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| Fishing |
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| Bite After Bite For Stripes Below Wheeler Dam |
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| By Steve Burch |
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Originally published in the June 2012 issue of AON
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Gerald Dodd (left) and his father Roy display 32 stripes they caught in 90 minutes of fishing with the author below Wheeler dam. They said this fishing was pretty slow compared to how good it will be in June.
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Gerald Dodd deftly guided the trolling motor to hold us in the swift water flowing from the generator/turbine in Wheeler dam. The gray morning was perfect for the topwater stripe bite that was evident all around us. Fish were popping the top constantly.
Gerald’s father, Roy, cast a 3/16-oz. white Rooster Tail from his position on the back deck. I took it all in from the middle of the Ranger as it drifted down the middle of that tailrace.
The scene was, in today’s vernacular, stupid.. or maybe, sick... or perhaps Really? Are you serious? You pick the term, the fishing was fast and furious.
Fish were breaking the surface, crashing baits and feeding constantly. Overhead, gulls and herons circled and dove and fed along the 800-yard long sweet spot in the tailrace.
And the “stupidest” moment of the morning came when I stood at Gerald’s shoulder, looking across the water. Get the scene now.
His rod was bowed from the pressure of the fish he had just hooked. Looking upstream under the arch of his rod, a second boat, with two fishermen, had a fish on. Past them another cast and a half was a third boat, again with two fishermen, and again one angler was fighting a fish.
The water between us and the other two boats was erupting like popcorn in hot oil with stripes busting bait.
This scene was not the high point of the morning; the fishing had been this fast and good since we nosed into the tailrace just after daylight.
What made that particular moment was Gerald’s matter-of-fact comment.
“This really isn’t very good (fishing),” he said. “It usually gets good in early June. Then, there won’t be a fish breaking here and there. Then, this whole area will be erupting like you see in saltwater. Now that’s good fishing.”
Gerald and I had met by chance two weeks earlier at a stop-and-rob near the river. I was delivering magazines, and he liked the magazine.
“You ought to come up here and do a story on this tailrace fishing in June,” he said. “It really is something.”
“How long does the good fishing last?” I asked.
And he said by mid-July, the best would be over.
I shared with him that running an article about how great the fishing was is not nearly as helpful as running an article about how good the fishing is going to be. He saw the logic in that and to make a long story short, we agreed to meet one morning in early May and go fishing.
Gerald and his father Roy live in Moulton. Roy is an 88-year-old masquerading as a 68-year-old and has been fishing the tailrace for most of those years. His bright eyes and quick wit entertained me with the long history he has seen come and go along the river.
“Do you see that point there?” he asked pointing downstream on the north bank of the river a mile or so away.
“I have seen so many mayflies surrounding that spot that you could not see the point from here. It was blacked-out solid with mayflies. Do you have a flyrod?” he asked, cutting knowing eyes my way.
Turns out that Roy loves to bream fish and when the mayflies hatch, he leaves the tailrace fish and works on the bream gorging on the love-lorn flies.
For the record, yes I do have a fly rod, and I love to bream fish.
But the tailrace is ground zero for this story and for most fish that swim in the Tennessee. But why is this June/July time so special?
For whatever reason, the concentration of baitfish increases in this period. Speculation is the warming water in the feeder creeks pushes more and more shad into the cooler main river channel in Lake Wheeler. With more bait in the main channel, more baitfish pass through the turbines. These baitfish are easy pickings for predators of all stripes, feathers and scales.
The most numerous of these finned predators are collectively ID-ed as—stripes—as in “What cha ketchen?”
“Stripes.”
“Stripes” is a generic term used to cover multiple types of fish, genus morone. It is sort of like the word “Steak.” There’s ribeye and T-bone and cubed and... well, you get the idea.
In this case, stripes could mean white bass, yellow bass, saltwater stripers stocked here or hybrid bass, a cross between whites and stripers, also stocked.
By sheer number, the most common fish caught will likely be white bass. But there will be a mix of all of the “stripes” in a limit of stripes. And the limit is 30 per fisherman per day, but only six of the 30 can exceed 16 inches in length.
But these line-sided stripes are far from the only fish in the fray.
Catfish and drum feast along the face of the dam and ambush bait in the rock-strewn bottom of the tailrace.
Large smallmouth bass with bad attitudes haunt the boils and eddies of the tailrace and crash live bait when they can get to them before the drum or cats.
Skipjack herring feast on threadfin shad at the turbine boils. Catfishermen cast small jigs and spoons into the rolling water and catch the herring on nearly every cast. Fresh or frozen, these herring make excellent catfish bait for trot-liners and rod-and-reel anglers alike.
And tight-lining crickets along the face of the dam in slack water will produce shellcrackers, some double-hand wide.
Still, the main attraction for the next 40 days will be the stripes.
You should know this is basically shift fishing. The morning shift begins at daylight and lasts about an hour and a half. This can be extended an hour or so on cloudy days. The evening shift is about half as long, ending at dark. Limits are likely on either shift.
The birds and boats will tell you where the fish are, but the tailrace can be divided into two primary areas. The first is the area from the dam face downstream to just before the first electrical tower. This is known as the scour hole. It runs as much as 30 feet deep. This usually is not the best place for stripes.
At the downstream end of the scour hole, you will see the change in the water as it flows over a bottom averaging only about 12 feet deep and paved with broken rock. This sweet spot extends downstream at least 600 yards. Trust me, the breaking fish will tell you where you should and should not be fishing.
So what do you throw into this sea of ravenous stripes? As you might imagine, many things do work, and everyone has their favorite.
As mentioned, Gerald and Roy catch their stripes on white Rooster Tails.
If you travel a quarter-mile or so downstream and into the southside creek to the bait-and-tackle shop at Fisherman’s Resort, owners Roger and Debbie Riddle will sell you anything you want. However, they will suggest either BoJoLe spoons or popping corks with floating flies called Long Tomz.
Both the spoons and the flies have the advantage of having only one hook. After all, unhooking 30 fish in 90 minutes means you need to be quick. Dealing with one hook in a fish’s mouth is easier and safer than dealing with three hooks.
The spoons come in four sizes, but Roger will point you to the No. 2 or the larger No. 3 size. Carry both, and use the size that most closely matches the shad that are being eaten. The spoons are mostly white, with a red nose and a black eye, but for stained water, some have a chartreuse decal that seems to help.
The spoons cast well and can be fished just by themselves or more commonly behind a popping cork.
The popping cork with fly has the advantage of a surface strike. Topwater action is just more fun.
Some days the sub-surface baits work better than the floating flies and corks; some days the corks get the edge. When we were there, both flies and sub-surface were working, and I am convinced you could catch a stripe on a Vienna sausage painted white and worked right.
I did throw a small, square-lipped crankbait just for editorial research, and they bit it as well.
This area is best fished by boat, but there is ample bank access, and it is free along the south bank of the tailrace. A long cast with a popping-cork rig will produce.
There is a good, free, state-park ramp on the south bank just below the dam, and there is a good ramp at Fisherman’s Resort (just don’t back in too far).
For more information about facilities and daily updates on fishing conditions and results, call Roger at (256) 685-9711. They say they are open daylight to dark, seven days a week, but they are known to occasionally open earlier than daylight.
There is one critical word of caution. This tailrace can be dangerous, particularly if there is a west wind. When the wind is blowing one direction and the water is racing the other, huge waves can stack up and be treacherous to boaters. They also shut down the fishing. On a perfect day with no wind at all, a dark cloud can quickly make the tailrace wicked. Beware and be safe.
Wheeler tailrace is a great place to stock the freezer or prepare for a fish fry. It is a wonderful place to take those new to fishing because they can make a lot of mistakes and still catch a lot of fish. And they aren’t trapped in a boat all day long struggling with complicated tackle and slow activity.
It is a Wheeler tailrace frenzy, and Gerald and Roy say it is just now getting good. Gerald might be messing with us, but Roy... I think he is telling it straight. If you go, send us pics. I am going back, probably about the time you are reading this.
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