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.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat"

Wheeler Lake - Tennessee River @ Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

Time: 7 AM - 10:00 AMAir Temperature: 53 - 70 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 73 degrees in the discharge water
Lake Level: 554.86' - 38,436 cfps - Perfect conditions
Weather Conditions: Light winds, variable 3-6 mph


Decided to wet a line for catfish this morning. I pulled out 3 big frozen shad from the freezer to use for cut bait on rod and reel. I went over to my favorite spot at the Nuclear Plant to fish the drop off between the pipeline and the discharge boils. I was set up with a single pole with two hooks and bouncing bottom.


It was a beautiful, perfect morning with no current or wind to fight. This is good for this area of the lake. I got off to a good start and caught 2 channels, 2 blues in the 8# range, one little flathead, and the big one below!


She. Was. A. Tank. I knew when I set the hook that it was big. I was able to get almost the whole fight on film. It took about 12 minutes to land this fish. It didn't fight violently, but put it's head down and peeled line. I don't fish with a lot of line when I'm bouncing bottom, so I was worried about getting spooled. Somehow, I managed to keep it hooked and not run off all my line. This was a solid fish and one of the biggest I've ever caught on road and reel. The scales showed 33#, but I was convinced it was 40 or more. I guess they always seem bigger than they are, but still very nice.


I took some photos and turned it loose and picked my wife and son up at the dock for a joy ride. Very nice day. Fall bite is on!!

Catfishing with friends

Time: 6:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Air Temperature: 71 - 81 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 81 degrees
Lake Level: 555.44' - 53,325 cfps - Perfect conditions
Weather Conditions: Light winds, variable 2-5 mph

We had some family friends come in for the weekend.  Joe had never been fishing specifically for catfish before, so we went out to see what we could do to round up a few.  We launched from Cowford this morning and proceeded to drop some jugs.  We placed 10 baited with a mix of chicken gizzards and cut shad along the flats in front of my house.  We placed another 10 around the mouth of Mallard Creek and then went to the Nuclear Plant to try rod and reel.  

I immediately caught a little flathead on my first drop at the nuclear plant.  Joe reeled in a nice blue in the 6-8 lbs range around 8:45.  Fishing was a little slow along the boils and channel, so we ran the first set of jugs before moving over to the intake gates.  I think we caught one on the first pass on the jugs.  Back at the intake gates, Joe picked up a channel.  Within just a couple hours, we had already netted all three major catfish species.  

We ran the 2nd set of jugs without much luck and then headed down toward the bluff across from the Elk to try bouncing bottom around there.  Joe again landed a good channel before we headed back in to pick up all the jugs.  

The last run on the jugs was more fruitful as we picked up 3 more cats.  We looked everywhere, but ended up losing one jug.  Must have been one heck of a fish to have gotten in under and out of sight!

Overall, we ended the day with 7-8 cats with about half coming from rod and reel and half on jugs.  It wasn't the best fishing day ever, but was still solid and Joe got to experience pulling in a few nice cats. We culled our count down to 4 fish and went home and dropped them in the grease. Looking forward to doing it again next year!

Night Time Jug Lines

Location: Joe Wheeler State Park and 2nd Creek

Time: 5:00 PM - 2:00 AM
Air Temperature: 90 Degrees
Water Temperature: 85 Degrees

Lake Level: 

Weather Conditions: Slight to Moderate winds from the south.

Fished with Doug and Douglas Ainsworth tonight. I got there early to try to catch live bluegill to use to target flatheads. I fished blown over tops with worms and a bobber and managed to catch 14 with Doug’s wife, Shirley.

Douglas dropped 16 jugs at dark along the south shore of Wheeler with fresh cut shad. I dropped 6 along the north west bend then we headed to 2nd creek to drop the rest. We went north of the boat landing at 2nd Creek and dropped 8 more jugs in 8-12 feet of water as the creek narrowed just before the bend. All of these had live bluegill on the bottom hook and cut shad on the top. We dropped 6 more off the rocky point out from the boat landing and baited these the same way and returned to Wheeler.

After a couple hours, we checked my first 6 in wheeler and found a 4 ft long gar, but no cats. We ran back to 2nd Creek and ran the group of 8. We caught one nice blue and found one jug had run away from the others. When we pulled it, it had been tangled over and over around a sunken tree. We managed to pull the entire tree up and untangle it. I can only imagine a flathead did this. We ran the other group of six and caught one more small cat. We also found one more jug had a broken line.

We headed back to Wheeler and pulled Douglas’s jugs. We caught one more small cat. We found 15 of the sixteen pretty easily. We were watching the last one in the spotlight as it was pulled under and it never came back up. It had to have been a big fish. We searched for a good while but never found it.

Overall, it was a blast and a good learning experience for nighttime jug fishing. I think I would repeat the bluegill tactic next time, but concentrate a little more around the creeks and fallen structure. Will definitely do it again soon!

Location: Joe Wheeler Marina- Wheeler Lake - Alabama

Time: 9:30 AM - Dark
Air Temperature: 60-65 degrees
Water Temperature: 52
Lake Level: 551.2'
Weather Conditions: Morning rain moved out.  Went fishing afterwards.

This is only my 2nd time on Joe Wheeler.  Spent much of my time exploring.  Fished east side rock banks and marked some good brush.  Spent a lot of time fishing boat docks at the marina.  Spotted good big fish marks on the fish finder.  Catfish!!  Caught 3 catfish around the boat slips feeding on a bait ball.  I was using minnows and Bobby Garland 2" swimming minnows. 

Lots of bluegill around the bank and drop off in 14' to 18' of water.  Caught one crappie there.  Caught a couple drum in the area. 

Moved to target points and mouths.  Spotted some fish that turned out to be drum.  At dawn, moved towards the mouth of the main bay where it meets the lake.  Lots of activity in the center of the bay around 28' of water.  Need to try there again. 

 

 

Location: Elk River, Joe Wheeler, 2nd Creek - Wheeler Lake - Alabama

Time: Morning - Mid Afternoon
Air Temperature: 49 - 84 degrees
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 555.77'
Weather Conditions: 1 - 6 MPH South - South East Wind

Took vacation from work to fish. Scouted new water. Started at Elk River. Fished bridge - slow fishing. Was fishing in 12-25' of water. Caught 1 white bass under bridge casting a money milk jig.


No good bays on lower Elk, so rode to Joe Wheeler - 1st Creek area. Fished westward bay inside mouth of Joe Wheeler on drop offs and flats 12-17' of water. Spider rigged and picked up 1 crappie. Moved to back of Joe Wheeler in big bay and spider rigged with no lock.


Moved to 2nd Creek and fished normal brush piles and drop-offs. Picked up a couple spider rigging. Fished bridge bumping bottom. Picked up 1 white bass and 3 channel catfish.


Returned back to Elk and fished bridge with no luck. Ended up keeping 2-3 crappie and 1-2 white bass. Fish cleaned were still with eggs, though I feel most of spawn is over.