Summer doldrums greet FLW Series anglers in Tennessee

Old Hickory shaping up to be classic summertime event

GALLATIN, Tenn. – While Wal-Mart FLW Series anglers enjoyed springtime fishing conditions for the first two stops of the season at Lake Lanier and Lake Cumberland, the third event at Old Hickory promises a more summerlike setting, complete with heat and humidity along with sluggish, pressured, postspawn bass.

For the most part, the bass spawn is over in middle Tennessee. Recent daytime highs in the 90s have warmed surface temperatures to nearly the 80-degree mark, sending the last of the fry-guarders packing for a little R&R in cooler haunts.

A barrage of springtime tournaments on Old Hickory have fractured groups of fish and provided them with an educational degree in lure avoidance for the year. Toss in a recent scorching Memorial Day weekend, when throngs of recreational boaters and anglers were enjoying their own R&R on the cooler haunts of Old Hickory, and you are left with one tough fishing tournament, which began Wednesday morning.

“It’s like fishing a farm pond behind a thousand people right now,” said Russ Moran of nearby Manchester, Tenn. “It’s a tiny lake, considering the amount of pressure it gets. Fish are scattered everywhere.”

“This should be a junk-fisherman’s paradise,” noted Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky. “You catch one shallow on a topwater, one off a lay-down on a spinnerbait, one deep on a Carolina rig, and at the end of the day, you really haven’t put much together as to what the fish are doing. Every time I’ve tried to attach any logic to a caught keeper (14 inches for largemouth, 12 inches for spotted bass), I just end up chasing ghosts. I think the best approach here is to just go fishing and hope for the best.”

Indeed, Old Hickory offers numerous options for anglers. Rocks, bluffs, docks, current breaks, shallow grass, log jams, lay-downs, riprap, shallow ledges, deep ledges – you name it, and chances are that Old Hickory has it.

Mike Hawkes of Sabinal, Texas, who won the last FLW Series event just down the Cumberland River on Lake Cumberland in May, says practice conditions during the official four-day practice period were less than ideal.

“It’s been hot and humid,” he said. “And we started practice right smack-dab in the middle of the Memorial Day weekend; the pleasure-boat traffic has been intense. Since we’ve been here, the banks have been muddied by the constant slosh of big boat wakes, so I don’t think anyone has been able to really uncover a potential shallow-water bite yet.”

Hawkes did mention that his best day of practice was Tuesday, when the boat traffic had settled down.

“If anything, the lake quieting down should help a lot,” he added.

Logistics

Anglers will take off at 6 a.m. Central each day from Bull Creek Marina. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1112 Nashville Pike in Gallatin beginning at 4 p.m. Children will be treated to the Fujifilm trout pond and rides in the Kellogg’s Ranger boat simulator beginning at noon Saturday prior to the final weigh-in at Wal-Mart. All events are free and open to the public.

The entire field competes for the first three days of FLW Series events. Co-angler winners are determined on day three by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight.

The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.

The total purse for the Cumberland Lake tournament is $900,000, with $100,000 going to the winner and $10,000 paid down through 50th place in the Pro Division.

Wednesday’s conditions

Sunrise: 5:31

Temperature at takeoff: 71 degrees

Water temperature: 75-80 degrees

Expected high temperature: 88 degrees

Wind: light and variable

Day’s outlook: hot, humid, chance of thundershowers