Lake Chatuge Fishing Report – March 2010

Chatuge: Level: 7.1 feet below full pool. Temp: Low 40s. Clarity: Clear. The lake stains a little with each rain, but clears up quickly.

Bass: Decent. Charlie Baldwin said he’s still waiting for temperatures to come up, but there are a few decent spots being caught. Right now the best bet is to look for warmer water where the sun is shining on rocky points. When the spots move up shallow on the points throughout the day to feed, they can be caught on a crankbait. Charlie likes a Shad Rap for this bite. If you can’t find them up shallow, back out a little and fish a drop shot or shaky head finesse worm over 25-foot deep brush. With a March warm-up, the fish should begin to move up into the pockets to get ready for the spawn. When this happens, Charlie likes to target blowdowns in the mouths going progressively back into the pockets with a spinnerbait. He said both largemouths and spots will bite the blade. He likes a 3/8-oz. Ol Nelle in white or white/chartreuse. Also, if there is a little bit of a mud line on the points after a rain, a spinnerbait will wear the fish out.