Lake Chickamauga FLW Tour

Photo: Jay Yelas

> Day 1: 5, 11-02
> Day 2: 5, 17-00
> Total = 10, 28-02 (50th place)

I fished the same water with the same lures for 2 days and the first day I didn't get a bite over 2 1/4 and today, everything was big. I don't understand it. It's such a fickle game.

I had two docks where I'd gotten decent bites in practice and fished each of them on day 1 and didn't get a bite. Today, I caught a 5-pounder on one and a 4 on the other. I was just blessed today.

I was fishing a Punisher jig with a Yamamoto Flappin Hawg and I had some topwater fish in the afternoon and early morning, but with the fog delay today I missed that. Those fish were around shallow grass. I thought I could've done a little beter than I did, but I finished in the money.

It's the 24th year in a row that I've qualified for either the Classic or the Cup. I'm probably more proud of that than any other accomplishment in my career. The longevity that reflects is just incredible to me. You don't get a chance to think about it all year long until this time of year when you qualify for the Cup and you start to reflect on the season.

Luke Clausen
I had one decent day and one that wasn't real great. The thing was there were a lot of fish biting late in the day. It's going to be a big timing deal and you're going to have to pull up on a place and be there at the right time and hope they're feeding.

I caught fish every which way. The key is targeting the ones that are worth something. The current let up from the first couple days so it's definitely changing as we go. There are probably more fish swimming out now with less current and it very well could get better. There seems to be a real short window in the morning to get bit, but after the first 10 minutes, it's going to feel like you've been out there for 3 hours with everybody jumping around. Boat draw might get you a good starting position, but if they're not biting on the first spot you have to make the decision whether to leave them and risk someone else getting on that spot.

The deepest I've seen them is about 25 feet. I have heard guys saying they've seen them in 35, but I didn't go that deep. I don't have places I'm married to. I have some places I want to fish, but I'll be fishing around and trying to fish stuff a little different from other people. Hopefully I'll be able to figure something out during the days and go with it.


Jay Yelas
I never did get on big-enough fish to do great in the tournament. I was just catching run-of-the-mill fish. Based on that, I still feel like it'll take 18 pounds a day to make the Top 20 and 15 a day to get in the Top 50.

Judging by my practice, I'm fishing to the make the Top 20. I didn't have a 25-pound day, but someone will tomorrow. I think that's what will be leading after day 1. I'd be tickled to catch 18.

I still feel like it'll be won deep, but I didn't find them out there so I'm going to fish deep and shallow and do the best I can to have a good finish. You have to have some of the best fishing of your life to win on the Tennessee River. I'm just hoping to catch a few fish and have some good ones mixed in.

There's a lot of grass in the lake, but very little of it is matted up. All of the grass is in 5 foot or less. There's hydrilla, milfoil, coontail and pepper grass and that's what the shallow fish are relating to. There are some docks and laydowns holding fish, but there's not a lot of wood cover in this lake. It's mostly a grass deal. There are a lot of fish shallow, but not a lot of the right ones to do well with. The big ones are out deep, but it's just tough out there. You can fish for half a day and not get a bite. I don't know why it's not better. It should be better than it is.

I'm not going to Watts Bar because I don't want a lock master determining if I make the Cup or not. I might go if I make the Top 20 just to look at new water. I'm sure some guys will go up there, but it'll probably be the guys who are from the Knoxville area who know it pretty well.

Photo: FLW

Today was not so good. I didn't catch them really good today. I'm not too excited right now. I know there's a lot of current and it looks really good for an offshore tournament. I spent a majority of my day out there today and I don't know if I'd have had a limit. It was not very good.

I'm sure the current has changed things, but you'd think in a day you'd be able to find them pushed up on ledge somewhere even if it's different from when the flow is normal. I idled for about 11 hours today and fished for a bit, but never got any big bites or found a big school of good fish. It just wasn't what I anticipated.

I don't think it helps that we're dealing with this super moon and of course a lot of pressure with it being June. I think a lot of those schools are fairly busted up. I fished the lower end today and it was really rough with waves coming over the front and having to reel in so people didn't run my line over.

I've been looking for some good grass, but I haven't found anything that's over 8 inches tall. It's sparse and scattered, but I'll keep looking for that. I'm going to spend more time fishing deep, too, because that's how I think it'll be won. It's just not an easy task at this point. I though it'd be a lot more fun than this.

Photo: Jay Yelas

I've been looking forward to fishing this tournament all year because this lake is fishing better this year than it has in 20 years and maybe longer.

It's like night and day. I remember fishing here in the early 90s with B.A.S.S. Catching 10 pounds was huge. That was in the fall, but it's a totally different fishery and it's great to see. It's like a lot of places we go now, there fishing's better than it's ever been.

It's exciting to be on a fishery that's riding high. There should be a lot of fish caught. I had a fair start today. I was pleased with what I found today. I didn't find anything to win the tournament, but I found a good solid way to catch a good bag. I felt good about that. It's a good day 1. What that does is it gives you a chance to go hunting for off-the-wall stuff or gamble and hunt for some winning fish somewhere.

You have the luxury that you've already found something to at least make a check. I have two days to go find the mother lode. The first day doesn't always go that way. I really don't have a feel for what it's going to take (to win) yet. I would expect it'll take a lot to do well. We've never been here in June so there's really no historical data and the lake's fishing better than it's ever fished.

I think it'll fish small out deep. Those deep fish are there, but they're not everywhere. It's not like Kentucky Lake where there's 3-pounders on every ledge. There aren't many guys fishing shallow. If you wanted to fish shallow, the lake would fish huge. You can't win here doing that.