FISHING THE BOIL
Fishing the boils below Melton Hill and Fort Loudoun Dams in East Tennessee:
Captain Chet Moore at www.stripersandmoore.com
Melton Hill:
Melton hill generates in the afternoon, most of the time after one p.m. or so, until seven or eight at night. Check the generation schedule on the TVA website. The schedule is published after five P. M. daily.
At Melton Hill, we normally start after the generators are turned on trying the drift method (an easy way to fish the boils).
From just in front of the boils, we let the boat start downstream and pick up some speed. Then we cast forward with a 1 ounce weight tied to a three way swivel using a 3/0 to 5/0 circle hook. We use 25 pound line for the hook and 14 pound line for the weight. The main line to the reel is either 20 or 25 pound. You may have to increase the weight to 2 ounces depending on how fast the water is running. I try to keep the line at a 45 degree angle in front of the boat. If the line is too flat, hang ups are assured. The line to the hook should be about 36 inches and the line to the weight is about 15 inches.
We use a different type and size of bait depending on which fishing method we are using. I use smaller threadfin shad for drifting and larger gizzard shad to fish the seams on top of the boils. More about the boils later.
We let the current carry the boat downstream trying to keep the line at a 45 degree angle and the sinker bouncing off the bottom. Too much line and you will get hung up on the rocks. Hang-ups are frequent if you don't stay in touch with the sinker and bottom. When you feel a tap on the line, it's more likely the bottom, so you raise the rod a couple of inches and crank once or twice to stay close to but not on the bottom.
You never jerk the rod; most of the time stripers will set their own hook. We only use circle hooks and the stripers will set their own hook and most often they will be hooked somewhere around the mouth. Bass fishermen have a tendency to jerk and crank on hang-ups and striper hits. There a lot of lipless stripers running around as a result. You use a gentler upsweep of the rod and just hang on and let the striper run for the first 50 yards or so. You don't start cranking until the striper stops taking line. Give the striper as much line as it wants and take back what it gives you.
You can float all the way to the first red buoy at Melton Hill and still catch stripers. At Fort Loudoun, the area where the creek enters on the right back to the dam is the most productive area.
At Melton Hill, it's a good idea to include the pond area on the left headed downstream. Sometimes the stripers will bunch up there and during a normal drift, you will not get to that area.
If drifting does not produce stripers after three or four trips, it's a good indication that fishing is going to be a bit slow that day and it might be time to fish on top of the boils. To do this you head for the seam between the small wing wall and the first boil when they have two generators running. If you are looking at the dam, the seam would be in line with the first column to the right of the wing wall. That's where the big sows (average size 22 lbs) hang out in the rocks in the boils on the bottom. The trick here is to get down to where the stripers are quickly before the fast water moves your bait to the left or right of the seam. The seam is not very wide, maybe 3 to 4 feet and runs downstream about 40 feet from the face of the dam. The water depth runs from 40 feet at the dam up to 12 feet by the end of the seam. You can see how hang ups can be a problem if you don't stay in touch with the bottom. Because of the depth of the water and the speed of the current it is necessary to use very heavy weights to get down to where the stripers are located.
We use a 4, 5, or 6 ounce weight tied to a three-way swivel and a 3/0 to 5/0 wire hook. The line from the swivel to the hook is about 36 inches and the line to the weight about 15 inches. We use a 6.6 or 7 foot MH rod with either a bait casting or spinning reel. A bait casting reel is kind of tricky for this kind of fishing, unless you are really good at it, so most of us use spinning equipment.
The object is to get the bait, 5 to 7 inch gizzard or threadfin shad, as close to the bottom as fast as possible and in the seam. Because the seam is so narrow, 3 to 4 feet, it is very easy to miss it. Locating where the seam starts is the tough part and depends a lot on how much water is being discharged. When the wing wall is completely covered, that's a lot of water and the discharge output is in the area of 23,000 cubic feet per second. This makes finding the seam difficult because the force of the water deflects the bait well before it can get to the bottom. It may take several attempts to hit the seam at the right depth to connect with a striper. They are almost always there in the spring, summer and fall so just keep trying and you will hook up.
When I can see 6 to 12 inches of the wing wall out of the water with two generators running, this creates an ideal situation for hitting the seam. The force of the water is a great deal less and more forgiving than when the wing wall is completely covered.
In either situation, it normally takes 2 people to make this happen, one person to drive the boat and the other to place the bait. As soon as the boat is in position, you lob the weight and bait ahead of the boat into the flat water a little to the left of the first boil, but not into the boil, and let out some extra line. The boat should remain stationary for a few seconds, allowing the weight to sink to near the bottom. As soon as the weight makes contact with the bottom you release the boat and slowly start the drift downstream using the big motor for control. The person with the rod must be ready to crank so as to control the depth of the weight as the bottom comes up. Controlling the depth of the weight is more of an art form than anything else.
It all happens very quickly and it takes some getting use to. Too much line and you get hung up, too little line and you have passed over the stripers. If you do get hung up and the weight breaks off leave the bait down there. Very often when the line breaks and the bait jerks you will get a hit. Also, if you get hung up and the weight does not break off leave it there for a couple of minutes, you are already on the bottom and sometimes a striper will grab it and run.
Because of the speed of the current in the boils, the size of the stripers and their viscous striking power you need to leave the drag a little loose. Let the striper take out as much line as they want and take back what they give you. There are some really big stripers down there. We have caught some that weighted between 35 and 40 pounds.
Fort Loudoun:
Fort Loudoun generates all day most of the time, however, the best time to fish is in the morning just after they start the generations. If they start generating at 6 AM you should be there at 5:30. The first thing you do is motor over to the Tellico Dam and get some bait. They release water from a large pipe in the center of the dam. You will find all kinds of bait at the foot of the dam where the water boils (threadfins, gizzards (large and small) and just about anything else). You will most likely pick up a bass, crappie, carp or catfish in the net as well.
Try to get to the dam area just before they turn on the generations. They usually start with the generator to the far left when facing the dam. In about 10 minutes they start the second one in the middle or right side. That's the time to watch for surfacing stripers in the pool to the right of the wing wall in front of the flood gates.
When then stripers are there, they start driving the shad to the surface just before sunrise and it lasts about 45 minutes. We use a 6 inch white pencil popper with a red head. Great fun. If there is no action, it's time to hit the boils. The first area you should try is at the back of the right side of the boils, between the boil and wing wall. Just like Melton Hill, Fort Loudoun has seams too.
Motor up to the right side of the boil and cast to the dam wall between the boil and wing wall and let out a lot of line. As the weight sinks, it will move toward the wing wall and then down stream. Again, this is where 2 people are much better than one. Holding the boat in position to allow the weight and bait to get to the bottom in the seam is the key. If you have done it right, the weight and bait will begin to move toward the boat halfway between the boil and wing wall. It should be close to or on the bottom by then. As the boat moves slowly downstream under power, the line and weight will be pushed to the right and end up on the bottom close to the wing wall. That's where you'll get hung up and/or hook up with a big striper. If that does not produce a striper after 4 or 5 attempts, then it's time to move over between the first and second boils. Between the boils you can hold a boat relatively steady. You cast a plug, doll fly or other type of artificial lure to the face of the dam and twitch it as it sinks to the bottom. You are in back of the boils so the lure should not come back at the boat or downstream. Sooner or later it will get hit. You can also lob live bait as well using a large sinker and lots of line, you want the bait to stay in back of the boils near the bottom as long as possible. After you hookup, have the driver release the boat and start the drift downstream. At this point, it is best to just hang on and let the striper take as much line as needed to keep from breaking you off as you drift to calmer water.
Drifting at Fort Loudoun can be effective also. We use the same method as I described for Melton Hill and the same type of bait. The rule for getting the stripers to the boat is give them as much line as they want and take what they will give you.
Remember, when a striper is out of the water it is holding its breath and needs to be put back in the water as soon as possible. The bigger the striper the more important this is. Also, try not to hold a striper by the mouth in a veridical position, it compresses their innards and can cause permanent damage. If you are going to take pictures, do so quickly and revive them by holding them in the water until they struggle to get away.
Just a warning, fishing the boils can be dangerous and is definitely not for wimps.
Capt. Chet Moore, Striper Fishing Guide.
Guiding for most of the water in East Tennessee year around
www.stripersandmoore.com
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