Chickamauga Lake has been one of the most popular bass fishing destinations in the country over the last decade. Affectionately known by many as “Chick,” the site of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite is considered by many to be one of the best lakes to catch a bass over 10 pounds in the country.
“Being my first time to Chickamauga, you hear about it being a big fish fishery, and it’s really exciting,” said Bassmaster Elite Series pro Matty Wong.
Wong’s first day of practice was cut short by two flat tires on the trailer as he was making his way over from the St. Croix Bassmaster Open on Cherokee Lake.
“I got a half day in. I caught a couple fish, and I was just trying to figure out what stage the fish were in.”
Wong was surprised to find that the fish haven’t quite moved up to spawn yet, considering the rising water temps in the 60s.
“I found a couple of bedding fish, but the majority of them are still staging.”
The water is still down quite a bit here on Chickamauga, around 4 feet below full pool. Some of the anglers here this week have voiced that they believe the majority of the fish wait for the water level to come up to spawn.
Historically, this week is right around the time of year the water usually does start to rise. But based on the current water levels and the predicted dropping air temps as we move into the weekend, for now, it looks like mostly staging patterns will prevail.
“This is only my second time ever fishing in Tennessee,” said Wong. “So the ledge fishing and shell bars are still a fresh concept to me. Leaning on some of these main lake points and shell bars are probably going to be a big player.”
On day two of practice, Wong got into a bit of a groove, catching around 16 pounds.
“I found an area that I kind of feel suits my style, and the fish should start coming into it. So I’m excited about that.”
Wong believes this will be more of an area specific tournament versus a pattern tournament. Meaning that if an angler can find a good area to camp out in where the fish are coming to him, he’ll do better than he would if he tries to run a pattern all over the lake.
“You can run certain patterns that will hold throughout the lake, I’ve done it. So I’d say part of it is pattern based. But a huge thing is going to be very specific areas that these fish are coming up to stage on. And if you can find those specific areas and key on them, I think those are the guys that are going to do really well.”
Wong projects anything from 13 to 16 pounds a day should be enough for a check, but he feels certain too some of the guys will catch 20-pound plus bags. It is Chickamauga Lake after all, even if it is fishing tough.
On the final day of practice, Wong ran around and tried to rule out water.
“I only had five keeper bites in a 12-hour practice day. A couple other guys that I talked to had something pretty similar.”
So it appears Chick is fishing a little tough, and Wong is hoping this one turns into a “grinder,” saying that’s when he fishes the best. But no doubt when you put this group of anglers on any body of water, you can expect to see someone get on them.
We’ll see tomorrow as the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Chickamauga gets underway. There’s no doubt that some big ones will be caught here. And it’ll be interesting to see if a big wave pushes up given the current conditions, or if the fish stall out on the staging areas instead.
Fans will have to tune in to watch all of it unfold on Bassmaster LIVE starting tomorrow morning on Bassmaster.com.
