Your Kick'n Bass Fishing Report for July 2, 2019
From the deck of the Kick’n Bass pontoonThe last week we have seen quite a bit of volatile weather. Lots of damage but no bad injuries that I’ve heard. With all the rain we have gotten, the lake level is going to go up. We prefer high water but it can scatter the fish around. The good news of the water level rising is when the TVA starts pulling out water to lower the lake level the fishing seems to pick up. The current causes the baitfish to school up and allows the game fish to concentrate their feeding efforts. We have been pulling crankbaits and catching all different kind of species. Finally on Tuesday I was able to find the Whitebass stacked up in several places. This new current will no doubt help the fishing/catching ratio. Fishing multiple styles helps keep us on fish. Water is about 82.5 degrees in the morning and 86 in the afternoon. |  |
Lake conditions Lake levels are up, but the TVA has revised their release schedule, and will start dropping the lake back to summer pool. You can see the levels at their website or app.
Weather forecast weather.com/weather/tenday/l/42025:4:US |  |
Crappies We have been pulling crankbaits a lot lately. The Jenko fishing Crappie crankbaits have been our go to baits. The Crappies have been changing their color preferences daily so started out with multiple colored cranks is your best bet. Then narrow down their color of choice as you fish. 1.8 mph has been my best speed about 12 feet down in 14 to 18 feet of water. Sometimes the bay you caught them in yesterday is slow so keeping multiple areas to fish is essential. Main lake flats are picking up also. Keep moving and you’ll find them. Deeper creek channels have started producing some big Crappies lately. There is A LOT of minnows and shad schooled up in the lake right now. Good for us but bad for the baitfish!! |
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Whitebass and Yellowbass This week the whitebass and yellowbass fishing has picked up considerably. Concentrating our efforts on main lake ledges has produced a lot of these tasty fish. Part of my family was in this week and it was great watching my sister and nieces catching fish all on their own! |  |
| A few years ago they were learning but now are showing me up by catching more fish than “Uncle Dick”! Scan those ledges to find these fish in schools and it is game on. We have been using inline spinners in 3/8-ounce size mainly white with a silver blade. Reel about 8 to 10 times and then open the bail and let it free fall. This imitates a dying shad. Repeat this in a yo-yo style retrieve and hold on. Our favorite way to catch them tho is using the SteelShad bladebaits. For years now these have been our goto lures. They catch anything that swims and so high quality that they last a long time. Favorite colors are gold and silver but they have produced a myriad of colors and sizes the last few years and they all work. They are sold at our local tackle stores and Hitec Outdoors has them all. |
Largemouth We have been catching quite a few Largemouth mostly in the 12-inch range but we did get a couple keeper sized fish in the 3-pound range also. We have had several heavy fish lately too. Just under 6 pounds being the largest. We are chasing bait and so is every species of fish in the lake. That is why even tho we don’t target a species we still catch them. Lures we use mimic the baitfish so one never knows what might take the bait. |  |
Catfish Catfish seem to be everywhere on day and nonexistent for us the next. We only catch them as an incidental catch but those targeting catfish are doing well. Bluegills and Redears With the high water some gills have moved in. Gills I saw at the cleaning station had eggs looking like they were ready for spawning. Haven’t seen much quantity tho. |
 | ATTABOY Thanks so much for the great day on the water today…with the best Captain! |
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