Great day to ride to the dam. If fish counted like horseshoes then I'd have a million score. There were tons of fish down by the dam but nothing was biting. At least a dozen other boats were there but I saw no fish brought aboard any of them. Me neither. I think I tried it all: different crankbaits, Alabama rigs, jigging and casting.

When I first arrived around 6:20 a few fish were breaking but I only got two casts made, the first snagged an alewife and the second popped the line. Tried there for a couple hours, cruised around looking, tried the basin, and tried along the mountain. Many fish along the mountain but couldn't get a bite. Like I said, great day for a boat ride. Maybe Tuesday.

Later
Joel

Both days were virtually identical. I started out checking outside Becky and Betty's and ran into Becky's looking around. Nothing inside so I looked again outside around the island, the humps, the point and the condos. Nada.

So I ran down to Walton's and found a bunch of fish on the 10th. I got two at once at 7:30am so I stopped and cast around and jigged for a while and got nothing. These fish were moving. I started trolling again and got another one almost right away. Then they disappeared so I kept hunting around and found them following the channel out to the river but then couldn't get anything to bite. I switched over the the rigs but still didn't get anything to bite. I would see the bunched of fish but they weren't taking.

I found them again on the 17th but didn't get any bites. Both times I then left Walton's and looked around the S-curves but found nothing. So I headed back up lake and stopped around R25 and found a few fish but no biters. So I would work that area from R25 back to the condos and across to the river channel but didn't find any more. Both were kinda short fishing days so I wrapped up a little early.

Things can only get better.

Later Joel

Still getting out at the crack of dawn. I ran down to Betty and Becky's creeks for a quick hunt. I only saw a few scattered fish in the creeks but more showed up at the mouths and beyond. No schools, just 1s, 2s, and 3s and no bites. So I worked the outside past the condos and the island point and humps. Still only a few scattered.

I kept moving down lake criss-crossing to both sides all the way to R25. Nada. So I ran down to the S curve. I made a lap around there and results were the same, scattered and small numbers. As I finished the lap I noticed boats working over by Turtle Island and went to investigate.

I only saw 1 or 2 fish boated and trolled around the group looking. I did find a school a little way away from the boats but no takers on the crankbaits so I switched over to the super Alabama rigs so I could get deeper. Some fish were up 40-50ft but many more were down 80-100. I would even stop the boat when I marked fish to let the rigs drop down.

Still nothing. Hard to believe. I worked that area for at least an hour, periodically marking the deep schools but couldn't get a bite. But for August it was a really great day on the water.

Later Joel

 I started out earlier than normal both days since I planned to run down to the dam area. Monday as I rounded R1 I marked a sizeable school of fish. Too late to troll, I started casting to them. 20 minutes later with no bites and no more fish showing I moved on. I set out lines and trolled to the far side and up the bank. I would only mark a few loners here and there. I turned into the Black Hole and soon got a bite without ever marking fish. Just an ordinary 22". Nothing else showed there so I moved on to Witcher's.  Again I only marked loners and one pod of six fish but no bites. On Thursday I went right to Elmo's and trolled around several laps only seeing a few fish here and there but no groups.

Neither day saw any top water action. Both days I then headed over to the mountain and trolled/cruised looking for fish but not finding any. Went all the way to R3 then quit that. Both days I then headed back to Becky's. Monday I started seeing enough fish at the Condos that I started trolling and headed into the creek. I didn't see anything until I was opposite the gazebo point and got a 21". I was marking plenty of fish in small pods so I made several more trolling passes with crack baits but got no more. So I switched over to U-rigs and boated 2 more fish, a 23" and a 27". Nice. That was at around 10am+.

Thursday I got back to Becky's and 3 boats were working the same area. I again trolled around but didn't see any fish. I don't know what those other guys were working on. Both days I then headed to Betty's for a look. On Monday I saw nothing. On Thursday I saw plenty of fish at the mouth of Betty's to start trolling. Cranks got nothing so I went to the U-rigs and still got nothing. The fish were there but not biting what I had. Both days I quit by noon since the heat was really coming on. Yup, its summertime.

BTW, the water temp near the dam was about 3 degrees cooler than the bridge. I'll be out again twice next week hopefully and weather permitting

Later Joel

 I made this a short day -  I wanted to beat the heat and the thunderstorms. I was on the water at 5 am and it was already getting light. I headed straight to Becky (I was there before the boat show on Sat) and started marking fish. They were there but not in great numbers. I started trolling cranks and got a 22" at 5:55. Since I had some bait left from the DGIF Workshop I started then to drown some minnows (didn't have any allies).

Yes, you heard me right, I used bait. I worked them around for 2+ hours without a bite. I saw Kurt (club member) and we chatted some. I was less than 50 yards behind him when he got a BIG bite. He landed it in much excitement and later at Captains Quarters I found out it went 37.25" and 19+ lbs. Nice! That could have been mine if he only moved over a little. Darn.

By now it was high sun and I yanked the bait when I reached the creek mouth and started trolling cranks again. I went back and out Becky again with no bites. I went past the condos, across the other side, back again to the long point from the island, around the creek mouths, here and there, over and yon, but still didn't see any more fish. I checked Coast Guard point on the way back and saw nothing shallow or deep. I also checked out work on the new boat ramp there and I'm not impressed. It won't be a back-up ramp but a drive around like the State Park.

So that's it. Don't know when I'll get out again but it better be soon.

Later Joel

 I hit the water at the crack of dawn and started trolling around Hales Ford Bridge.   I marked a few fish and saw a nice bunch right under the bridge next to Captains Quarters.  Two passes got me nothing so I trolled up to Coast Guard point. I didn't mark hardly anything.  So after just a couple passes I cruised down to Becky & Betty's.  I quickly cruised through Becky more looking than fishing but as luck would have it I hooked a whopper way in the back.  I stretched the fish as much as I could but it still measured 11".  I didn't even know I had it hooked.  A bunch of leaves fought harder.

I was marking these schools and bunches of small fish that could have been these small stripers or gizzards.  I only saw a few scattered real fish that were mostly sitting on the bottom.  I checked the creeks and outside the creeks and around the island and found nothing.  I looked in Yacht Club creek and found a small school hugging the bottom. I cast and cast and cast around there but got no bites.  Then I ran up and checked the points by Hales Ford Bridge and still found nothing.  I ran up to R31 and cruised around and still found nothing.  So then I drowned some meal worms around the laydowns testing them for use at the 4H kid's fishing days. They work. Also, I can tell its Spring and the fish all have allergies because they are sneezing a ton of brown boogers in the water. I troll for a few minutes and my lines are covered with gobs of this slimy brown booger stuff. What a mess. So that's it. I didn't want to travel far with the questionable weather but had a fun day anyway. Later Joel

Both days were almost the same so I'll summarize.

I started out just at first light and put out lines. I went around Hales Ford Bridge and a little beyond but saw nothing so I headed down to Coast Guard point. On Tue I got the first fish at 6:15 at Coast Guard point and Fri it was at 6:20. Both around 25". After that I couldn't get another bite. I did mark a few fish but not as many as last Saturday. Tuesday, I crossed over to the Bedford side and had a big fish on but it somehow found the only snag within a quarter mile and broke off. Rot! So Tue I headed up lake again and trolled from R31 to Grimes. I was marking some scattered fish and passed over three decent schools around R34 but didn't get a bite.

Then I started hop skipping up lake looking and ended up at the courts. I was marking fish and boated two within 15 minutes. Nice 25.5" and 26.5". Then nothing. I still saw fish so I drifted around casting all kinds of stuff (I have a few things on the boat) from top to bottom. No takers.

Friday was a repeat except that after Coast Guard point I went down to the Beacon and made a quick pass through. I marked a few fish but got no takers and then headed up lake again. As I was passing Becky's I noticed several boats working the area so I cruised through looking but I didn't mark a single fish. I don't know what those guys were fishing for. Then up lake was a repeat of Tue but I didn't get any more fish. Oddly enough there were boats fishing just about everywhere.

Ya'll have fun.
Joel

I launched at 5:45am and it was already getting light so I may need to get up earlier from now through July. The last time I was out fishing was with the Freedom Alliance group and we got fish at Coast Guard point and it's a good spot this time of year.  So I headed there first. I started marking fish there right off and boated the first one at 5:55.  Only a 21" but action and fun. In short, between start and 7:00am I boated 4 fish, lost two that spit hooks and had several strikes with no hook-up. They were 21", 21.5", 21.5" and 24".

By 7:00am the sun started peeking over the trees on the Bedford side and hit the water. That turned off the bite . I kept making passes deeper and deeper but the fish were gone. I made a pass on the shadowed Bedford side and saw nothing. All these fish and strikes again came on the small Bomber lure but not the chrome/blue back. These all hit the hot steel color: sort'a blue back, light chartreuse side and white belly.  Go figure.  So then I ran over theBecky & Betty's creeks just to check and I saw nothing.  Acting on a good tip, I ran up to R31 and started trolling again.  I started marking some fish but only 1's, 2's and 3's.  I trolled up lake zig-zagging from river channel to shore looking.  Right near R34 I marked three schools of fish down 40-45' but couldn't get a bite.  I went all the way to Indian Creek still seeing some fish along the way. I turned around and trolled all the way back seeing fish and dodging those idiot boats.

So that's it.  My two best fish got third place in the the artiftourney.  I think there's only 3 of us in the artificial class. Hmmm. And another reason I don't fish the weekends. The boat ramp was  a traffic jam both launching and retreiving. What a mess. Hey, at least the weather is nice. Joel

I started out just as the sky was barely getting light. I started marking a few scattered fish around Hales Ford Bridge, more that I've seen lately but still not enough to fish for. I poked around here and there on my way up lake. It was getting light when I started trolling as I was approaching R37. I was marking fish but they looked like small marks. Sure enough, in 5 minutes I got the first fish, an 18" right near R37. Only 5 minutes later I got the second fish, another 18". No big marks were showing up. No surface activity either.
I made one pass around inside Indian Creek and then headed out. Still only marking an occasional small fish. I worked my way up to Grimes, in and out Grimes, and kept going. I got up to Harbor Ridge, looked around and kept going a little farther. I crossed over and started back down lake zig-zagging from points to the channel and back. Nothing. So I pulled up and cruised back to Indian Creek. I trolled the R37 bank and started seeing good marks and good loose groups of fish. I trolled them, jigged on them, and cast to them but couldn't get a bite. Rats

.So I trolled down to R34 and around that bend but saw very little. I cruised down to the R31 area and found nothing. So then I headed back to Hales Ford Bridge and trolled down to Coast Guard point and the adjacent creek. Still nothing. For such a nice day, fishing sucked. Later Joel

I hit the water at dawn and cruised up to Indian Creek. I started marking scattered fish so I set the lines out. Right on the point of Indian CreekI boated a fish. A nice 25" after lines were in for all of 5 minutes! I thought it was going to be a hot day. Wrong!

Inside Indian Creek the fish were popping up one at a time here and there so I started casting the small coves and points. The fish were there but I couldn't get a bite with anything I threw. Very frustrating.

So I decided to head up lake. I checked a couple spots along the way but saw nothing. I started trolling again at Moorman's and saw a few scattered fish but three laps got no results. I cruised farther and went a little past the big trestle and saw even less fish. Maybe I didn't go far enough again.

I took a break and went back to R31 and casted around a while but all I got was practice. I guess I'll try again Monday.

Later
Joel