fishing percy priest and Stones River

We'll be getting a boat this spring and want to do some fishing with my wife and boy. We live really close to the boat launches for the east fork stones river so this will probably be where we frequent the most.

What types of fish are we to expect. any tips on bait selection or techniques? I'm entirely new to southern fishing so I will be grateful for any advice.

Percy priest loves lower units so beware the rock piles! Wished I could help with the fishing but I've only fished the lake twice.

In East Fork you can catch plenty of Largemouth bass with a Smallie thrown in here and there for a bonus. If you get in there at the right time during the Spring you can find a school of White Bass and catch as many as you'd like to. When you're in the river you'll find plenty of laydowns and submerged trees so jigs and finesse worms dropped in there will be productive. Other than that piece of advice, there is nothing special about that water that isn't similar to bass fishing anywhere else. Spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, crankbaits, frogs all work in the right conditions. The water clarity varies a lot. It can have a few feet of visibility at times and after a good rain it looks like coffee with cream.

TNTomtaker01":1i146auz said:

Percy priest loves lower units so beware the rock piles! Wished I could help with the fishing but I've only fished the lake twice.

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THIS!!!!!!!! Be careful,Priest has lots of ROCKS!

Football Hunter":126h2o06 said:

TNTomtaker01":126h2o06 said:

Percy priest loves lower units so beware the rock piles! Wished I could help with the fishing but I've only fished the lake twice.

Click to expand...

THIS!!!!!!!! Be careful,Priest has lots of ROCKS!

Click to expand...

how much below the water line? coming up like pillars?

In the spring, fish near the dam with topwater lures and you will catch almost anything. The hybrids and white are the most active in the early morning hours and late evening.

lightsareout":3rdwo1ty said:

Football Hunter":3rdwo1ty said:

TNTomtaker01":3rdwo1ty said:

Percy priest loves lower units so beware the rock piles! Wished I could help with the fishing but I've only fished the lake twice.

Click to expand...

THIS!!!!!!!! Be careful,Priest has lots of ROCKS!

Click to expand...

how much below the water line? coming up like pillars?

Click to expand...

There are rock piles every where, there are places in the middle of the lake that are less than a foot deep, the lower end is a little safer, going up past Hobson Pike Bridge is where it gets really dangerous, especially during winter pool, If you see white danger bouys , STAY AWAY until you are familiar with the area , Its really not that bad once you learn the areas, they are permanent and dont move around unlike Old Hickory where an area maybe safe one day then have a dead head log in the channel the next....

And yes you can be in 100 foot of water one second and with in 10 feet be ripping a lower unit off in a foot of water.... :shock:

True...

Yes PP is very treacherous. My buddy filled up his waders retrieving decoys a few weeks ago. Depth went from 1 foot feet to ~6 feet within a 3-4 foot wide section in between 2 rocks.

You can do pretty well trolling shad raps in 12-25ft for suspended crappie down below the confluence of the East and West Forks, and occassionaly snatch a hat off one of those elusive zombies patrolling the bottom.......
When the water hits 58-60, the crappie turn on like something crazy. Troll as sllooooowwww as possible, and follow the channel break.

The east and west forks are both good fishing. Plenty of largemouth and some smallmouth too. In about a month the white bass will start running and as earlier stated you can catch about as many as you want in a day.

But please remember, "catching" and "keeping" are two different things. You may catch a hundred a day.....but you can only keep 20.