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Chickamagua tournament
I fished a practice tournament on chickamagua today along with 4 other guys. We went to a pocket off the main river and started fishing spooks and squarebill cranks. I lost one around 12 inches and my partner caught a dink on the spook. We go down the bank and keep fishing. Then I caught one 14.5 inch FAT largemouth on a natural shad h2o express squarebill. The fish had it in its mouth so deep that I couldn’t see it with its mouth closed. I decided to fish the natural shad the rest of the day because I found out what they want. It was a paper tournament so I got to count that one. I catch a 16 incher on the natural shad squarebill. We moved to another pocket and I wanted to try my shaky worm so I fished it. The second cast I felt the tap tap and I swung on him. I said he wasn’t that big, but he was coming straight for the boat. A solid 4 pounder comes up and jumps 3 foot high. He shakes my worm 😮 . It took a lot of effort, but I tried to forget it and make another one bite. We went for 4 hours without a bite so we head to the back of Sale creek. We saw a ton of huge shellcracker beds and empty bass beds. I pick up my natural shad squarebill and fan cast it in the back near the culvert. Then I saw one swimming, it took me a while to realize I had a 15.25 incher hooked and coming at me. I let out a mike iaconelli scream when we netted that bass 😀 We went back and everybody else had a bad day. It never occured to me that I would win with 3 fish and 5 something pounds. I won $9 lol. Hope they are biting better in the state tournament june 6
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13 Replies
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sounds like a fun trip.
by june 6, the bass should be out on the main river ledges. was there much grass down there yet?
j. -
The grass was only about a foot high. June 6 I think I am going to chuck 3/4 footballs, 11 inch worms, and 6xds all day for a big bite.
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I would love to make a tip down there one weekend! Went to Guntersville a few times last summer and had a blast there!
Good luck when you go back!
Eric -
Never fished Chickamagua. Where a good ramp to start from?
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We launched out of dayton.
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creekcrappie,
i like your style. personally, i don’t like to fish large worms. i leave that to my dad. he grew up in Huntsville fishing Guntersville, Wilson and Wheeler. but, the 6XD and football head combo is the deal. try running a yamamoto 5″ twin tail grub trailer on the football head. it’s a perfect trailer for anywhere on the TN River or Cumberland River chains of lakes. if the grass is matted up, you might try a punch rig instead of the football jig. good luck down there!
j. -
Well I wont be able to help for June 6th but after the Elite series event June 11-15th on the Chick I should be able to give a few spots. I got drawn to be a Marshall for Bassfest Elite series event 6 that is in a few weeks. Hope I get someone good who is on the fish that day!
Eric
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Simple, Thanks for the tips. I will definitely give the 5 inch twin tail grub a shot. I prefer fishing a big worm on a 1/2 ounce weigh as opposed to a jig. I just feel like I can switch colors, styles, and sizes a lot quicker that way. I will throw both though to see what they want. I love fishing a 6xd but it will wear me out if I do it too much.
Eric, that’s awesome about the Marshall! Let us know what you learn. -
creekcrappie.
I understand wanting to fish a worm due to the ease of switching… however, I’ve had good success with a jig color called cumberland craw [pb&j with chartreuse instead of purple] with a yamamoto 5″ twin tail grub trailer in Green Pumpkin w/ Green and Purple flake. There are only a couple of places that I don’t use that color [cumberland river comes to mind]. I’m not sure that there is anything special about the color combo, but it has worked for me at KY Lake, Old Hickory, Tims Ford and Lake Barkley. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work at Chick. Also, I know you probably don’t want to wind the 6xd all day, but it flat out catches fish. You might need a little slower reel to not get fatigued. I fish them on a 4.9:1 reel which is probably actually too slow, but it has so much torque. I just wind it as fast as possible when the fish want it fast.
j. -
Simple is right. That 6XD will flat crush a school of fish in a hurry. The shad patterns with Chartruese (Sp?) stripes works wonders. If you don’t have any with the chart stripes, get a spike-it marker and make your own. For the reel, I would use a 5:4:1 gear ratio. The key is to get the bait down and keep it down for the majority of the retrieve. Higher ratios get the bait down but they don’t keep it down in the strike zone long enough.
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Thanks guys. I will buy some cumberland craw jigs, I think I have one right now. I have a chart. sexy shad 6xd, a sexy shad 6xd, two citrus shad 6xds, and a powder/ blue back chart. 6xd. I will buy some more before I go to my high school tournament this weekend.
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More advice on the 6XD…
If you’re really going to get the most out of them, you really need to treat it like a “system” – clearly I’ve watched too many KVD vids.
My fave color for the TN River lakes is Chartreuse with Blue Back. I always switch the hooks out to Mustad KVD Triple Grip 1x strong 2x short shank in sz 1 or 1/0. It’s a pain to switch them out, but they really do make a difference in landing percentage and seem to not get hung on the bottom as frequently. Also, I always use a longer rod – I’m about 5’7″. So, I stick with a 7’4″ rod – but have used a 7’11” at times. Line size is 10lb fluorocarbon. This will get it down deeper/faster and cut down a little on the effort to crank it. Hopefully this helps. I’m addicted to deep cranking and this setup absolutely works.Now I just want to go fishing!
j.
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Uht oh, look out. Simple done got himself all fired up!
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