Chickamauga Lake report: 7/18/2016

**drumking** · 07-18-2016, 10:32 AM

My friend, Ricky, aka love2fish, hit the lake at daylight this AM for a short crappie trip before the 97 degree weather and storms come in. We caught about 20 crappie that had that disease, shortitis, (mouth too close to the tail), but we did manage to take 3 keepers for my supper tonight. We also landed one trashy green fish (LM bass about 1.5 lbs) and a mean 3 lb Smallie that fought like a demon before coming to net. We had a few fish pull off that looked to be big enough to keep, but it is amazing how fast the fish shrink once they get in the boat. Grin.

All my fish came on a Panfish Assassin 2" S&P Phantom with chartreuse tail fished on a 1/24 oz jig head. Ricky caught his fish on Bobby Garland lures in various colors. We tried several different colors and weights. The bites were almost non-existent as there were no "thumps", no line twitches or bites that would give you a clue that a fish was seriously considering eating the jig you just presented to it. One or two times, the lure just seemed to hit bottom after a 25 count, but when you are fishing in 20 feet of water with a 1/24 oz jig, letting it fall on a pendulum presentation, the jig doesn't hit bottom on a 25 count. SET THE HOOK, a crappie has just sucked the lure in his mouth. Other times, the line would slowly begin to tighten up like you were pulling through weeds. SET THE HOOK, a crappie has just sucked the lure in and is slowly swimming toward you or slightly off to the side of you.

We weren't out there all that long. We were off the water before 10 AM, but the wind which was supposed to be calm, was out of the north very slightly, less than 3 mph, and before we stopped, the wind had shifted 180 degrees and was coming out of the SW slightly stronger, but still less than 5 mph I think. TVA running a little current this AM around 15,000 CFS, so that wasn't a problem. We fished off shore stumps, and brush. We also fished some vertical structure (bluffs) that did not yield any keepers, but a few short fish. We located several big schools of crappie, but they didn't want to play very much. Just one or two here and there. Water temp was 85.4 degrees. Ouch. Fish hanging out 15-30 feet deep and on dropoffs. I can't think of anything else to tell you that might help you to catch more fish. If you have any suggestions, just let me know.