Since the first of the year the local rivers have been very productive. We started fishing the Clinch below Norris dam with great success. We caught several nice stringers of trout and they are still being caught today.
I was a day late on the big walleye and sauger run on the head waters of Douglas Lake. We showed up the day after a rain had swollen and mudded the river which remained that way for the remainder of the run. The week prior, reports wear everyone was limiting out.
Our local rivers, the Clinch, Emory, and Tennessee have been great for white bass, some of the best spawn runs that I have seen in years. Some are still being caught in the mouths of creek and shoals. The stripers are also showing up in the rivers and the forage fish (threadfin shad) are there in large numbers. Recently while striper fishing I picked up a couple of nice Cherokee bass (hybrid). It was good to see these strong fighting fish showing up again. On one of the more memorable trips, we were catching lots of white bass, a few crappie, and some yellow bass. My fishing partner lovers to eat fish particularly fried fish. It does not matter what kind of fish, as long as it’s fried. I believe he sees two battered fried fillets attached to his hook as he winds in the fish. On the way home he called his wife to ask if she would make some slaw and have the skillet ready when he got home.
Crappies have been caught in large numbers for some time, but few keepers. This past weekend I heard of several nice stringers being taken. The water temperature and the full moon is later this week will help in moving keeper size fish into the shallows. My brother and his fishing partners and granddaughter have caught some nice fish this past week, the biggest just shy of 3 lbs. The lakes should start filing this week which will also help. If you want to put a few crappies in the freezer, the next three weeks should be the time to do that.
Turkey season is in full swing and the weather has got the gobblers out showing their stuff. Strutting gobblers can be seen just about anywhere. Seeing them, and harvesting them is a different story; another turkey-less opening day was saved by a few morel mushrooms.
Take someone fishing, Greg
Visit the outdoor galleries for pictures of some of Greg’s hunting and fishing trips.