I just got news about this sunday - you can get what is called an "AGENCY LAKE ANNUAL PERMIT" (#123) that costs you forty bucks -

What it does for you is that you can fish at any TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) managed lake without paying a daily use fee of five dollars.

Do the math, I DID!

You go fishing eight times and it pays for itself, and from what I understand it includes the boat launch fee...

*The rational is that Lake use includes getting your boat into it

(I spent several hours talking to the rep at Glenn Springs Lake)

You go and multiply five dollars times three hundred and sixty five and what have you got? It's the deal of the century....

But you can only get that at a lake store.

NUTSHELL VERSION: For a flat forty bucks you can fish all you want at any managed lake, with a boat. This along with a basic license amounts to 68 dollars a year - and fish isn't cheap in a store....

It is based on the annual license date, February 28th. It begins and ends on that day.

I know where I'll be every chance that I get! (GOT ME ONE)

You got to figure that what puts food on the table is a good thing - and fish is way higher priced than beef.

 

Fishing Report - Glenn Springs Lake
Thursday, 04 november 2010

Just got back from it. Following fairly heavy rain the last day or two, and cold temperatures continuing through tonight (expected to be in the thirties) the fish appear to have gone deep to stay warm. Nothing is biting along the shoreline where schools of bluegill, brim, spot, and occasional tilapia were visible just last sunday.

As of noon today the lake is pretty much abandoned until warmer conditions bring them back up.

The lake store closed for the season last sunday and will re-open on march first, meanwhile the gates are open from 1/2 hour before sunrise to sundown.

If fishing picks back up at this lake, I'll post up about it. (I live about two miles away)

~Dutch


* Next time I go out there I plan to bring an aquarium thermometer

 

Let us know how it goes. Do they rent boats during the fall and winter there at the store?

 

Glenn Springs Fishing Report
VETERANS DAY, 2010


Lake fees are on an honor system - the outfit that runs this and three other lakes is based in Covington (Sportsmans Outfitters, I think is the name).

You drop five bucks in the box, and you're good to go - in theory. be smart - write your name on an envelope and put the cash inside.

But the boat rental and store is shut down for the winter. All of those skiffs are chained up.

~enough of that~

TODAY I was down there at 7:30 ( and i'm working on some pictures I took)

The fish are back up in the shallows!

This is good news - that means the water temperature is not at all bad. For a few days now the daytime temps have been in the seventies, with no clouds or rain.

When it rains, especially on a cold day - it screws the fish all up and they go deep to stay warm.

THEY HAVE COME BACK UP! Even right around the edges... You can see minnows and blue gill from the docks within ten feet of the shore.


ANALYSIS:

At this time of the year, rain means the surface water changes, and the fish "SOUND" to stay warm - it can be many days before the temperature of the water equalises so that the fish are again comfortable in the shallows - this means small fish are deep down where small fish shouldn't be, and bigger fish can feed on them(DINNER TIME!). But they may have gone deep too you would think...

I've got news! Something twelve inches long cruised by when I was at the shore end of the dock.

ALL OF THEM are looking for breakfast, after having been driven deep.

I think that after the recent cold spell they are hungry...

(What is there to eat at the bottom of the lake except stored fat?)

Fish right now are no different from land animals - they look to store up fat for the winter((!)

That is your best bait....

 

My dad and I recently started fishing up at Glenn Springs. Beautiful lake. We have had very good results from it too. Most our fish have been within the slot and a couple over. I hate to hear that you can't rent boats anymore. Guess we will be pond hopping until they reopen.

 

Fishing Report
Glenn Springs
Monday, 15November2010
(late entry)

Traffic: about 7 boats, 1 shore fisher (besides me)
Time: 3PM-5PM
Conditions: Temp 56-59, skies mostly clear, wind moderate and from the north
Water Temperature: Not Observed

Results:
Out of everybody I talked to, only one guy caught a fish that day. (The SHORE fisher!) He said he brought in a bluegill around noon. His rig was various kinds of lures, and he was working the small cove next to the rental docks (North East side of parking lot)

I got a couple of bites from a hole I was working - but recent rains have been affecting the fish, driving them down deep.

PRESENTLY: (17November) Tuesday saw a lot of rain all day, overnight temps have been down in the upper thirties, and daytime temperatures in the mid to upper fifties are collectively cooling down the lake waters.

~I didn't even bother to go because it was raining pretty good today too from the early morning onwards. Instead I went to work on my fishing gear, and plan to deploy an IBS ("Inflatable Boat/Small" for you non-navy types) if it jumps back up in the sixties or seventies again.

***** BOATS can still be rented on an "Honor System" basis. It's eight bucks a day, and there's an envelope drop on/by the door of the Lake Shop
(same way they do lake permits)
~When I checked on that I was told you can bring your own motor if you want, and just clamp it to the rental skiff. The bigger boats I haven't looked at. Seems like I need to check it out a bit more. For questions about this lake you can call "Sportsmans Outfitters" in Covington TN, they are the ones with the management contract for Glenn Springs and three other lakes.

There are three stacks of boats in the parking lot that are padlocked together - IGNORE THEM. The ones for rent are on the grass on the west side of the parking area, there's at least a dozen of them!.


Come tax time I'll be looking for a regular boat of my own, no doubt used.

~Dutch

 

*duplicate post, dial-up bites!

 

Fishing Report
Glenn Springs
17November,2010
9 AM

Water Temperatures:
Surface, 20' from shore: 54 f
Bottom, depth 20': 55 f

Conditions: 57 f, light breeze from south (compass bearing 350), clear with light clouds at high altitude. Ambient temperature increased to mid-sixties by noon.

Traffic: Initially 2, more boats coming in during the morning. About seven on the lake by noon. A group of people were out on the main pier.

Results(morning session): Indeterminate. Some fish are visible in the shallows, but did not seem especially active - in fact they were easily spooked by things dropping into the water near them. They appear to be gradually coming back up.

Though I didn't get anything (yet - I'm going back in a little while) I did manage to trap a minnow, which is now getting used to my aquarium. I think the bait I was using was bad.

*Minnow traps are legal - they sell them at the lake store in season

END of the DAY:
I was getting some pretty substantial hits in two spots, but couldn't manage to set the hook. I'm going back again tomorrow...
*Bottom fishing rig with shad fillet strips

*I was told someone cleaned house on catfish from a boat veterans day using chicken livers.

Glenn Springs
22 November 2010
~Not a bad day, it's still in the mid to lower 70's now, at 6:15 PM although it was overcast and pretty windy all day.

I had a pretty good ol' time with the bluegill, bagging one almost eight inches in length

Two other folks were on the pier with me, and they brought in a pair of channel cats, the biggest being around five or six pounds (dressed). Made me jealous as hell, I tell yez...

All of this using fairly firm chicken liver on size four to 1/0 hooks. Treble hooks didn't work well at all. The bluegill were hitting the tiny size 4's at about 2 - 3 feet off the bottom, no bobber required - just a very small split shot.

Elsewhere around the lake some Bass and more Catfish were taken, most anglers seemed pretty pleased with themselves. I now have enough minnows and other bait fish to come back tomorrow and launch a serious campaign for catfish.

IDEA of the DAY:
I have about a 25 gallon plastic laundry tub strapped in place at the back of my truck bed that I keep half filled with lake water. I use it for minnows and other small fish (or whatever I catch) to keep them fresh. At night I drop an aquarium air-stone in it weighted with a truck lugnut that's connected to a cheap air pump by about a yard of tubing. Power comes to it by extension cord from the garage.

This keeps the bait fresh indefinitely. During the day at the lake I just dip a few buckets of water up from it and pour it back in to drive air back into the water. Alternately fresh lake water can be exchanged for the old stuff (which is good to do once in a while anyhow).

I have enough minnows now to last until february...

 

What I've been seeing on the CATFISH experts sites online is that when the waters get cold, you need some royally foul smelling bait to get the attention of roaming catfish as they come back up out of the deep parts of lakes and reservoirs.

Because cold temperatures affect surface waters first - the initial move fish make is to the depths in order to stay warm. This tends to reverse (so the online info claims) because over time that cold water will sink to the bottoms of the deep areas - in turn driving deep sheltered fish back up - because warm water now rises.

In the official TWRA fishing guide there is some discussion about "Temperature Inversion Layers". They state that there is a layer where cold and warm waters are seperated, and that our lakes and reservoir waters do not "TURN OVER" until late in the winter.We are about at that point now.

It further goes on to say that as cold water is trapped under the inversion layer, it becomes oxygen depleted so that fish must come back up in order to survive - regardless of temperature. This condition can be expected later in the spring - so that fish come out to the shallows from a pure dire need to breath, aside from any other concerns. Therefore THEY MUST come up. Simple survival response

* We can also expect fish to be sluggish because they are more or less in a state of hypothermia

Aside from all of the above, in cold waters, the sense of smell (by which fish find likely food) is reduced in all fish across the board, so baits that are bluntly "STINKY AS HELL" work better than classic worms or minnows at least in theory.

"STINK BAIT" is therefore highly recommended on most catfish websites, and many recipes are out there for download.

One I noted was (believe it or not) "Broccoli and Cheese Noodle Mix" with the noodles left out - mixed with flour and water to make a dough.

I suggest anything mixed with Parmesan Cheese - because there is nothing on earth as stinky as parmesan cooked up with just about anything else.

It is also water soluable (dissolves in water, so it spreads out).

NEVER use fat or grease in a bait when the water is cold. Bacon fat, for one... The grease or fat will harden into a ball that won't dissolve and spread out the smell. You might just as well have a marble at the end of your line for all the good it does... I have measured the water temperature at Glenn Springs for example earlier this year (end of november). At the time it averaged fifty to fifty five degrees. Anything that turns solid at that temperature should not be used in bait.

ALSO: Corn meal, and Masa Harina BOTH have high fat contents, so should be avoided. Use plain white wheat flour.

I personally plan to make a dough combining the broth from Brussels Sprouts, and some Parmesan Cheese (I told Scott about an experience I had in some apartments cooking some "Brussels Sprouts Parmesan" which led to my being visited by the junior apartment manager because there were complaints that a "SEWER SMELL" was coming from my apt).

Until it warms up - any bait used has to have "SMELL SPREAD" characteristics, otherwise the fish just won't notice it at all...


~Dutch


PS: SCOTT! I got me a bag of Brussels Sprouts and some Parmesan JUST FOR making some stink bait. You betcha!!! I also bagged some 2 ounce sinkers...

**There was an old timer at the lake one day who made it look damned easy to fling his rig out from the pier. The reason was because he was using 2 Oz weights to carry his line out...

***I AM going to look at and take apart exactly what works and what don't over time. Fishing is fun - but CATCHING FISH is even more fun!

 

I was at Glenn Springs last weekend. Water temps were between 41 - 44*. Saw almost no fish from 1ft to 10ft. Most fish were showing up around 12 to 15ft of water and holding on the structure out in the lake.

 

Me and Scott saw none - what day was that anyway? Sunday I think. It started out 60 degrees, and quickly got chilly, the water temp I didn't even check.

I am anticipating the 'Sprout bait is going to be really gross. When your labrador retriever won't even come in the house - you know you're on to something. I expect it is best cooked up out on the back deck using the grill...

I've also been thinking that tuna fish (in water, not oil) is another good add for "DS" bait (Disgusting Stuff).

Fortunately, I live alone....

 

We were there saturday.

 

Missed ya by one day - were you out on a boat?

 

Yea we were in one of their aluminum boats.

 

You know - I was told by Douglas Dunn (minds the gate at closing and opening time. Former federal securityman) that you can rent one of those boats - AND BRING YOUR OWN MOTOR AND TANK to mount on it, so you don't have to paddle.

Interesting notion, isn't it?

Although it is only ten or eleven bucks a year to register a boat in Tennessee, you only have to register a boat that has a motor. My thinking is that to get to a lot of choice fishing spots a small boat, or even a canoe is a great idea. I have often thought about the Phillipine islands "BONKA" boats, which are outrigger canoes that are powered by a converted motorcycle engine. Those are used to go fishing far offshore, and are very stable fishing platforms.

I'm looking seriously at getting some kind of a small boat this year, because for one thing Glenn Springs (which is a stones throw from my house) is primarily a "BOAT LAKE". There are no trails around it, the main parking lot with its piers and docks is just about IT for shore fishing. I feel that a boat of some kind is going to be essential in order to exploit it fully. That by itself would open up so much bass fishing in the coves around it that it would pay for itself in no time at all - the one specification I have to work around is that I have only a 1/4 ton truck to work with. So a John Boat or Canoe is going to be the answer if I don't want to rent one every time.

ALSO - for whatever reason, poisonous snakes such as copperheads and rattlesnakes are considered a protected species in Tennessee, so it isn't a good idea to go hiking through the woods to get around the lake (!) Like you want to go busting through the brush with a load of gear anyway...

I commented to Scott on sunday that if they wanted to develop the lake a lot more, a road around it with some picnic areas would be a good idea, but that would also lead to the lake being "FISHED OUT" as has happened to a lot of California lakes that I am familiar with. Do this, do that. Flip a coin...

If it was easier to get to the fish, the fish would likely be gone, so it would be less of a fishing ground than it is.

As it stands - there were a lot of boats out on it all of last weekend, and this is the slow season...

From what I've been told out there, you can't throw a rock in the warm season without bonking a fish on its punkin haid!