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Jan 25
Yesterday I attempted to fish Old Hickory Lake. I put the boat in at 7 o’clock to get some practice in for next weeks championship tournament for the Middle Tennessee Fishing League…… if we draw Old Hickory Lake.
Unlike the previous week Bull Creek was muddy at 48ﾟ…..4ﾟ cooler. My intentions were to try different areas then we fished last week and locate new fish. The army corp was pulled over 50’000 the channel looked like the Cumberland River.
I started at the steam plant where the water temperature was 58ﾟ. Trying to locate any size fish I picked up my fin spin 1/8th crappie jig with a chart crappie slab on 6 LB line. I put the boat in 4-8ft on the right bank before it transitions into the canal. Many times you can catch one – two pound bass in the warm shallow water. However, the water clarity was very poor and I could not trigger any bites. In addition it was 25ﾟ outside and I quickly started getting cold fishing in the shade.
I moved and looked at the water discharge back towards Flippers on the right side of the channel. I used to catch bass in the freezing cold months on the bottom beneath fall water on little white grubs. I was unable to mark any fish and the water clarity was less than 6″ in a brown/purplish tint. I high tailed it out of the cove and headed down like into Station Camp.
The mud had spread everywhere! I motored to the back of Station Camp where I finally found some clear water underneath the bridge. The water temperature was the same, but the clarity was 1′ or greater! I marked some bait with my Lowrance and started casting my a-rig. With the boat sitting in 8 -15ft I cast towards the bank and let the rig sink halfway down followed by a slow retrieving. I fished around the bridge and several yards back behind the bridge without a bite and pulled up the troll motor.
Next I motored to Spencer Creek and navigated the entire creek looking for clear water, but was unable to locate any. I was starting to get cold and discouraged because there was no clear water to be found.
My last effort was in Cedar Creek. I motored down and checked all the tributaries of the Creek and again the clarity was poor. At this point I’ve been out for 2 hours and only fished for 30 minutes. With the cold weather moving in this week and no rain in the forecast I figured the lake will be clearing and the conditions for fishing would be different by next Saturday anyways. I didn’t waste any time and put the boat on the trailer and got on my honey do list!
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2 Replies
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Hey Brian what was the water temperature at the steam plant? I know it’s been just as cold as the main channel the past few months.
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The plant was on and pumping 58 degrees out! Tilapia everywhere on screen!
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