Reelfoot Lake TN

[dcbasser]

Any of you guys ever fish Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. Maybe looking into going down late october for a weekend of fishing and was wondering if it is worth the trip. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Lee]

Been there a couple of times over the years during April. Always ran into COLD front conditons and bass bite was off. From experience I advise you NOT to trail your boat down there. If you make it thru the trip with your boat & motor intact you will come home as a pile of burned out nerve endings. The Foot is bad on bass boats and lower ends. Rent a local boat and go for it.

[PatientlyWading24]

Went down once quit a few years ago, also ran into a nasty cold front. we were mainly crappie fishing because it was real early spring and the bass weren't doing much. i'd also recommend renting a boat down there. i hear in the summer you just about have to beat the snakes off of and away from the boat. don't get me wrong, it's not all negative though. there are monster panfish in this lake and very healthy big bass. also a local tackle shop owner told me there was a crocodile in there she'd seen. but then she told me, " I'm lyin out my tooth." i believe she scared me more than the thought of a croc swimming around...

[mhall]

Any of you guys ever fish Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee. Maybe looking into going down late october for a weekend of fishing and was wondering if it is worth the trip. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I have fished it for several days in a row on two times. You will love the lake, it's like stepping back in time and makes you feel like you are in Florida in a big swamp in some areas. I fished it both times during the summer, but fall should even be better. DO NOT take your own boat, the lake is FULL of stumps and you will hit plenty. Use the rentals down there and you'll be better off. Cypress trees everywhere, huge stands of Lily pads and large and I mean large acres of stump fields. They might be in the trees, or pads, or stumps, but those are your primary patterns there. There are some dudes in that lake, I've caught one at least over four both times I've been and lot's of other nice fish to boot. That lake later in the year get's what the locals call duck weed on it. It looks like chartruese colored pellets floating on the water and seperates when you drag a bait through it. I've used a topwater walking spoon on top of that stuff and caught some good fish. Go and have fun, I promise you will like the lake alot.

[tracker4stroke]

i have to say reel foot is a great place to fish i head down in the spring for the crappie. man they have some huge slabs down there. but if a cold front comes in it takes a good minute to catch fish but if you are going for bass you will have a blast. i have also taken chicken livers and pitched them at the base of trees and tore up the cat fish. i watch a video on the web about a guy who pitched for cats. it was fun. it seems all the fish are healthy and good weight to them. and like others have said i would not take a glass boat down there. i take my tracker with me but never use the big motor. tons and tons of stumps. http://www.reelfoot.com/reelfoot_fis...port_62907.htm here is a link to some good fishing reports. i alway start checking it out befor i head down there. have fun

[PatientlyWading24]

ITS right in the upper left corner. there is actually parts on some maps that cross the ky line, if that gives you an idea. its about 15,500 acres the average depth is 5.5 ft and you will be very hard pressed to find any part of the lake deeper than 20ft. trees absolutely everyehere, middle of the lake. just more cover than you know what to do with, every type.

[Bumblebee_1]

I have fished a 3 day weekend there in May. Interesting lake a lot like a Louisiana swamp, snakes, trees, stumps, spanish moss and snakes. The lake is large but not huge it is quite shallow. They rent john boats with seats and 9.9 horse motors for good reason. If you must take your bass boat only run at idle speed and make an appointment with your marine sevice department for the day after you return. You will need it. Stumps are everywhere. Decent fishing if you don't know where you are going, great fishing if you do. If you are pan fishing you may want to take or make some anchors. If you want a trolling motor you will need to take your own.

It is a different experience for this area of the country.

Bumblebee

[dcbasser]

Thanks guys for the info. We are planning on staying at one of the lodges and do indeed plan on using their boats. They seem to have some good packages that include boat rentals. We are hoping to do some crappie fishing,probably will even take a guide the first day just to get a feel for the lake. They say OCT-NOV is excellent times for big slabs. I will also keep the bass gear handy and plan on catching a few. Thanks for the all the info.

[PatientlyWading24]

"If you are pan fishing you may want to take or make some anchors. "

For some reason that triggers a memory that makes me think that they don't use normal anchors down there. I think because the bottom is just layers and layers of silt that they use coffey cans with cement in them to help pull the anchors up. some anchors would sink real far and/ or have some sort of lip on them to cause extra resistance. Also my mind is a little cloudy because my last trip there was like 8 years ago, so that may be something completey random and wrong, but for some reason i think that is correct at least somewhat.

[BigPoppy]

I have never fished reelfoot but if it is indeed like those sloughs and lakes down home in Louisiana, anchors can make or break your day. First man you do not want that 50 dollar Bass pro shop dropped off down in the muck cause you not going to see it again with out you getting wet. Cypress trees are like johnson grass they send out roots every direction looking for a spot of sunshine when it finds one a knee pops up and you got yourself the begining of a new tree. now you let down an anchor with points on it and its like gut hooking a gar, it is not going to spit out the hook, it is going to break that line. Well A Cajun boy or an RCA (registered Coon Ass) some one born north of I 10 he don't got no money no, so what he done got to do is make him an anchor wit what he can find. OK enough of a bad Justin Wilson accent. an eye bolt in a coffe can is popular but one we liked the best was a piece of iron rod, pipe stem from an oil rig or a piece of pipe filled with lead or motar mix and cap it off. This would be 24 to 36 inches long. Then we would get a piece of strong round stock slightly longer than the pipe and place a strong metal ring about 2 inches in diameter or so slip it over the bar and weld the bar on to the pipe at either end allowing the ring to travel up and down the length of the anchor, this way if it was hung up in one direction you could motor the other way and pull at a totally different angle. and as far as the mud thing you would always be drawing the anchor with the smallest suface area carrying the mud. One more shallow water swamp trick for late spring thru mid fall while the catfish are still moving and fattening up for cold weather this off beat trick put alot of meat in the freezers down home. My mother in law said this one is so easy even a yankee (referring to my Kentucky heritage.) could get it right take a five gallon bucket drill a few holes from about half way up to the top not many just eight or so fill the bottom with about 3 to 4 inches of sand and then use type of blood,stink,you name it catfish bait, and place it in a tightly woven net like an oinion sack, old nylons. We have even used cheap dog food in a can with some success if we were going to be there a while. find an area that you have caught catfish in shallow water take the bucket with the bait secured to the bottom and lower it to the bottom with a line that is stong enough for you to lift it back out in a hurry when you return attach a marker of some type we used pop bottle with reflective tape for night retrievial. wait a few hours coe back paddle up to the bucket as quietly as possible and get the slacK out of your line and jerk the bucket out of the water as fast and as straight as you can. the holes you drilled allowed for the water to run out and the scent of the bait to be dispersed. Now I am not sure if this would be considered trapping in TN or KY down there it was not because the fish were able to come and go as they pleased. I know this sounds like a cock and bull story but I helped do this and let me tell you it is not for the faint of heart or body those buckets get heavey and down yonder they can serve up some surprises for you too like cotton mouths, depending on how far south you are crab, big crawfish(a good thing down there) gaspergoo(kinda like a bowfin but uglier) alligator babies with momma looking for them, and alligator snapping turtles.just remember these three rules for bucket fishing and you will be ok. 1. Always look before you reach in the bucket.if it looks mean,it is mean throw the bucket back out. 2. If you do not get those things back in the water and find them in the boat with you,USE ONLY WOODEN DEVICES to dispatch the mean critter.3. This rule refers back to rule number two even though you are probably carrying a weapon that is far more capable of dispatching with the threat now in your boat remember if you use this weapon it will add holes to your main life support IE your vessel, then you will be the threat in their world and they will do their best to dispatch you!

with all of that said, hey have fun and let us knowif they are biting, I got my old jon boat with ten pounds of JB weld in the rivot holes ready to go

Dennis

[BigPoppy]

I have never fished reelfoot but if it is indeed like those sloughs and lakes down home in Louisiana, anchors can make or break your day. First man you do not want that 50 dollar Bass pro shop dropped off down in the muck cause you not going to see it again with out you getting wet. Cypress trees are like johnson grass they send out roots every direction looking for a spot of sunshine when it finds one a knee pops up and you got yourself the begining of a new tree. now you let down an anchor with points on it and its like gut hooking a gar, it is not going to spit out the hook, it is going to break that line. Well A Cajun boy or an RCA (registered Coon Ass) some one born north of I 10 he don't got no money no, so what he done got to do is make him an anchor wit what he can find. OK enough of a bad Justin Wilson accent. an eye bolt in a coffe can is popular but one we liked the best was a piece of iron rod, pipe stem from an oil rig or a piece of pipe filled with lead or motar mix and cap it off. This would be 24 to 36 inches long. Then we would get a piece of strong round stock slightly longer than the pipe and place a strong metal ring about 2 inches in diameter or so slip it over the bar and weld the bar on to the pipe at either end allowing the ring to travel up and down the length of the anchor, this way if it was hung up in one direction you could motor the other way and pull at a totally different angle. and as far as the mud thing you would always be drawing the anchor with the smallest suface area carrying the mud. One more shallow water swamp trick for late spring thru mid fall while the catfish are still moving and fattening up for cold weather this off beat trick put alot of meat in the freezers down home. My mother in law said this one is so easy even a yankee (referring to my Kentucky heritage.) could get it right take a five gallon bucket drill a few holes from about half way up to the top not many just eight or so fill the bottom with about 3 to 4 inches of sand and then use type of blood,stink,you name it catfish bait, and place it in a tightly woven net like an oinion sack, old nylons. We have even used cheap dog food in a can with some success if we were going to be there a while. find an area that you have caught catfish in shallow water take the bucket with the bait secured to the bottom and lower it to the bottom with a line that is stong enough for you to lift it back out in a hurry when you return attach a marker of some type we used pop bottle with reflective tape for night retrievial. wait a few hours come back paddle up to the bucket as quietly as possible and get the slack out of your line and jerk the bucket out of the water as fast and as straight as you can. the holes you drilled allow for the water to run out and the scent of the bait to be dispersed. Now I am not sure if this would be considered trapping in TN or KY down there it was not because the fish were able to come and go as they pleased. I know this sounds like a cock and bull story but I helped do this and let me tell you it is not for the faint of heart or body those buckets get heavey and down yonder they can serve up some surprises for you too like cotton mouths, depending on how far south you are crab, big crawfish(a good thing down there) gaspergoo(kinda like a bowfin but uglier) alligator babies with momma looking for them, and alligator snapping turtles.just remember these three rules for bucket fishing and you will be ok. 1. Always look before you reach in the bucket.if it looks mean,it is mean throw the bucket back out. 2. If you do not get those mean things back in the water and find them in the boat with you,USE ONLY WOODEN DEVICES to dispatch the mean critter.3. This rule refers back to rule number two even though you are probably carrying a weapon that is far more capable of dispatching the threat now in your boat remember if you use this weapon it will add holes to your main life support IE your vessel, then you will be the threat in their world and they will do their best to dispatch you!

with all of that said, hey have fun and let us know if they are biting, I got my old jon boat with ten pounds of JB weld in the rivot holes ready to go

Dennis

[trent colvin]

I was down there a couple of years ago in early October. I went to bass fish and took a jet drive john boat (still hit 9 stumps the first day). I found that the center of the Cypress growths was the best for bass. The water was very murky and I used a chartruse spinnerbait with chart. blades and had to hit the base of the trunk with the bait. The big suprise for me was the Bowfin. A hard cold front came thru the 3rd day and shut down everything but the Bowfin. they were crushing a flippin tube on the grass edges. They are ugly, but they fight GREAT. Sent me a phone number and I will call you with some info. I found an area on the last day that had some deeper water and a hard sand bottom...