I have been a poor contributor here lately. I feel bad about that. It's certainly not because we haven't been fishing. It's because we've been fishing too much. Business is booming. :super:
And we're catching fish... it's not coming easy, but we're keeping folks happy. Some years the catfish get in solid set patterns and we can almost predict exactly what we'll catch each day, and where we'll catch it. This year however, EVERY day is different. Each morning I hit the water, I never know exactly where we're going or what pattern we'll use. Thankfully, often by using Plan A, B, C, D, E and even F... we find something that works.
For 2 or 3 weeks, for the first time EVER in my eleven-year guiding life, I started fishing at Watts Bar Dam rather than Chickamauga. The Chickamauga bite got tough. :bash: But Watts Bar produced VERY well! Thankfully, the Chickamauga/Nickajack bite has picked back up some, but we still need some rain so we get more water flow. If you want numbers, in general most Full Day catfishing trips have resulted in 25 - 30 quality cats, sometimes with a trophy or two in the mix. However we topped out on one incredible day with 63 cats, including at least four trophy class fish. Those are fish that meet the minimum qualifications for the TWRA "Tennessee Angler Recognition Program." The catfish are beginning to spawn. That means our trophy blue bite slows down some this time of year. But blue cats don't reach sexual maturity until they are 5 - 7 years old. That means those immature cats, that can easily weigh 10 to 15 pounds, remain very active.
If anybody ever wants/needs some fishing info from Southeast Tennessee, feel free to ask. We're always happy to share whatever we can.
Check out the Scenic City Fishing Photo Galleries. And here's a few of videos and photos from some of our recent exploits.
[youtube]OPKmB_S-y70[/youtube]
[youtube]ylfEMiOsv7Q[/youtube]
[youtube]312xg03q8zs[/youtube]
[youtube]P1LZSx9TLd4[/youtube]
And we're catching fish... it's not coming easy, but we're keeping folks happy. Some years the catfish get in solid set patterns and we can almost predict exactly what we'll catch each day, and where we'll catch it. This year however, EVERY day is different. Each morning I hit the water, I never know exactly where we're going or what pattern we'll use. Thankfully, often by using Plan A, B, C, D, E and even F... we find something that works.
For 2 or 3 weeks, for the first time EVER in my eleven-year guiding life, I started fishing at Watts Bar Dam rather than Chickamauga. The Chickamauga bite got tough. :bash: But Watts Bar produced VERY well! Thankfully, the Chickamauga/Nickajack bite has picked back up some, but we still need some rain so we get more water flow. If you want numbers, in general most Full Day catfishing trips have resulted in 25 - 30 quality cats, sometimes with a trophy or two in the mix. However we topped out on one incredible day with 63 cats, including at least four trophy class fish. Those are fish that meet the minimum qualifications for the TWRA "Tennessee Angler Recognition Program." The catfish are beginning to spawn. That means our trophy blue bite slows down some this time of year. But blue cats don't reach sexual maturity until they are 5 - 7 years old. That means those immature cats, that can easily weigh 10 to 15 pounds, remain very active.
If anybody ever wants/needs some fishing info from Southeast Tennessee, feel free to ask. We're always happy to share whatever we can.
Check out the Scenic City Fishing Photo Galleries. And here's a few of videos and photos from some of our recent exploits.
[youtube]OPKmB_S-y70[/youtube]
[youtube]ylfEMiOsv7Q[/youtube]
[youtube]312xg03q8zs[/youtube]
[youtube]P1LZSx9TLd4[/youtube]
