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Author Topic: Cheatham Dam  (Read 5894 times)

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toddro

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Cheatham Dam
« on: October 16, 2006, 09:14:20 AM »
I fished below Cheatham Dam on Saturday morning and managed 3 striper on the fly-rod, fishing from the bank just below the dam.  I used a 1/0 black and silver flash Clouser on a 7/8 rod.  All the best action was happening on the surface or just below it as schools of striper moved into the pool below the dam chasing baitfish.  Not real easy to cast out to where the fish are, but I found a nice little backwater channel only 10 feet off the bank where some fish would move in from time to time, and running the Clouser thru the rip in that area would poduce strikes.  All the fish I caught were small (3 to 4 lbs.), but fun nonetheless.  Once the sun came up high and burned the fog off the water, all action seemed to cease.

Also stopped at a creek (Johnson's Creek?) nearby that looked like smallmouth heaven, but I was unfortunately skunked there...

Weather was beautiful and trees are showing there fall colors out that way as well!

tight lines,

Todd
"A passion for steelhead is a hard ride. It is all consuming. God help the woman, man, or child who hopes to compete for some small claim to the passion in the angler so stricken." Bill McMillan, Foreword- A Passion for Steelhead

MikeA

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2006, 06:55:54 PM »
Any Striper on the fly is a major accomplishment IMO. Thanks for the report. I swear if it wasn't three hours away I'd be up there.

Mike
In the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced nor cried aloud,/Under the bludgeonings of chance/My head is bloody, but unbowed.

toddro

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2006, 09:15:06 AM »
It's definitely not easy to fish from the bank there, but I would imagine even just trolling or dead drifting a fly thru the main channel from a boat would produce some big fish.  I saw three big schools of stripers move thru in about 1.5 hrs.  I tried wading out a bit downstream from the dam where the creek enters, but got nothing at all down there, though I think I had a few fish follow my fly since I saw some little baitfish jumping and clearing the water just behind my fly, but not ahead of it.... 

I have been there in the spring when that creek is up, and it is just boiling with baitfish on the surface and striper, smallies, and sauger in feeding frenzies that last several hours - fun stuff!

"A passion for steelhead is a hard ride. It is all consuming. God help the woman, man, or child who hopes to compete for some small claim to the passion in the angler so stricken." Bill McMillan, Foreword- A Passion for Steelhead

dleo6446

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2006, 03:16:52 PM »
I am looking for my first striper on the fly....should see some up in the Stones before too long shouldn't we?

Toddro...have you ever cught sauger on the fly rod over at Cheatham

toddro

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2006, 03:37:14 PM »
No, I've never hooked a Sauger there on a fly-rod, only smallmouth up until now, that was my fist successful striper on a fly-rod up there.  I saw some guys pulling some monsters out of the river, but they were using larger casting rods casting very large poppers and Rapalas out into the main channel.

I would love to fish for striper with someone who knows the Stones River.  I have fished a few times below the dam, but have only caught one striper down there and one trout - just never had much luck...

dleo, are you talking about the Stones River below the dam or above the lake???

Thanks,

Todd
"A passion for steelhead is a hard ride. It is all consuming. God help the woman, man, or child who hopes to compete for some small claim to the passion in the angler so stricken." Bill McMillan, Foreword- A Passion for Steelhead

dleo6446

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2006, 04:52:05 PM »
Toddro, above the lake,  going out of Jeffersons boat ramp.  It is amazing how the stripers will corral the shad in the river there next to the bluffs and pig out....may as well entice them with a few clousers.

MikeA

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2006, 05:06:46 PM »
The Rivers should be on fire right now. Be at the mouth of Stones, Fall, and Spring Creek at sun rise and watch for the birds or boiling fish. On an overcast day it might last all day. The stretch from where the Stones empties into the main confluence up river to the first bend should hold Hybrids all along the channel. It can be hit and miss as usual for Striper and Hybrid, its feast or famine when targeting those bad boys. If you spend every trip in that area for about month you will hit it right eventually.
In the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced nor cried aloud,/Under the bludgeonings of chance/My head is bloody, but unbowed.

toddro

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Re: Cheatham Dam
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2006, 08:34:55 PM »
Thanks guys.  I assuming you have to have a boat to get up there? 

My mother-in-law lives in that area, I may have to find Jefferson's boat ramp and at least have a look...
"A passion for steelhead is a hard ride. It is all consuming. God help the woman, man, or child who hopes to compete for some small claim to the passion in the angler so stricken." Bill McMillan, Foreword- A Passion for Steelhead