Transition Time
Now that Crappie fishing has slowed down and the bluegill have left the bedding areas, I have started looking for strippers in the tail waters. Because of all the rain and the constant spilling of local dams, this year has been a little different than before. Usually by this time of year, we have little problem finding nice fish on the clinch below Melton Hill dam. This year, the fish are not bunched up and there seems to be more guides and fishermen on the river these days. I believe this may have to do with everyone posts reports and photos on the web.
Recently I fished below Watts Barr dam without any luck on strippers, but did catch several giant drum and a few catfish. After running out of shad we ran down the river to a creek to try to catch some more bait and maybe catch enough bluegill for a mess. We did find some bluegill but no bait.
The next stripper trip I met my nephew below Melton Hill dam mid-morning. He had caught several nice stripers on large hickory shad earlier. We fished for a couple hours with a few strikes and my nephew catching one more.
We located some fish and were able to catch a fish just about every float. Mark caught two of thThe next afternoon I fished with Mark Smith below Ft. Loudon Dam. They were spilling through four gates and the water was rougher than normal. After an hour of throwing the net for bait I located a school of shad and in two throws got enough for the afternoon of fishing.
Recently I meet Denis and Austin Keeling and Matt Jarvis down at a local sporting goods store for a charity bow fishing rodeo weigh in, which they won with 115 lbs. including one 50 lb. grass carp. Most other contestants had well over 50lbs total weight. e biggest strippers he had ever caught.
I had always heard how you could eat grass carp and decided to give it a try. Unlike common carp these filets were white and had a large “Y” bone. Since I was unsure of the quality I decide to smoke the fillets and they turned out great. Next time I will try frying them.
Take someone fishing, Greg