Unsteady conditions at Watauga
By Marvin Birchfield
STAR Correspondent
With spring time officially here, the area lakes
and streams are a hot spot for local recreation activities.
Watauga Lake is suffering from unsteady conditions,
which has caused fish to not be biting lately.
There has been some rainbow trout caught and
a few bass along brush piles.
Crappie has also been hitting, but they will
soon quit biting due to nesting.
Crank baits seem to be the choice of fishermen
right now, as conditions look to improve once the water level
goes down.
The water level at Boone Lake has slowed things
down at times, but Stripers have been coming on strong, especially
in the late part of the evening breaking up around the Dam.
Up in the river arms of Boone, smallmouth bass
has been caught by using jigs.
Spinner bait is supposedly the best to use around
the banks for catching Largemouth Bass.
Crappie is also presently hitting on Boone Lake
in shallow waters on the deep side of brush piles with Minnows
and flies.
On South Holston Lake, Smallmouth are hitting,
mostly being caught on crank baits.
A Bass that weighed seven pounds and three ounces
was reported last week, which is huge for a Smallmouth.
Some Walleye have been pulled in at night on
crank baits, and using power bait and spinners have worked
well on catching Trout.
Bluegill and Carp are also up with the water
rise up 17 feet, which has caused things to stir up.
One of the best lakes to fish at this time is
Cherokee, where it's been said that pretty much everything
is biting, especially in the upper end.
Predominately White Bass are being caught with
flies, and back in the coves where brush piles submerge more
than likely there will be a Bass waiting.
Fishing has been good so far in both North and
South Fork Holston Rivers, with some nice Smallmouth coming
out of the North Fork.
Smallmouth are being caught also in the South
Fork Holston, but a lot of Largemouth Bass are biting, as
well as several 6-7 pound Trout from Patrick Henry Dam down
to around Richfield.
