Fishing Below a Dam

[mikenkesh07]

Anyone fish below any dams...
What do you catch?
Is it better when water is generating or not?
Is live bait better or artificial?
What time of year do you fish?
What is your most successful story?
Got any pictures?

Any info is greatly appreciated. I am trying to get enough info together to write an article. Thanks TNDEER members!

 

[MickThompson]

Current is king. Fish can be caught year round, but species and tactics will differ by season and tailwater.

 

[rsimms]

What do you catch?
Every species that lives in the river (in my case, TN River) congragates below dams due to concentration of bait and oxygenated water.

Is it better when water is generating or not?
Better with generation, up to a point.

Is live bait better or artificial?
Depends on target species and timing... however I typically catch four times as much on bait versus artificial. But SOMETIMES, some fish will prefer artificial. Usually that is because the method required to properly present bait in current.

What time of year do you fish?
12 months... but late March thru June is prime time.

What is your most successful story?
42 lb. striper (on topwater), multiple catfish 70 lbs. or greater, smallmouth bass too numerous to count, TARP bluegill... the list goes on and on.

Got any pictures?
See: https://www.sceniccityfishing.com/photos.html You'll see a Dam in background of LOTS of those photos. And in many others, I simply angled photo direction so you don't see the dam dam.

Anyone fish below any dams...
What do you catch?
Is it better when water is generating or not?
Is live bait better or artificial?
What time of year do you fish?
What is your most successful story?
Got any pictures?

Any info is greatly appreciated. I am trying to get enough info together to write an article. Thanks TNDEER members!

 

[Crosshairy]

I usually fish 5 or 6 times a year below Pickwick Dam (a TN River impoundment).

If you count the water immediately below the dam as well as some of the calmer water downriver, I would consider that setup to be the best setup Tennessee has to offer for catching the highest diversity of fish. My personal record is 10 species of fish caught by rod and reel in a single trip, but I bet others have even more impressive spreads.

I like to plan for a mix of live bait and artificial bait tactics. I check the dam generation schedule (on TVA's website, which also offers a phone app) to make sure there an appropriate amount of flow from the dam for good fishing conditions. For Pickwick, I don't go unless there are at least 2 generators running. Once they start running 100,000+ Cubic feet per second, I also generally avoid going due to the high current.

I love fishing in the spring, but it also offers cooler water fishing during the summer months when not many other places will have fish biting. At those times, it's usually better to get on the water before daylight, as the best activity is typically very early.

On a typical fishing trip where I'm throwing plastic swimbaits and drifting shiners (with or without weights) near the boils of the dam, I am likely to catch any of the following:

largemouth/smallmouth/spotted bass
striped bass / white bass
skipjack herring
drum
catfish (blue, channel, and flathead are all present)
sauger
bluegill and related sunfish
crappie (in slack water)
gar
large shad, especially gizzard shad

I love that - the unpredictability of it makes it much more exciting. When something big bites, you generally have no idea what it is. After feeling it pull and watching its behavior, I like to guess the species and then see if I'm right after battling it up to the surface.