2022 08 27 Saturday morning on Nickajack (TN River)

[coldfront]

250 boat Georgia Highschool tournament on Chick saturday.  Great time to stay the heck away from that crowd.
went downriver to some sections of the lake (Nickajack) where I could possibly find some solitude and quiet (not constantly bombarded with boat wakes from those in a big hurry).

Plan worked to perfection, but still, it's Saturday and best be 'done' by 11am...

Daybreak was magnificent.  Clear skies, but a little cooler temps creates some foggy/misty mornings at times.  Colors and textures can be just amazing...

first spot I pulled up to... one great white egret in the tree.  two big blue herons stalking the point...  good signs.

first fish of the day


couple smaller ones in that 'cut'.  then it was time to move on... to a large flat.  this was upstream a bit and that part of the lake was under a heavy cloud/fog layer.  Clear above water, but not at the 'mountain top' level.  looking back upriver was pretty cool.


grass mats are starting to set up nicely with the 'yellow cheese' (that slimy, yellow-snot looking filamentous algae) that really shades and helps create canopy.  some fish to be had in the grass on frogs, but it only gets better from here.  (lots of gar in there willing to slash at your bait too...) 


with nighttime lows about to dip consistently below 70degrees F, the shad will soon start to really ball/school up and run the weed lines.  plenty of surface activity seen this day.  a lot of it was from blue cats ... the 'exciting stuff' was often schools of larger skipjack herring (20 inch class fish) chasing small baitfish.  ONe of these days I'm going to take a flyrod and some gummy flies out there and have an absolute RIOT!
Moved into a neckdown (bridge for some of you all) and managed a few more smaller bass PLUS this beauty!  great fish.  awesome bonus to a spectacular day...




As usual, TVA had the current shut down so fishing was slow... but with diligence, a few can be found willing to play.

[Mike Cork]

Excellent bass, amazing grass and a Beautiful Appaloosas. Looks like an amazing day to me. I'd get stuck in that grass and never leave LOL

[Donald Garner]

CF, tks for sharing the trip and THOSE Pictures Congrats on the catching also

[coldfront]

thanks Donald, Mike.

looking at that  grass flat, it's interesting.  you can see the darker patches where there's some 'verticality' poking up.  those are spiky naiad.  typically growing in 4-6 foot of water.  in and around a lot of milfoil.

very interesting stuff.