Apologies to BassFans: The performance of civic duty by BassFan Staff precludes publication of a full scouting report for this week's Chickamauga FLW Tour Major. Traditional coverage resumes tomorrow with day-1 action.
The FLW Tour visits Chickamauga this week – a Tennessee River impoundment near Chattanooga, Tenn. It's the second Tennessee River event in as many weeks – the Bassmaster Elite Series concluded its Pickwick competition Sunday.
BassFans who followed the Pickwick event know that the fish there were in pre-spawn and spawn, but water level was a key factor. Pickwick was above summer pool throughout practice, but as competition matured, the TVA dropped the water at least 3 feet, which forced dramatic changes in the shallow patterns. Eventually, Davy Hite prevailed in the tailrace, but the 2nd-, 3rd- and 5th-place finishers fished shallow.
FLW Tour pro Andy Morgan, who calls Chickamauga home, told BassFan that water level is likewise a big story at Chickamauga. Morgan's ranked 5th in the world and is one of the recognized favorites this week.
"To be honest, everything's teetering right now on the water level," Morgan said. "The first day of practice it was a little over 683 and our summer pool s 682.50. So it was roughly half a foot over full pool when practice started. Now we're right at 680, so it basically fell 3 feet in 3 days.
"That closes some doors and opens others," Morgan added. "But I'd say, in a nutshell, practice hasn't done a lot of good for a lot of people. If you were on the bank up around the cattails, it's a mudflat now. And the falling water's taken away 90% of the backwaters on the upper end of the lake."
According to Morgan, though, the falling water shouldn't hurt the weights too much, and he thinks it'll still take at least 20 pounds a day to win. And because the fish are in all three phases – pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn – there's not any one dominant technique right now.
"Some very good bags will be caught, and you can catch them about any way you want to, but I don't think these conditions will set up to where we'll maul them. Fishing pressure's going to be a huge deal and how an angler manages fishing pressure will probably be what sets him apart."
As a sidenote, Morgan's hosting quite a few fellow pros at his nearby Dayton homestead, including Luke Clausen, Dan Morehead, Jim Dillard and Scott Suggs. A sample of this week's menu so far? Ribeye, spaghetti, fried wild turkey and ribs.
