Leaderboard

The group of plastics,not a bite.4 " berkley camo on a finnesse gamakatsu hook and a 1/16 oz bullet weight,txs style got all the bites.zero weeds,all bites on rock.nothing on the blowdowns.

That is an exquisite set-up. Did you make it? I don't tie trout flies but I do tie some bass jigs. My set-up doesn't look anything like this.

I the bass jigs also but my setup is not that neat. Ha Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

15-20ft is a starting point deeper than thirty ft Down, I’ll adjust accordingly. At times I’ve followed the 100ft rule everything adds to 100. 10down-90back, 50ft down 50ft back etc. one thing to think about a lot of the stocked lakes anywhere, in the country the fish are not as ball shy as you may think. At Chilhowee the other day we took a fish with the downrigger set 18ft on a slider which puts that slider spoon at 9ft. That fish came right to edge of the prop wash to take that spoon. I will say on lakes like Fontana, Nantahala those wild trout are a lot more spooky and ball shy. Leadcore and divers outproduced riggers on my last trip to Nantahala hands down. This is know diffetent than fishing wild trout streams, you can’t get near wild trout, the opposite of a hatchery supported stream. Just an observation of mine.

Leads were 20-30ft behind the balls. Speed 1.8-1.9mph Sent some leads farther back on the Winger Rods but it did not matter. Right now the bait the fish coughed up and that were being chased on the surface are 1.5"-2" just like they are every year from late summer to early fall. Small spoons are going to be best IMO. I sent you some of the NH1 and NH2 spoons. They will get the job done.

We got the truck back yesterday,6 am this morning we are on meadow creek lake.no gas motor use allowed,very quiet.beautiful lake,not one house.ended up catching 9 bass,no giants missed 2 whoppers though.21 to 25 ft deep,dragging slow or letting bait just sit worked.

After patiently waiting for a year ,we are now tn residents.move went flawlessly.nothing broken nothing mia.only issue is my boat and other vehicles still up north.my van has all my tackle boxes.rods and reels are here.we tried to get our tn drivers lic yesterday....with all the paper work required except no utility bill,havent been here long enough to get one.DMV sent us packin....so no resident fishing ..license.blew off some agravation in the backyard when we got back...id have been wearing cuffs for that back in ct. God bless Tn.

Anyone have any good streamer recipes for smallmouth? I just moved from CO and looking to chase some smallmouth. My tying station survived the long haul (whew)!

Thanks all - glad to be here! I posted a question about bait fishing in the Bait/Tackle threass if anyone has any advice for me. Thanks for all the great knowledge here, new to TN and this forum has helped me land some fish! tnangler1

Got it done early at Watugua on Labor day. 7:45 to 12:30. 4 spotted bass, 4 smallies, 1 rainbow and 8 lakers with a buddy and my son before swimming and water skiing. Lake is still up and not too warm and fish were 40 to 110'. bass were all in the 25 to 60. lakers were 70 to 110 all avg size and bass were 16 to 19 inches. Plenty of action which is pretty good for labor day and late in the year..

Wiggle minnows Murdich minnow clouser slump buster and deceiver are my favorites

Welcome hann. Norris, Ft. Loudon, Cherokee are all noted for SM. Pig & Jigs on the bottom will get them, but the last time I knew of anyone eating them, they said it was worse that eating rockfish. To each his own. dada 9-3-18 3:32 PM

I just recently moved here from Colorado and I am looking forward to chasing some smallmouth. I grew up in North Alabama, fishing all my life. I primarily like to fly fish, especially for bass. I really love almost any type of fishing. From high mountain lakes to river and lake fishing, whatever gets something to pull on the other end of the line. I am located in West Knoxville, and really only know of a few places to start to fish. I look forward to fall and my first TN fish.

Nantahala tackle headed to Chillhowee reservior today and it didn't disappoint. We set up at 845-and 1145 we headed to the dock. We went 9 for 12 all rainbows. Fish and bait everywhere. We kept the program real simple. We ran 4 downriggers with Wingers on the outside riggers to spread the pattern. No diseys, no lead core, no planer boards. The wingers on the downriggers helped spread our baits and allowed the fish to work our pattern un cluttered. 18 to 35ft down on the riggers, Total spoon pattern NH2 Nantahala nailers did the trick, colors are in the picture below.

1st Tn bass , wating on 12 to buy beer ,google earthed this pond just out of town.killed a 1/2 hour.3 bites 1 bass,7" grape culprit....they can only get bigger.

...our lake " down the street" 10 minutes.all set to go tomorrow and then this morning...blew out the master brake cylinder on the dodge on the way back from town getting jeep parts,pedal went to the floor,blessed i made it home.zero brakes,...that is a sick feeling you never want.

Thanks for the report Trout girl. I did not go this weekend as we still have the fillets form previous trip to gril. Sat or Labor day early i hope. i run at least 12# on my small divers and usually 20# on bigger set ups. doesn't see to matter on diver leaders that much and they are prone to snapping.

Usually water temps are key. Bass usually-not always-start chasing shad when water is in mid 70's and days are shorter. For me this is good time for traps, smaller cranks and if they are out on points or 1st secondary point a larger shad colored crank 5XD or 6XD or similar . Senkos can get you a bite at this time too. But i wouldn't hesitate to throw a big jig either. We're catching bass 15-20 ft now. Slow and slower slowest presentations.

Another cat caught on Watts by my daughter.

This is a cat caught on Watts.

Thanks smallie king. Appreciate the welcome.

I went to Chilhowee today. Picked up 3 rainbows and 2 perch. Lots of surface activity and more bait balls than I’ve seen since they refilled it. Super nice morning

Last October we were taking lakers with 155ft of cable out. 10lb ball with blowback put the bait about 125 ish feet deep. Ran the wire divers 325 ft back that easily was getting 120ft down. The big temp break on my subtroll was at 110ft. We killed almost all the fish trying to get them back down, one of the main reasons I hate it this time of year