Fishing Cordell Hull Dam

[todrut]

Yesterday evening we fished the dam and noticed someone inside the holes where generation is. After while we decided to try this, we sat inside the hole and jigged with crappie magnets. Within 30-45 minutes we caught 2 crappie (keepers), 1- 20" catfish, 1 small catfish, and 2 stripers 9" and 12"
After that generation stopped and we only caught a couple bluegills then went home.

My question is, is this normal? Is ok to fish in there? Would it be better to get there when they start generating? It seemed all bites stopped after generator shut off.

Hope someone can help...

[jad2t]

Fishing below dams in the generation has always been popular and it usually produces larger fish. It's perfectly ok to fish there just use caution for the obvious reasons. Rockfish are present at every dam along the Cumberland River during generation. Once the generations stops they may hang around for a bit but will eventually head back downstream. Same with the other predatory fish. It's not uncommon to still find bluegill hanging around but the bigger fish want that flow.

[todrut]

Thanks jad2t, great info. Is there a better way to fish the dam like this? Bait? Depth? Is there a better time to fish, meaning at beginning, middle, or end of generation?
Planning to try this again, it was some fun catching fish for a change...

[Jim]

I personally would not fish this way. I see it all the time at Old Hickory dam, but it seems like you are putting yourself in a potentially dangerous situation without an easy exit.

Cordell Hull dam is a great area to fish. As generation slows, a bunch of fish will move back downstream to the deep holes near the big bluffs just upstream of Carthage. As generation picks up they move back. Of course this is not all of the fish and the big stripers can range a lot farther than that, but it is a pretty good area to focus on learning where to good spots are found.

A great way to learn the area and catch a bunch of fish is to run up to the dam and drift downstream. Bounce a 3-way rig with a small piece of bait (shad is great, but any smelly bait will work) under the boat as you drift. It takes a little practice to figure out the right amount of weight to keep the line nearly straight underneath the boat and not snagging all the time. Touch the bottom with the weight, lift a foot or so, drift 10 seconds or so, and touch the bottom again. It will keep the bait near the bottom but out of most snags. It will also let you feel changes in depth and bottom composition. Do Not drag the bait downstream on the bottom. It will snag very quickly. Mark where you get bites on your depthfinder or by eye. Good spots will start showing up and you want to drift over them again and again. You will also learn the snags so that you can avoid them.

After you figure out where the holes, humps, and other fish holding structure are in the dam area, you can use a bunch of other methods to target certain species and structure more specifically.

Small cut bait will catch almost everything that swims below the dams as the shad get chopped up as they pass through the hydroelectric turbines. If you want to target big fish, big live bait is helpful, but not required.

I am sure there are a bunch of other good methods for fishing below the dams, but this one is pretty easy, work consistently, and allows you to cover a lot of water to find where the fish are on any given day.

Good luck, I wish I was close to Cordell Hull dam. There are some giant fish in that area.

Jim

[jad2t]

I have little experience below dams because I fish out of a kayak and there's no way I'd make that attempt. I have fished below dams in other's boats and either caught or seen caught just about every species that swims.

As for when to fish (beginning, middle, or end of generation) the duration of generation doesn't have as much effect as time of day. Everyone knows sunrise and sunset is good as well as fishing overnight hours for striped fish and catfish. The one thing that can affect you in a good or bad way is lots of shad coming through the generators. At first, you can throw a ball of paper with a hook in it and probably catch a fish. After a while, the fish are pretty full and are much pickier and more reluctant to take a swing at something they're not sure about so the fishing can be more difficult.

Drifting swimbaits works well for rockfish and hybrids (I don't believe there are hybrids below Cordell Hull though) and drifting smaller spoons or weighted flukes can catch white bass, bass, trout (below Center Hill) and probably a bunch of skipjack.

[txnative]

Fishing below dams is not as hard as it may seem, even out of a kayak. I frequently go below dams in my kayak, and have the best luck in the roughest water. Stripers tend to prefer the swiftest flows, but will use current seams as holding areas. White bass favor eddies and can usually be found closer to the bank, since the riprap breaks up the current. Skipjack can and will be anywhere. Catfish are usually found in calm pockets or behind major current breaks. Walleye will stay in the main flow, but are usually found where the current has slowed a bit. Sauger are usually found deeper than walleye, but will move close to the bank after dark to feed on shad.

Lures used are as follows:

Stripers: jigheads up to 1.5 oz with flukes or shad bodies. Also three-way rigs with any shad imitating lure from 2"-5" depending on prevalent bait size. Topwaters from 2"-6" also work at times.

White bass: same as stripers, but usually downsized.

Skipjack: anything small and flashy...seriously, ANYTHING.

Walleye: jigs/minnow or jigs/plastic shad bodies. Don't be afraid to think relatively large, either. I've caught my best walleye on 5" shad bodies on 3/4 oz slowly retrieved along the bottom

Sauger: jig/minnows, spoons, or jerkbaits. The jerkbaits work after dark fished close to the bank. This is a great fall-winter technique.

You can also troll cranks for any of the above species. The easiest method is to let out enough line to get your crank down to a desired depth and simply troll until you hook up. A depthfinder will help you find fish, structure, cover, etc.


Chris

[TNBronzeback]

i love catching them skipjacks. I will chase them in the winter and early spring targeting just them. they hit so hard and start jumping and doing flips! i toss a double jig rig with 2 1/8 oz leadheads with twister tales below old hickory. throw them up river and just flick em back with the current and hold on! Good white bass caught doing that as well. never know whats gonna smack that jig below the dams at any time of the year.
i also did very very well using a slip bobber below old hickory last year. I was a huge hassle toting a bucket of minnows along those rocks but watching that bobber get yanked down is alot of fun.
The bobber works especially good in keeping the bait out of the rocks. and you dont have to use live bait, i caught plenty of hefty white bass last year below old hickory throwing a bobby garland under a slip bobber. i dont think it works any better, but its a different way to fish and that alone makes it more exciting.

[todrut]

WOW! Guys thank you for the great info. This helps so much, going to try to get back out there Wed or Thurs and try to use alot of this info. Keep it coming...

[todrut]

fished the Cordell Hull Dam again yesterday afternoon / evening. Did pretty good up in the holes of the generators while generating, caught couple saugers, several crappie (5 keepers), several catfish good size, and a few gills. Not a bad 3 hours but would have liked alot more crappie. Oh, caught a few very small stripe.

[Jigemjigs]

Did you notice if they opened the bank fishing back up yet? On the bluff side.

[todrut]

no, and they actually came down there and ran a boat off that was tied to bars. There hasn't been any work done in awhile. I have seen some people who have walked the whole way down there but I figure they got ran off as well.