Old Hickory Lake Guide Service Fishing Report

Posted by ian on February 5, 2021

02/05/2021

This report covers the last couple weeks on Old Hickory.

Over the last couple weeks the bass and crappie fishing has been good for us. We have experienced a mixed bag of weather with days in the 60’s and others being at or near freezing accompanied BIG winds that have limited areas we are able to fish. While it may be uncomfortable for some people to be out on nasty weather days it has been my experience the cold temps and wind typically effect the fisherman more than it does the fish. In fact, when we get a weather change it often sparks a bite considering a front pushing in is what causes the weather change in turn causing the fish to feed.

Just after the last report we received several inches of a warm rain and the water temps rose and sparked a good shallow bite for several days. Temps rose from the mid to low 40’s to low 50’s in a lot of areas and the fish responded by pulling shallow and feeding. While initially the water got dirty in spots after a couple days the fish acclimated and put the feed bag on! We had several excellent days fishing in less the 5 fow, for both species, and clients brought home more then enough crappie to feed an army! Water temps have begun to fall back down in most areas averaging in the mid to low 40’s in creek and around 45 on the river. Water clarity has also improved to around what we would consider normal unless one of those big winds stirs up shallow areas creating pockets of dingy water.

The bass bite has remained about the same with winter type patterns hold constant except for the shallow bite coming on occasionally. Surprisingly, the shallow bite doesn’t take much to fire especially if we have several days of a warming trend with some sunshine. I have always liked the second or especially the 3^rd day of a trend as the fish seem to really fire up shallow. Again I am focusing on shallow areas that are still close to deep areas weather it be a creek or main river channel. When I am looking shallow I am always keeping in mind the area the fish are migrating from and its important to realize the fish aren’t typically going to move a long way horizontally to find that shallow area. Rather they may pull up off a deep point touching a channel and instead of being in 20 fow off the tip they will push up onto the top of the point. Shallow pockets right off the main river is also a great place to look for shallow fish as well.

 The crappie bite has remained good for us and again just like the bass there is a mix of both shallow and deep fish. On most of our trip’s clients have been in the action pretty consistently and bringing home nice messes of fish. Just like before I am targeting brush pile in or around the channels and shallow flats adjacent to the channels where the fish can move up and feed then retreat to deeper areas with ease. We have primarily relied on jigs for both the deep and shallow fish only changing weights and colors depending on depth and watercolor.  Crappie remain active in the cold water and winter is an awesome time to fish for them.

Our bait choices have remained about the same and should remain consistent throughout the rest of the winter and are as follows:

Bass Baits: YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr with any shad colored boot tail swimbait, ½ oz homemade football jig in green pumpkin or slight variant, ned rig also in green pumpkin and jerkbaits like the Megabass 110, Lucky Craft pointer and the Strike King KVD. Just as with all my bait selections I try and keep it simple focusing on shad patterns with a bit of chartreuse mixed in when choosing my jerkbaits.

Crappie Baits: Bobby Garland Baby Shad is our go to in the winter months and is a very versatile bait as it can be fished vertical, cast and reel or fished slow under a bobber. Favorite colors for Old Hickory are Electric Chicken, Monkey Milk, Bluegrass, Mayfly and Chartreuse.  I generally keep my jig head weights simple as well going with either the 1/16^th or 1/32 oz heads for casting and 1/8^th oz for vertical presentations.  Flippers Bait and Tackle have the best deal going on the jig heads with 100pack for $15 or so.

Winter is often when we catch our largest fish of the year so don't let the cold, cloudy days keep you off the water. Often fisherman get intimidated with the cold weather or water temps in the lows 40's or even 30's, just remember fish have only one way to make a living and that is to eat! You may have to change tactics and step out of your comfort zone to catch cold water fish but just remember: YOU CAN DO IT!

Be nice, stay positive, enjoy your fishing and remember IT'S JUST FISHING!