Old Hickory Lake Guide Service Fishing Report- 10/30/2013-11/07/2013
Over the last week the fishing has continued to improve with good numbers and quality. The water temps are still hanging around the low 60's and with nice, cool water the bass get active. Wind and clouds have been key over the last couple of weeks with our best days being cool, windy and cloudy. The wind and clouds break up the water and push bait up concentrating them on banks where a small crankbait or spinnerbait can be absolutely deadly. The fish appear to have recovered from the summer and they are looking healthy and fat. The fall is a very important time for the fish on Old Hickory. More so then other lakes, Old Hickory fish in the summer time get long and super thin almost as if they are malnourished or just not eating well. In the summer, it’s not uncommon to catch a fish with a head the size of a 5 pounder only to have the fish weight 3 lbs. Therefore the fall is an extremely import time for our fish to recoup and fatten up in a hurry so they will be able to survive the cold winter months. This provides good fishing for us, particularly in late fall when the bait is not as prevalent as it was and the fish still looking to eat. I love this time of year when most days you can have the lake to yourself because everyone else is burned out from fishing all year and super frustrated from the tough early fall fishing. It surprises me every year to see so few boats on the water when the fish are up shallow and people can catch them just beating the banks with a crankbait. Crazy!!!
Our best bite is still the shallow bite with the flatter the bank the better and any kind of isolated cover in the pockets and bays paying off big time. Covering water and fishing flat banks is the best way to find productive areas right now. Fish don’t seem to be relating to anything that you can pattern and don’t seem to be relating to anything specifically other than being in pockets and bays. The best banks have had so much wind that it has been difficult to hold the boat but with that much wind a ton of bait will push up and the bass will be there to capitalize. Isolated cover has been excellent lately and at times we have had to make 10 or 15 casts at a single piece of cover to get bit. We are also catching multiple fish off of a single piece of cover so fish the heck out of it before moving on. Until the water temp falls below the mid to upper 50’s I expect this type pattern to continue with a few fish beginning to transition into their winter patterns. Our best shallow baits have been small crankbaits, spinnerbaits, shakeyheads, t-rigged creature baits and carolina rigged creature baits.
Also don’t forget about the river bluffs right now. We have started to catch more fish on the river bluffs throwing jerkbaits, shakeyheads and jigs. Check bluff walls that are in river bends and bluffs that the channel swings into.
The river below the dam has also been productive. We are still catching quality smallmouth and spotted bass with the occasional largemouth. We have had current below the dam pretty consistently throughout the last week which makes all the difference with river fishing. Our best baits have been shakey heads, crankbaits and jerkbaits.
Fall brings crisp air, beautiful days and shallow water fishing. If you have struggled this fall and haven’t expirenced the success you want, give me a shout and lets set up a day to get you back on track. I offer technique or pattern specific trips and we can focus specifically on the fall transition. So lets go out and enjoy the beautiful fall days before it gets too cold!!!
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