• Help Support TNDeer:

Walleye fishing...newby

T

Tenntrapper

Well-Known Member
TNDeer Supporter
Joined
Aug 29, 2016
Messages
11,101
I have been wanting to try walleye fishing, but don't really have a starting point. I have never fished for them, or even accidentally caught one. We live at Cherokee lake, and I've been told they are in there. Any suggestions on where to try, what kind of bait, etc. I know absolutely nothing about it. Thanks
 
To get started slow troll a live nightcrawler on a worm harness behind a 1/2 - 3/4 ounce weight rigged Carolina style. There are videos on line showing this and other methods.
 
I am NOT a walleye expert by any means. But I do know enough to be able to go catch a mess of them to eat when I get the hankering to go. I have never been able to figure the lake fish out, so my experience is just in dam tail waters. You'll want a little bit of waterflow. I catch most of mine near rock piles or isolated big rocks. Trolling and drifting. Have had great success on trolling crankbaits like Bomber Long As and Rapala Shad Raps in the 2 to 3 inch body sizes. Same goes for trolling 3 inch grubs on jig heads. I like to use 2 jigheads and grubs spaced about 10 inches apart, and two different color grubs. Some days they will hit any color. Some days all your bites may just come on one color. Some times you can't keep other fish off your lures long enough to catch walleye. If white bass and drum are running, they can be fun to catch but a pain when you are specially going for walleyes. It's boring trolling and or drifting but it gets the job done. I like winter time best. The colder, the better.
 
Since the steam plant has been shut down and demolished a few years ago the biggest concentration of walleye now are up in the upper end of the lake. Seeing as how there is no longer a warm-water discharge below the John Sevier dam the fish don't seem to migrate back down in the lake as the water warms up during late spring-summer like they did 4-12 years ago. They are pretty much resident to the current flow year round now. While they can be caught "accidentally" any time of the year, your best odds of catching limits on a regular basis is in the January to April timeframe. Upper dam to Robinson Creek area will have the highest concentration. You can catch them consistently by vertical jigging a heavy fly/minnow combo or by trolling shallow running crankbaits/jerkbaits. Most people jig coming downstream with the current and then by trolling back upstream to repeat the process.
 
sll":368murn8 said:
Since the steam plant has been shut down and demolished a few years ago the biggest concentration of walleye now are up in the upper end of the lake. Seeing as how there is no longer a warm-water discharge below the John Sevier dam the fish don't seem to migrate back down in the lake as the water warms up during late spring-summer like they did 4-12 years ago. They are pretty much resident to the current flow year round now. While they can be caught "accidentally" any time of the year, your best odds of catching limits on a regular basis is in the January to April timeframe. Upper dam to Robinson Creek area will have the highest concentration. You can catch them consistently by vertical jigging a heavy fly/minnow combo or by trolling shallow running crankbaits/jerkbaits. Most people jig coming downstream with the current and then by trolling back upstream to repeat the process.
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the part of the lake above about Rogersville, that I would consider the river? I'm not very familiar with that part, just trying to clarify. I'm really only familiar with the part between Jefferson City and Morristown. Thanks
 
Yes, from the Melinda's Ferry bridge to the steam plant is what I am referring to. From 2004-2010 the walleye fishing in the middle to lower end of the lake that you are familiar with was great in the summer months trolling bottom bouncers in 18-25 feet of water. This was after the fish had made their annual spring spawning run upstream (even though the biologist say they do not actually reproduce in this lake, but they still have the urge to perform the migrating ritual) and started moving back down in the cooler, deeper water of the main lake in the May/June timeframe. Since the steam plant was taken down, there is not as much hot water pumped into the river now as there once was. This has changed the movement pattern of these fish greatly the last 5-6 years (my observance anyway). The extreme lower end of the lake (Jefferson City area for you) has never held a large percentage of these fish...….not saying that a few weren't caught in that area before. But think of it like this the last several years......80% of the population of this species is mainly held in 20% of the water system, and that 20% is on the very upper end of the lake anymore.
 
sll":1v3r5v5a said:
Yes, from the Melinda's Ferry bridge to the steam plant is what I am referring to. From 2004-2010 the walleye fishing in the middle to lower end of the lake that you are familiar with was great in the summer months trolling bottom bouncers in 18-25 feet of water. This was after the fish had made their annual spring spawning run upstream (even though the biologist say they do not actually reproduce in this lake, but they still have the urge to perform the migrating ritual) and started moving back down in the cooler, deeper water of the main lake in the May/June timeframe. Since the steam plant was taken down, there is not as much hot water pumped into the river now as there once was. This has changed the movement pattern of these fish greatly the last 5-6 years (my observance anyway). The extreme lower end of the lake (Jefferson City area for you) has never held a large percentage of these fish...….not saying that a few weren't caught in that area before. But think of it like this the last several years......80% of the population of this species is mainly held in 20% of the water system, and that 20% is on the very upper end of the lake anymore.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the great info, it's much appreciated. Now to just find a good ramp up that way. Is fall/winter a good time to fish for them?? Thanks
 
More so winter to early spring.....as I mentioned earlier January to April will be when they are most active as the water temp dictates that time of year (40's to about 55 degrees).....both day and night. There is a ramp at the Melinda's Ferry bridge that would be a good starting point. Go upstream from there. You can put in at the Quarryville Access ramp below that one in Mooresburg and run up fine also if you decide to but when the winter water level gets to 1042 there will be a set of shoals below the Ferry bridge that you need to be careful crossing......unless you have a jet motor, of course :tu: . Water level is tricky to maneuver from about the Hugh B. Day bridge on upstream to the steam plant so be careful as the lake level falls throughout the winter.
 
sll":3rwv0f6e said:
Yes, that is Cherokee. That boat ramp and bridge at the start of the video is the Melinda's Ferry bridge I mentioned.
Click to expand...

very nice of you to give tips. im thinking i may fish watts bar this spring since ky lake sauger hasnt been that great the last couple of years, since my so lives on whites creek now would be able to fish with him. on the plus side they stock a couple hundred thousand every spring on watts bar and chicamauga.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top