Williamsport

[tennvols00]

Has anyone on here tried using minnows as bait for their bass or cherokee bass? I have only used artificial baits there and have had reasonable success with several 2-4 pounders but I've never tried this early in the year for bass there.

[jad2t]

Williamsport can be very humbling and I'm pretty sure either live or artificial bait would give that result. It's loaded with 3-5 pound bass and there have even been 10+ pounders caught from those lakes but it has proven pretty tough for most of us. I fished two kayak tournaments there last year, did well enough in one to take 3rd, in the next one the largest bass I could find was a 13 incher and then a couple 11's haha Meanwhile plenty of 15+ inchers all the way to a 20.5 incher were caught that day. Both tournaments there were some great fishermen who were unable to find many bass or even one. I'd be disappointed but not surprised at all if I spend a day out there and get skunked. I caught everything in there on Crankbaits and plastic worms (Zoom Finesse). I tried everything else and with no luck. It's just a challenging fishery, period.

As far as minnows, I never use live bait but I do know that last year there was an 11.2 pound bass (I think that was the weight) caught in Shellcracker on a minnow.

[XxthejuicexX]

I really want to fish those lakes this year. I fish with a guy that lives down that way and he said that you can really get into nice Hybrids. It just stinks that it's over an hour away for me.

[jad2t]

Originally Posted by XxthejuicexX

I really want to fish those lakes this year. I fish with a guy that lives down that way and he said that you can really get into nice Hybrids. It just stinks that it's over an hour away for me.

I'd recommend not going to Shellcracker if you go. Drive on past it to Goldeneye or Bluecat. Shellcracker is the 1st lake and it gets fished pretty heavily. From my two experiences in that area, people seemed to do better on the other lakes.

[txnative]

Originally Posted by tennvols00

Has anyone on here tried using minnows as bait for their bass or cherokee bass? I have only used artificial baits there and have had reasonable success with several 2-4 pounders but I've never tried this early in the year for bass there.

Shiners on down lines. Look for fish in the lower end (near the dam) on Bluecat and in the open water on Shellcracker. A depthfinder is really important to fish live bait in the winter on these lakes. First look for bait and take note of depth, then look for either hooks (fish on a depthfinder will show up as an upside down "U", aka "hook" or "arch") that are near the depth you found bait. Set your shiner up just above the fish and hold on. The lakes have nice hybrids and largemouth that will nail your shiners, and don't be surprised if a 25+ lb blue catfish makes a cameo if you're fishing Bluecat. You can also troll flukes on 1/4-1/2 oz jigheads while you are looking for fish on your depthfinder. Good luck !

The pic below is one of Bluecat's "average" winter hybrids.

Chris Bryant

[tkwalker]

Chris, nice fish and report !! <'TK><

[tennvols00]

Awesome info! Thanks a bunch! One quick question from this live bait rookie. How do you suspend your bait a certain depth without using a float? Any other tackle specific information would be greatly appreciated. Hope we can get into them for a good day of catch and release!

[txnative]

Originally Posted by tennvols00

Awesome info! Thanks a bunch! One quick question from this live bait rookie. How do you suspend your bait a certain depth without using a float? Any other tackle specific information would be greatly appreciated. Hope we can get into them for a good day of catch and release!

I use bait casting reels with a bait clicker and strip off line until the bait is where I want it. I then turn the clicker on with the reel in free spool, set the rod in a holder, and wait for the sound of line going out.

I use a Carolina-rig with a 12-18" leader from the swivel to the bait to keep my bait down. I'll normally go with 3/4 oz egg sinkers, but will adjust if more weight is necessary to keep my lines as close to vertical off the rod tip as possible. To deploy, I'll reel the line in until the weight is on the rod tip, then start stripping line as needed. I have marks on my rods indicating 1 ft from the reel, and use that as a guide when setting bait (i.e: 17 strips means my weight is 17' from my rod tip). Remember that your BAIT will be lower than your weight, and also adjust for the distance from your rod tip to the water's surface. In more detail, if your rod tip is 12" above the water, you'll need to add another 12" to compensate. Just as important is to set your BAIT above the fish, for example:

Fish at 16', rod tip 1 ft above water, using a 1 ft leader: strip out 15' of line. This will put your WEIGHT at 14', and your BAIT at 15'...1 ft above the fish.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.


Chris Bryant

[nomad60]

I had to go Google "bait clicker" LOL

So much good advice on this forum!

[XxthejuicexX]

Originally Posted by txnative

I use bait casting reels with a bait clicker and strip off line until the bait is where I want it. I then turn the clicker on with the reel in free spool, set the rod in a holder, and wait for the sound of line going out.

I use a Carolina-rig with a 12-18" leader from the swivel to the bait to keep my bait down. I'll normally go with 3/4 oz egg sinkers, but will adjust if more weight is necessary to keep my lines as close to vertical off the rod tip as possible. To deploy, I'll reel the line in until the weight is on the rod tip, then start stripping line as needed. I have marks on my rods indicating 1 ft from the reel, and use that as a guide when setting bait (i.e: 17 strips means my weight is 17' from my rod tip). Remember that your BAIT will be lower than your weight, and also adjust for the distance from your rod tip to the water's surface. In more detail, if your rod tip is 12" above the water, you'll need to add another 12" to compensate. Just as important is to set your BAIT above the fish, for example:

Fish at 16', rod tip 1 ft above water, using a 1 ft leader: strip out 15' of line. This will put your WEIGHT at 14', and your BAIT at 15'...1 ft above the fish.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.


Chris Bryant

And this is just about how I crappie fish. Pull line off the spool to adjust proper depth to keep the minnow or jig over the brush and crappie.

[tennvols00]

Headed to the port today. Left town around 10 with a bucket full of minnows only to find all lakes there frozen solid. A bummer for sure! Hopefully things will change in the next few weeks and I can try it then!

[XxthejuicexX]

Originally Posted by tennvols00

Headed to the port today. Left town around 10 with a bucket full of minnows only to find all lakes there frozen solid. A bummer for sure! Hopefully things will change in the next few weeks and I can try it then!

That sucks, I hope it was not a very far drive. Those minnows are hard to fillet.

[Fishbus]

We made the drive from Murfreesboro. I asked the concessioner on FB who seemed unable to tell me if the lakes were frozen (huh?)

We were there around 1130-1200.

Billy


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[Alphahawk]

The concessionaire will not be back at lake until March 1st. Should anyone want info when lake thaws let me know day or two before you want to go and I will go out and check lake conditions.



Regards


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[Fishbus]

They did get back to me with that same info later on Randy. I didn't think to consider they were seasonal.

The ice was 1/2" thick at the shore and my son was throwing baseball size rocks 50' out that were not breaking through.

I think it will be a few days at least.

Billy


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