Fort Loudon Fishing Report 5/14/13

Fished in the TNToad out of the canal from 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm.  The weather was windy and clear skies and around 75F degrees at launch and mid 60's at weigh in.  The water temperature in the area I fished ranged from 63 - 67 F.  We weighed in 5 fish that weighed 10.85 lb  and finished 7th out of 67 boats. Our biggest was 3.8 lb. They were all largemouth.
Most of our fish came off the main channel but there are still fish spawning.  We spooked one off the bed with a spinnerbait and she was a whopper.  Unfortunately, she never came back.  There has been a massive mayfly hatch for the past couple weeks in the late afternoon and there are many different species taking them off the surface.  I also observed a school in the distance feeding on shad but I couldn't tell what they were. 
It seems that people are catching fish on many different lures right now.  Spinnerbaits, plastics, crankbaits, and even some topwater seem to be working well.  Based on what I've heard and experienced the Alabama Rig bite has died off a bit.  And I haven't been able to buy a bite on a beaver style bait for some reason.
Now that we're getting some post spawn fish, my catch rate has gone up.  Soon it will be off to the ledges, humps, and points while they're pulling water at the dam.  Good luck out there!
Also, please respect and be hospitable to the PAA anglers coming to town next week.  The lake will be extremely crowded and you may run into people fishing your favorite spots.  Just remember these big tournaments bring in revenue to our local economy through hotels, restaurants, tackle shops, gas stations and grocery stores.  We want them to keep coming back so please be courteous and show them what makes our area so great!
Be safe and happy fishing!

Fort Loudon Fishing Report - 7/11/09

We fished in a tournament on July 11 out of the Loudon/Tellico canal ramp from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. Well, we had to quit early because of a brand new starter that ended up being bad. Anyway, we were able to fish until about 11:00 am. We focused on the areas near Lenoir City Park and Concord boat ramp.
There were huge schools of fish feeding on top early in the morning until about 9:00am. It was really easy to catch them, but getting keepers was a different story. They were smokin' any color fluke we threw at them! White Bass, largemouth, and smallmouth. I was looking the other way on one cast and my partner said the biggest smallmouth he'd ever seen rolled on my fluke right behind the boat. He said judging by the size of it's head, it would have been around 7 pounds. I'm glad I didn't see it or I would have been sick! These fish were anywhere between 10 and 40 feet deep.
Poppers were working well in the morning. Any brand and just about any color have been working. Brandon caught some nice smallmouth around 16 1/2 inches, but just short of keeping. Many fish were smacking at it, but just wouldn't take it well enough for a hookset. These fish were close to the bank and the boat was in 25 feet.
Perhaps the most action we saw was on a Zoom worm. At one spot, I caught 8 fish in 8 casts. I probably ended up with about 15 fish on the worm in about a half hour of fishing. The best colors for me were watermelon seed, junebug, and green pumpkin. I had them rigged on a 3/16 oz Spot Remover jighead. These fish were suspended around 15 feet deep over 30 feet of water. You wouldn't feel the bite, but you could tell one had it when the line went limp.
The day started out partly cloudy and ended up being bright, sunny, and hot.
Good luck! Catch the big ones and watch out for other boats!