Chickamauga / Nickajack

Hi,

I am coming to Chattanooga in July of 2019 from the 6th to the 14th. I am coming to Tennessee for a girls travel softball tournament, I am the head coach. I am a avid bass angler and I would like to bring my bass boat and fish the 2 lakes for the first couple days that I am there before the tournament starts. I am curious which one is the better of the 2 and what patterns should I generally look for during that time of the year. I am generally a river fisherman that punches grass mats and deal with tidal waters so this may be a little different for me because our fish in the rivers generally stay shallow year round except for winter time when they get into their wintering holes. I am also curious what to type of bass should be targeted as well I don't know if there are small-mouth in both or spotted bass and if they are the predominant species of bass. Fishing deep for us is 10 feet. LOL any help or direction would be greatly appreciated

Fish your strength,staying shallow on Chic in the grass will get you bit.

The mid to upper part of Nickajack is very river like so you might be a little more comfortable with it. Chickamauga would be the better lake for catching a potential "trophy" fish on though.

If the next few months have as much rainfall as the past few, it will retard the grass on both Chick and Nickajack due to current flow. That time of the year, numbers should still be possible and hopefully the larger fish will be grouped in schools off shore.

Thanks for some information, I was watching a couple things and it seemed like they were fishing the first drops that time of year fishing from 15 to 25 feet. I would be nice to break a personal best 8.1lbls that's a big fish in NJ but that one was on the Chesapeake bay on the flats.

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Originally Posted by bassinbubba

Thanks for some information, I was watching a couple things and it seemed like they were fishing the first drops that time of year fishing from 15 to 25 feet. I would be nice to break a personal best 8.1lbls that's a big fish in NJ but that one was on the Chesapeake bay on the flats.

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One of the things that makes chick so fun to fish is that you can fish how you like to fish year round. There are always fish shallow, and there are always fish deep. July will be predominantly be ruled by the ledge bite but don't think you can't load the boat with a flipping stick. IF the rains settle down and we get good grass coming up again it will just make the shallow bite stronger. It won't be topped out by then but you can fish over top of it or hop a t-rig or shaky out of it with pretty good success.

Thanks I will probably start probing a little more when the time gets closer. I love fishing grass , that's our main focus around here in the rivers

Lots of Smallies in Chick. That time of year I would be out deep fishing the bluffs and adjacent flats

Fished Nickajack today, had a ok day but grass isn't what I was hoping so far. I am gonna try up the river tomorrow and see what happens. Any help would be appreciated