Fishing Tennessee & jimduckworth.com

From: Bobby Wilson Chief Of Fisheries
To: Todd St.John Lake Manager TWRA
Where is the lake boundary in Percy Priest (Stones Rivers) where the fish regulations (length limits)are no longer in effect?
Bobby Wilson ( Chief of Fisheries )

Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 3:54 PM
To: Bobby Wilson
Subject: Re: Question about Percy Priest lake regulation limits
Hey bobby, east fork delineation is Walter hill dam. West fork is definitely downstream of nice mill. Would be first riffle area as coming upstream from the lake if in a boat. Todd

FISHING TENNESSEAN
There it is guys straight from the guys in charge. Jim

I called the TWRA and they are getting me the point where the size limit changes but is is way up the forks they were sure. Jim

Message This is follow up to my last post. The state has no length limit on black bass (largemouth, smallmouth, spotted and coosa), but there is a 5 fish creel limit. Percy Priest Lake has a length limit of 15 inches for largemouth, and 18 inches for small mouth. I’m just not sure where the Priest limit starts and the state (no) limit ends. If it is just in the lake itself, or in the Stones River along the entire length. Rcranfield

Message Having some luck with smallmouth bass in the Stones River in Murfreesboro. Not a lot of size but good numbers. Caught 10, lost 4 in 30 minutes on rooster tails and jerk baits.. Just wondering the size limit in that area. Does it follow the Percy Priest size limit, or the state size limit? Rcranfield

As far as I know the Percy priest limit and the state limit are the same but am not sure about the upper stones, call the TWRA and they will tell you or pick up one of the reg. books at your local bait shops. Jim

Guys they finally slowed the water enough on Old Hickory for saugr fishing, from all the reports I have gotten by phone the bite is from Bartons creek mouth to the Cordell Hull Dam. Jim

Took my son out below Cordell Hull looking to catch some SkipJack for catfishing later this summer. Saw some guys on the bank using heavy weights and large white curly-tailed grubs on a carolina rig and they had several stripers that would go 6-7lbs easy along with 4 or 5 slightly smaller ones. Might be worth a try if you’re looking for striper action! Steve

Message 2-5-12
Went out to Old Hickory Lake yesterday with my wife to catch some bass. It was a tuff one! It was the day after a cold front in the winter. Started out slow, but the bite got better as the day went on. I ended up with 11 bass, 4 keepers! Biggest one was 4 pounds caught on a jig. Second biggest was 3 and half and caught on a tennessee rig. Total weight of the 4 keepers was little over 12 pounds. Not a bad day for post frontal conditional. The rest came on a jig. The key to today was fishing slow and around cover. All bass were between 8 and 15 ft. Also caught a 4 pound walleye, my first on old hickory! Good Luck to all, Robert Hunter

Sauger Fishing
Message During the entire month of January I’ve done something I’ve never done before. That is caught sauger off the bank below Old Hickory Dam. Due to the heavy rains, this is about the only way you can catch them. I’ve probably caught 40 with 17 keeper fish the whole month. Now, you have to know what you are doing and the guys are great at sharing information with you. I’ve been using an 1/8 th oz. White head jig with a black and chartruse tail, fishing from 4pm-7pm at night. Good luck guys. I will be doing it in February and for years to come! SHANK

Guy’s as bad as you know I want to sauger fish all these rains have not given us a single good day all winter and untill the rain stops and the river calms down they just will not bite. On the good side they have had many good day’s below Pickwick Dam so check the generation and as long as the gates are not open you should be able to catch fish there, Hope this help’s ya’ll. Jim