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Chickencoop96

Chickencoop96

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2021
Messages
704
City & State/Province
Englewood, TN
I Fished there once several years ago in a high school tournament, but haven't been since. I'm not super familiar with Lake Chickamauga but I do have a tournament down there mid April. I'm guessing that most of the fish will be on the beds? or am I guessing a bit off? I'm used to fishing the highland lakes in NE TN. Norris, Douglas, Cherokee, etc.
 
Well I can tell you from experience that the water can be high the week before you go and their beds in high water and the next week they'll drop the bottom out of the lake and the beds will be high and dry. Best to try and at least take a look around the week before and make a backup plan for water conditions.
 
Cole Sands is a guide and tournament fisherman on the lake and does a weekly YouTube video report on what the current conditions and patterns they caught them on. The info is a week behind but should put you in the ball park for a starting place. The lake itself is a big mystery to me. It produces some amazing bags of bass but it will humble you in a hurry. It's one of those lakes where you can go fish all day and do good to get one bite...and then right before you leave, you get into a school of 5+ pounders and catch them nearly every cast for a few minutes and then they are gone. You could say that your best 5 fish was 25 lbs or better and that it was an epic day but had it not been for the last few minutes of the entire day, it would have been a bad trip. That's just how quickly it can change there. I've been several times where you fish all day and not catch a single keeper. Most recently was in October with a well known guide on the lake. That's just how it is some times. This year with all the rain, the lake has pretty much stayed within 2-3 feet of summer pool. But as said in the previous post...they are well known for dropping the bottom out of it on a dime and leaving everything high and dry...then bringing it back up to near summer pool levels a week later.
 
Crow Terminator said:
Cole Sands is a guide and tournament fisherman on the lake and does a weekly YouTube video report on what the current conditions and patterns they caught them on. The info is a week behind but should put you in the ball park for a starting place. The lake itself is a big mystery to me. It produces some amazing bags of bass but it will humble you in a hurry. It's one of those lakes where you can go fish all day and do good to get one bite...and then right before you leave, you get into a school of 5+ pounders and catch them nearly every cast for a few minutes and then they are gone. You could say that your best 5 fish was 25 lbs or better and that it was an epic day but had it not been for the last few minutes of the entire day, it would have been a bad trip. That's just how quickly it can change there. I've been several times where you fish all day and not catch a single keeper. Most recently was in October with a well known guide on the lake. That's just how it is some times. This year with all the rain, the lake has pretty much stayed within 2-3 feet of summer pool. But as said in the previous post...they are well known for dropping the bottom out of it on a dime and leaving everything high and dry...then bringing it back up to near summer pool levels a week later.
Click to expand...
You hit it on the head! Here is the link to Cole's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtnnpAetVNuu_-QLakKMOEQ

Here is the Link to TVA Lake Levels: https://www.tva.com/Environment/Lake-Levels/Chickamauga Check the "Operating Guide" and you'll see how lake levels can change, which has a dramatic affect on fishing.
 
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Crow Terminator said:
Cole Sands is a guide and tournament fisherman on the lake and does a weekly YouTube video report on what the current conditions and patterns they caught them on. The info is a week behind but should put you in the ball park for a starting place. The lake itself is a big mystery to me. It produces some amazing bags of bass but it will humble you in a hurry. It's one of those lakes where you can go fish all day and do good to get one bite...and then right before you leave, you get into a school of 5+ pounders and catch them nearly every cast for a few minutes and then they are gone. You could say that your best 5 fish was 25 lbs or better and that it was an epic day but had it not been for the last few minutes of the entire day, it would have been a bad trip. That's just how quickly it can change there. I've been several times where you fish all day and not catch a single keeper. Most recently was in October with a well known guide on the lake. That's just how it is some times. This year with all the rain, the lake has pretty much stayed within 2-3 feet of summer pool. But as said in the previous post...they are well known for dropping the bottom out of it on a dime and leaving everything high and dry...then bringing it back up to near summer pool levels a week later.
Click to expand...
Just like any other lake, gotta spend time knowing the area and how to fish it to get to the hogs. and there will be those "dinks only days" as a matter of fact we fished Norris Lake last weekend and caught 10" - 16" smallmouth all day and had 2 keeper Kentucky spots LOL Fun day but would've been nice to get a limit of keepers.
 

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