Troutgirl

I went to Chilhowee Lake for the afternoon yesterday. It turned out to be an unexciting afternoon of Perch fishing. The weather forecast said 5 mph winds from the northeast. The direction part was correct but the breeze was 5 MPH when it calmed down some occasionally. It was more like 8-12 MPH most of the time. It was choppy. I had lines in the water by 1:15 p.m. It took about a half-hour to catch a Perch on a hoochie. At the time it seemed encouraging but every strike I got was light and turned out to be a Perch. This went on till 7:15 p.m. when I gave up and went home. We marked bait and fish consistently between the ramp and the fishing docks upstream from Abrams Creek. We went through there three times and caught nothing better than a small Perch. Sonar was frequently showing 50 or more fish between 10-25 feet. They were widely scattered in other parts of the lake. The largest bait ball we saw was there. The Bass and Trout ignored our lures on this day. My brother drove and I fished. He has a sore shoulder or worse.... When we arrived the surface water at the ramp was 70. When we left it was 64. When we were well upstream at Tabcat Creek it was 62. Dropping Fontana is really cooling Chilhowee down. I'm sure it never made 80 degrees yesterday. I never boke a sweat. It was a pleasant day out except seeing all those fish on sonar and not getting any savage strikes!

I didn't know these Long Tail Motors were a thing. All I've heard about in recent years has been john boats with jet propulsion.

I would suggest fishing till 4 p.m. that day. If it stays this dry, the fishing won't pick up till they start generating, which might not be till 11 a.m. or later. Chilhowee usually fishes best in the afternoon this time of year. The Little Tennessee River continues to shrivel up during this dry spell. There's not gonna be much morning generating till some significant rain comes along.

I've been getting to know Santeetlah better the past several years. It's full of humps. It scares me to run a ball much deeper than 40 feet. I bet the best Trout bite is at 50 feet about now....??? Last time I was at Santeetlah a couple of months back, you needed to be down at 40 feet to get many Trout strikes. I caught more Bass than Trout on my last two trips there. Santeetlah has no "refrigerated" tailwaters upstream. It's most certainly remains very warm. Chilhowee is easy to fish. There's no humps of any consequence. You don't have to fish deep, 5-20 feet is the strike zone. Somebody who doesn't use or have downriggers could win. The Trout probably average as large as Santeetlah now....??? They'll average bigger when it comes all the way back from the draw-down. Spoons aren't necessarily the best lures. Hoochies and little plugs fish very well. Rainbows jump more in Chilhowee than Trout lakes that have hot tops and the fish are very deep in the hot months. Due to the abundance of baitfish, I think that Rainbows from Chilhowee average more weight per inch of length than most, if not all, of the region's Trout lakes.

Most of the Rainbows in there are over a pound. They're eating massive numbers of little Shad Minnows. I've been twice in the past month. On both trips I lost a 3-4 pound Rainbow that spit out the spoon on jumps. The average of the ones I landed was about 1.25 - 1.5 pounds. I caught Bass and Perch too. The bite starts when Calderwood starts generating. That's usually between 9 - 11 a.m. The Bass and Trout like to push the bait upstream into the current.

Given how it's going, I doubt the lake has cooled any, probably the opposite.

I like Lake Trout fried. I've baked them all sorts of ways and no recipe has impressed me. I don't have a smoker but if I did I'd smoke some of 'em…..

The Rainbows I caught in Chilhowee the past two week had, I'd say, an average of 30 minnows in their gullet. It's that time of year, the Baitzilla Festival!

My buddy Captain D says those minnows in Chilhowee are Shad. He traps minnow a lot and he probably knows....?

Cheapskates! We could of gotten somebody good like Peabody Teachers College for a cool million....

My two favorite teams this weekend will be Tennessee and whomever is playing Georgia State.

Go to Chilhowee for Perch. I picked up 5 of them last Friday whilst trolling for Rainbows and Smallmouths. From the main ramp upstream to Tabcat Creek is where you'll find 'em. The lake has been overrun with 'em since they filled the lake back up.

We've reclaimed Saturdays!!!! The NFL starts this Sunday and we can get it back too....

I'm thankful that nobody's sent a moving van to his house already.....like they did when they wanted Bill Battle out. I fear if we don't win the next game that folks with torches and pitchforks will surround the athletic department and burn it down....

Some rain would improve the fishing in Chilhowee and the upstream lakes between it and Fontana. The amount of water TVA is releasing from Fontana is what it takes to drop the lake about half a foot a day. If we get some substantial rain in the coming weeks, they'll have enough water to generate 18-24 hours a day. That would likely mean morning generation probably. They tend to cease generating between midnight and 6 a.m. if they're not going 24-7. Until we get a heavier flow, the hot afternoons are gonna be the best time to fish most days. The Bass and Trout don't wanna chase the shad minnows till they get the current advantage they rely upon. The generating is seldom starting before 11 a.m. lately. Here's another Friday fish. That one looks well fed and was. It liked Shad but had a hoochie for dessert.