First Chickamauga Tailwater Trip

My crappie bite has been falling off, although I know others are catching them good. But yesterday I decided it was time to run my first guide trip in the Chickamauga Dam Tailwaters, searching for a mixed bag. True to form, the tailwaters produced. I started off with live shiners on light tackle. Both anglers were relative newbies, especially ten-year-old Paxton. But the kid was patient and took instructions well - fishing and fighting. Paxton out-fished his great uncle, Taylor, by a long shot. He landed several great bass - largemouth and smallmouth. Taylor caught us a spot to round out their Black Bass Grand Slam. Then it was off in search of catfish. The light tackle, chicken breast bite was just OK and we put several good eater-sized channel and blue cats in the livewell. Then the guys wanted to try for a "big bite." We didn't spend a real long time at it and it was a waiting game. But finally a hefty 17-pound blue bit. Paxton fought it for a little while and then decided it was too hot to handle. He did the "Tag Team" hand-off to Taylor who sealed the deal. It was great fun! Although I heard later that Taylor had an, "Oops!" He apparently dropped one of the bigger cats while cleaning, sending a spine through his leather shoe and into his foot. Ouch! Hopefully the fish fry will help him recover quickly. The last picture is just for the he!! of it - a chance to show off my shiny new Tacoma. Typical Tacoma except I got lots of those newfangled bells & whistles. Now I'm just waiting on ARE to ship my matching camper top. Then RSimms will be ridin' in style again.

That's cool. That boy is spoiled now. He will be wearing his great uncle out to go again!! Good job

Sounds a great day and I'm glad the river isn't rolling like it had been.

Awesome!

Boy will now be a fisherman for life!

Great trip Rsimms! Ok can you settle a debate for me? 1. When do catfish spawn ? 2. Do they stop eating during the spawn ?

hammer33 said:

Great trip Rsimms! Ok can you settle a debate for me? 1. When do catfish spawn ? 2. Do they stop eating during the spawn ?

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I base "the spawn" on when the folks I know who go noodling have the best success. In our part of the Tennessee River, that is generally from mid-June until the end of July. They might noodle some spawning cats before or after that time period - spawning is always a bell curve - but those six weeks are when they have the most success. That is also when we have the least success catching "trophy catfish."

In my humble opinion, catfish do not quit eating, it just isn't their top priority during the spawn - just like bucks. Blue catfish don't become sexually mature until they are about 24 inches long - that's about six years old and/or 7-10 lbs. GENERALLY. We typically always continuing catching decent numbers of those 5-15 lb. catfish even during peak spawning period.

Catfish fight a lot during the spawn. It's not unusually to catch fish that are beat all to he!! after a bigger cat whipped his butt. We do like fishing the post-spawn period. Eating becomes a priority again and the big cats are often hungry and eager to try and fatten up.

Thanks ! A zillion years ago we used to have good luck jug fishing on Priest lake up until mid May. Then it was like a light switching off. We just figured it was the spawn but iit could have been them moving deeper to cooler water I guess.