pole on laydowns with fish 4 to 6 feet deep. I'm continuing to use the 1/30oz jig head and the WormZ in Chartreuse. Visibility is a foot to 18 inches.

I found a five-foot Gator sunning today and later a four foot. I'm beginning to think they're my good luck charm.

Attachment 495547

Four Foot Gator

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Five Foot Gator

Good report and nice pics of the gators.

I wholeheartedly agree on the gators being crappie magnets! I've caught a few right under their noses :biggrin

I've jig either side of a few Gators heads when it's cold and they're sunning on a log. They usually won't move and get back into the colder water and I've hooked a few Crappie under the log they're lying on, LOL!

By the way, fish were biting good from daylight until about lunch time, fishing got hard after lunch. I probably caught 80% of my fish early.

Big ol lizard.

Little lizard.

The big boy is in Limestone!

Great report, thanks DB!!

I go to cotaco you report a limit in Indian. I go to Indian you report killing them at cotaco. lol. I know there’s more to it than that. I caught a few small ones but couldn’t keep catfish away. I caught 8 or 9 channel cat on a jig. Should have kept them. I talked to a couple boats that said they had caught some earlier at cotaco but wasn’t having any luck at Indian. And I did get a pretty late start.


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I stayed home today and cooked fish for lunch.

I'll give you a yell in a couple weeks if you'd like to link up on Saturday or Sunday. I usually start early though!