Tennessee's Two Best Striper Fisheries The Clinch and Cumberland river systems have perhaps the best freshwater trophy-striper fisheries in the world. A world record could come from these waters any time.
When striper angler Ralph Dallas netted a new 65-pound, 6-ounce state-record striper from Cordell Hull Lake in April 2000, not many of the state's striper anglers were surprised. While Dallas fishes exclusively for trophy fish, those who like a lot of striped bass action know that the Cumberland and Clinch rivers are among the best in the country and are known for consistently producing big fish.
Dallas' state record is just 2 pounds, 2 ounces shy of the current world record for striped bass, which came from a California reservoir. It topped another state-record striper Dallas caught in 1997 from the Cumberland River system. That striper weighed 62 pounds.
In 1998, Knoxville resident Willis Marsh pulled a then-state-record 63.12-pound rockfish from Melton Hill Lake in East Tennessee, and in 1988, Gary Helms set a former world record for landlocked stripers, 60 pounds, while fishing at the Bull Run Steam Plant in Melton Hill reservoir, an impoundment of the Clinch River. Over the years, the Clinch River has yielded five state records.
Dallas is determined to catch the next world record and has a better chance than anyone. In early April 2001, while fishing Cordell Hull Lake 20 miles from the dam, one of his clients hooked onto a fish that, if boated, would have been a new world record. The fish broke the line, and one week later Dallas found it a few hundred yards from where it was hooked, hook and line still intact. A taxidermist, Dallas mounted the fish, which he said exceeds 70 pounds. The fish is 50 inches long and has a 38-inch girth.
A full-time fishing guide, Dallas has spent a lot of time on Cordell Hull and Old Hickory lakes, and this isn't the only time he has fought with, and lost, a new world record. They are in these areas, and in the spring, anglers from across the nation come in search of a world-record striped bass.
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Photo by Jeff Samsel
CUMBERLAND RIVER
Striped bass weighing more than 20 pounds are routinely caught from the Cumberland and the Clinch River systems, and 40-pounders are not strikingly rare anymore from Old Hickory and Cordell Hull lakes, which are both Cumberland River impoundments.
Both the Clinch and the Cumberland river systems not only yield big fish but also produce a lot of action for those anglers who enjoy tangling with these muscled fighters. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) stocks, on average, about five stripers per acre in these fisheries. That stocking, combined with perfect water conditions, has created one of the top striper fishing destinations in the country.
"We see more people every year coming to fish Old Hickory and Cordell Hull," said Tim Churchill, TWRA reservoir biologist. "Striper anglers are among the most mobile, and they will drive from other states to get to trophy fish. In addition, the Internet has spread the word about the quality of fishing we enjoy on these fisheries, and with it comes the out-of-state revenue.
"There is absolutely no doubt that Cordell Hull and Old Hickory lakes are the best striper fisheries in the United States," said Churchill.
Churchill said TWRA's creel surveys for the year 2000 indicate that striper anglers account for $467,000 in expenditures on Old Hickory Lake alone.
The stripers are produced at the TWRA hatcheries, and according to Churchill, the state had a bumper crop of stripers last year, and they were able to stock more fish than normal. Churchill said stripers can reach sizes of 10 pounds and above in three to four years because they can allocate a lot of energy from food to growth.
Dallas, who fishes only for trophy stripers, has caught 214 stripers that weighed 40 pounds or more since 1995, and last year he netted 14 fish that exceeded 60 pounds.
Duckworth guides for several different species, so he doesn't fish as much for stripers as Dallas does. Nonetheless, last year alone his clients boated two fish that weighed more than 50 pounds and 22 fish that exceeded 40 pounds.
Depending on the time of year, water temperatures, etc., Duckworth will fish near the Gallatin Steam Plant located on Old Hickory, or he will fish beneath the dam in the tailwaters. He says that when he is fishing below the dam the average size of his catches are 20 pounds, but there is always the possibility of hooking one that weighs more than 50 pounds.
Duckworth uses 20- to 21-inch skipjack, or yellowtails (a gizzard shad), whichever he can catch, on balloon rigs, and he floats three miles downstream from the dam. He places two of his lines on a 2-ounce downline at 10 feet, and this keeps the bait tight to the bottom and places the balloon on the main line just above the swivel, and (with a 5-foot leader) he fishes this just below the surface. He uses 30-pound-test line on the leaders and 40-pound line on the main reel. He also uses baitcasting reels and 7 1/2-foot heavy-action rods.
Fish mortality is a serious problem when Duckworth is fishing for rockfish with live bait, so he uses only 5/0 circle hooks. When the fish strike, these hooks turn and automatically hook the fish in the corner of the mouth, preventing injuries caused by swallowing the hook.
"Nine times out of 10, these hooks don't hurt the fish, and they can be released so others can catch it later," he said.
Striper fishing is good beneath Old Hickory year 'round when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers steam plant is generating.
Likewise, the Gallatin Steam Plant offers good fishing in May because the warmwater discharges into the river draw baitfish, and in turn all the other fish that eat them. Since he is after the biggest fish, Dallas catches his bait around the steam plant. The shad he uses are 1 1/2- to 2-pound skipjacks, when he can get them (they are also difficult to keep alive) and gizzard shad. His preferred bait sizes are 15 to 20 inches long. Dallas catches skipjacks this size at the Gallatin Steam Plant on Old Hickory, and then he drives to the Granville area and launches at the Granville Boat Dock on Cordell Hull. He fishes a wide range of areas on this reservoir.
He also uses a saltwater boat, which he says has the best bait tank, and heavy-action rods designed for saltwater fishing. His hook of choice is the 8/0 steel, which he said is strong. This heavy rig is matched by big-game line: 130-pound-test is what he trusts to get the big fish to the boat.
"Guys come fish here from the first of April until the end of May because that is the best time to catch these big fish," said Dallas. "We're counting on catching a world record on this reservoir."
Old Hickory Lake is located in Smith, Trousdale, Wilson, Sumner and Davidson counties and is easily accessible from Nashville and I-40. A run-of-the-river lake, it is narrow for miles below Cordell Hull Dam, and then it widens as it nears Old Hickory Dam. The Cumberland River and a number of smaller tributaries feed the 22,500-acre reservoir.
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