Back after a month break...

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:45 AM - 2:30 PM
Air Temperature: 40 - 52 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 51 degrees
Lake Level: 551.86
Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy. Winds from E-SE 7 MPH.

Between traveling for work, Christmas holiday, and family vacation, I had not been on the water for a month so I was excited to get back out today.  I went out searching for crappie.

It was a little slow today.  I picked up couple out of various places, but struggled until around lunch to find any schooled up in any sort of concentration.  I caught a couple on a minnow under a bobber, but for the most part, my best luck was with a white and chartreuse tube jig tipped with a minnow.  I couldn't catch much actually in the blown down tree tops, but found them on fully suspended structure in 8-12 FOW.

I caught a streak around 12-1 o'clock but it was short lived.  A little slow, but I managed to catch 15 and 4-5 bluegill too.  Still had a great day on the water.

Gators Galore! And a Couple Crappie...

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Air Temperature: 53 - 80 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 553.09
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Winds from South 5-10 MPH.

I set out today to see if the crappie had moved in yet with the falling water level and cooler nights.  I mostly failed on the crappie.  Only caught 4 crappie and 3 shell cracker, but still had fun.

I saw 2 or 3 gators that were probably - 5-6 ft long.  I've always heard they were in there, but this is my first time actually seeing.  Very cool!

Eve of Christmas Eve

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Air Temperature: 28 - 61 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 551.57
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Winds North- North East 2-12 MPH.

Returned to Arrowhead today on a solo Christmas vacation trip.  Glad I did!

Early in, the fish wouldn't touch a jig.  Had early success fishing minnows under a bobber and caught consistently.  As it warmed up, I was determined to get them to hit jigs on the Livescope.  I tried all my trusty colors, but couldn't get them to commit.  I could seem them come inspect my jig, then move on.  Finally I put on a white tube body with chartreuse skirt and tipped it with a minnow.  Bingo.  

I fished this way from lunch onwards as the wind picked up with great success.  I ended up getting into some skipjack, too, so I put 9 in the live well for future catfish bait.  

Caught 60 total crappie today with 15 keepers.  Caught another 9 or so bluegill, bass, etc.  Ended the day with right around 90 total fish caught.  Excellent day.  

Show and Tell

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Air Temperature: 28 - 47 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 551.49
Weather Conditions: Mostly Cloudy. Winds North 6 MPH.

Kevin and I took to the water today.  I wanted to demo the livescope with him as he's been thinking about getting one.  I think he's sold 😆.We fished a 1/2 day.  Struggled with jigs early, but minnows under a cork did fairly well.  Never did find a great color combination on jigs.  We fished tree tops, stumps, and bushes.  We didn't keep count today.  I think we probably caught 50-60 crappie total, but they were very short.  We struggled to keep anything with size and only had 3 keepers at lunch.  Still was a great day.  Didn't take any pictures today...

Back on the Crappie

Wheeler Lake - Mooresville / Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:15 AM - 1:45 PM
Air Temperature: 32 - 57 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 551.84
Weather Conditions: Sunny. Winds variable 3-13 mph.  Rough.

It was nice to get back on the water today.  I targeted tree tops on the drop offs this morning.  I didn't have a ton of luck on jigs or Livescope today, but the Livescope help me target the correct depth to fish with minnows and a bobber.  I had the best luck fishing suspended about 5 feet deep under a the cork.  

The fish were biting excellent, but were short.  That's not a bad thing - it means we will have some good fishing in the upcoming next couple years.  I ended up catching 45 by myself with 17 being big enough to keep.  Lots of bluegill species, warmouths, etc today as well.  I also got into a school of skipjack and caught 10 of them big enough to keep.  I keep everyone I can and freeze them for future catfish bait. 

When I got home, my wife reminded me that she is the greatest in the world.  She surprised me with a cordless Bubba Blade for filleting.  I gave it a test run and it was awesome!

It was a good day and nice to be back on the winter crappie.

A Change in Tactics...

Wheeler Lake - Decatur

Time: 8:00 AM - 12:30 AM
Air Temperature: 75 - 85 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 556.05
Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny.  Winds NE 8-9 mph sustained.

My friend Joe came down from the Nashville area and we decided to approach the day in pursuit of a mixed bag.  We loaded up with worms, minnows, and frozen shad to be prepared for pretty much anything.  We launched at Arrowhead Landing and started the day fishing the deep water cover hoping to pull out some crappie on minnows or bluegill on worms.  We also launched 5-6 jugs on the flats out from the landing and 5-6 more just out of the mouth into the main river.

After an hour or so, we had zero luck on in the brush and it was obvious we needed to change tactics.  We needed to run jugs and I was thinking about trying for catfish under the interstate bridge, but another idea hit me on the way... We should try the grain barges by the cat food plant.

We went back into Arrowhead and ran the jugs.  No catfish, but right after we checked a a jug and threw it back in, Joe noticed it was acting funny.  We circled back and had a gar that is probably the biggest one I've ever caught.  

We ran back out into the channel and checked the others and pulled in one small catfish.  We headed on to the grain barges and set up there.

At the grain barges, we cut up shad and bounced bottom around back of the barge.  There were lots of baitfish in the area and we quickly hooked up.  In about 2 hours, we landed 12 catfish.  We had a solid time and it proved that sometimes you just have to adapt your plan to whatever works.  Look forward to doing it again!

  

Social Distancing

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 12:30 PMAir Temperature: 36 - 56 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 45 degrees
Lake Level: 554.13' ~ 111,111 ?? cfps
Weather Conditions: Winds turning heavy. 5mph to 24 mph SSE


For the first time in more than a year, I finally put COVID aside and had guests in the boat. Doug and Douglas Ainsworth joined me today for a crappie trip to Mooresville.


Overall, today was a terrible day to fish. The only thing attractive about the whole situation was a high temperature of 56, which didn't feel like 56 with the high winds. We had to bust 3/8" of ice just to get to where we were trying to fish. The water was very turbid and swift. Lake levels were about 2 feel shy of full summer pool. Very tough conditions for this time of the year, but there is never a bad day on the water.


Douglas and I fished up front with vertical jigs while Doug fished the back with minnows and a cork. Minnows proved to be a complete bust on the day. Jig fishing was very tough, as well. We started with red and chartreuse and only managed one fish. After a few color combinations, black and chartreuse finally seemed to be the ticket.


We fished tree tops and managed to catch 13 crappie with only 4 being big enough to keep. We caught most of these in 10-13 ft of water. Very tough day, but still had a great time fishing with these guys. Will definitely do it again when the weather improves.


Went home and cooked ribs and spent the afternoon with the family.

Crappie Fishing Ahead of a Weather Front

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 12:00 PMAir Temperature: 33 - 49 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 45 degrees
Lake Level: 551.31' ~ ?? cfps
Weather Conditions: Light winds, 6 mph NNE.


Today was a repeat of my last trip to Arrowhead. I used a single pole/single jig with the LiveScope to pick crappie out of the blown down tree tops.


I fished the same tree top as previous near the mouth of the creek and had a very good day. The LiveScope showed fish stacked in there. I started with an orange/chartreuse jig and picked several out, but it was a little slow. I changed jigs several times, but couldn't hardly get a bit on any other color. I switch to a similar jig - the classic red/chartreuse tube jig and BINGO. That was the ticket.


I ended up pulling 31 crappie and one bluegill out of the tree tops in 6-12 FOW. There were extremely light on the bite and finicky, but it was a solid day. I kept 15. Lots of shorts today, which is good as it shows a health spawn over the past couple of years and growing fish to replenish populations.


Still getting the hang of the LiveScope, but very impressed.

Garmin Livescope - First Day on the Water

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7:30 AM - 12:30 PMAir Temperature: 37 - 58 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 42 degrees
Lake Level: 551.63' ~ 85,000 cfps
Weather Conditions: Light winds, 5 mph NNE.


Today was the inaugural Livescope day. It was perfect.


I set out to repeat my tactics from the last couple trips to Arrowhead, but to focus on learning the Livescoope this trip. Immediately when the transducer pole was deployed, I was getting good images. I worked to dial in the setting for the first hour to hour and a half. I was mainly playing with the gain controls and found for muddy water, mid 50's on gain was a good setting. I normally use minnows and corks, but for the purpose of today's tests, I went with a single pole, single jig setup for vertical jigging so I could target specific fish and cover.


I was absolutely amazed to see the fish on the livescope system. You can clearly see schools of fish swimming together coming on and off screen. You can see the panfish coming in and out of structure. I was astonished to see the fish behavior and to watch the fish swim up to the jig, follow its motion, and decide to strike or pass.


My setup was perfect and all the work I had done on the installation and rewiring worked perfectly. If I had any criticism, I'd like to see the pole mount to be a little more rigid, but that is a minor picky point. Overall, it was perfect.


I fished two blow downs almost exclusively with the single pole, single jig method and as floored to see how quick I was putting fish in the boat. I didn't have my counters ready and lost count on the first few fish, but ended up catching at least 27 crappie with at least 19 being big enough to keep. I only caught one fish other than a crappie and that was a nice white bass.


Action slowed as the day went on, and I could see the crappie had moved below the structure and was hanging tight to the bottom. At this point in the day, I was ready to leave, but being able to see where the fish moved allowed me to know how to change my technique.


I was concerned how my new battery setup would work, but I only lost 0.1 volt over 5 hours, so that was perfect. I can't wait to get out there again. My initial impression is simple amazement.

Arrowhead - Round 2

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Mooresville/Arrowhead Landing

Time: 7 AM - 4 PMAir Temperature: 41 - 54 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 54 degrees
Lake Level: 551.63' ~ 60,290 cfps
Weather Conditions: Light winds, 2-4 mph SSE.


Based on how successful my 1st trip to Arrowhead was, I headed back down today for some crappie action.


I fished much the same way as I did last trip, except based on what I had learned, I didn't waste any time exploring and headed straight down to the mouth of the channel around the deeper water where I had had good success last trip. The water was about 2 feet lower, so the deeper water was a must.


I fished the same as last time with minnows under a cork in the blow downs. I immediately started pulling in the fish. I concentrated most of my day fishing the same 2 or 3 blow downs with solid success. I played a bit with vertical jigging and pulled in a few, but minnows were definitely the name of the game.


It was another solid day. I ended the day with 33 crappie (16 keepers) and 26 assorted bluegill, etc.