Lined up for trout
Fishermen flocking to stocked Lake Junior
Despite traffic noise from Highway 153 and Amnicola Highway, visitors to TVA’s Lake Junior remained focused on one thing on a recent Saturday: catching trout.
Fishermen were lining the banks, wading the water and kayaking around the lake in hopes of landing the big one. The opportunity was there. “We stocked 3,000 adult rainbow trout January 6, and then it was open the following Friday. It’s open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays ( through April 30),” said David Young of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “In addition to that, we have stocked 25 three- to- four- pound rainbow trout. That’s just to add to the fun and excitement.
“So far, the catch rates have been good. Twenty-five does not sound like much, but when they are that large, it took about four nets to get them in there.”
The bigger trout came from the Tellico Fish Hatchery; the smaller ones came from the Dale Hollow hatchery.
Senior citizens don’t need a trout stamp in Tennessee, by the way.
Lake Junior was stocked again Wednesday.
“We are putting three more thousand in there — three more thousand adult. Unfortunately, we’re out of the large ones. It is hard to get a trout up to that size,” Young said beforehand.
The TWRA’s winter stockings in East Tennessee cover “a 20-something-county area,” he added. Also getting 3,000 was Athens Recreation Park, “and the fishing rates have been good there, too.”
Trout usually don’t survive in temperatures higher than 70 degrees, Young noted.
“We want to get those fish caught out before the dog days of summer, before June hopefully. They do not eat; they don’t do very well,” he said.
Stocking of trout in North Chickamauga Creek will start this spring. The TWRA’s fishing guides for this year will be out soon, Young said, and that stocking will be included.
Fishermen may be surprised that their Lake Junior catch may not be a trout.
“TWRA stocked a truckload of channel catfish in Lake Junior back in November of 2015,” Young said. “They should still be there, as I have not gotten reports of many folks catching anything other than trout.”
That was true for Red Bank resident Dana Danforth when he was there on the recent mild Saturday.
“It was very nice. I did catch a couple of trout. That seems to be the only thing biting there right now,” Danforth said. “That is what they stocked, and everyone is enjoying it. I saw a couple gentlemen that came earlier, caught their limit of seven fish and were out of there pretty early.”
Danforth usually goes to Lake Junior all three days it is open for fishing. He fishes below Chickamauga Dam during the week.
Having moved from New York two years ago, he plans to keep fishing and to get married toward the end of the year. He came to Chattanooga after a long-term phone relationship with his future bride.
“This state is amazing with the way they have their parks, the way they keep their parks and the access that they offer,” Danforth said. “It is just unbelievable how really beautiful it is.”
Mike Watson is another transplant from New York. The 59- year- old East Chattanooga resident said he tries to fish two of the three days while the lake is open. Catching his limit of seven trout on Jan. 30, he returned that Sunday and caught three more.
Watson rates this year’s Lake Junior fishing quality as average.
“I average around 36 fish a year out of there,” he said. “Last year I didn’t catch hardly any. I do pretty good there every year. Last year, I did not have a lot of opportunities.” Watson heads to the Tellico River to fish during the rest of trout season. He loves rainbow trout fishing but doesn’t care much about fishing for native brook trout.
“They are just few and far between in Tennessee,” he said. “The brookies, they only average around four inches. You work a lot for a little bit of nothing.”
Tony Evans and his 11-yearold grandson Logan had a banner day Jan. 30.
“We didn’t get but 11, but I got a monster,” Evans said. “He was 18 1/2 inches long. I didn’t have a way to weigh him, but I did measure him.
“I just use 4-pound-test line. I was afraid he would break it. I didn’t try to hurry him in. I just took my time. I pulled him up on the bank and my line broke. By that time Logan had done jumped on him.”
Despite the success, Evans was not coming back the next day.
“That’s the Lord’s Day. I don’t fish on Sunday,” he said, but he planned to bring Logan, an Alpine Crest fifth- grader, back to Lake Junior the next weekend.
“He can’t wait until Friday gets here,” the grandfather said.
Beginning in March, Evans will start fishing for crappie at Chester Frost Park and Soddy Lake.
Contact Gary Petty at sports@timesfreepress.com
“THIS STATE IS AMAZING WITH THE WAY THEY HAVE THEIR PARKS, THE WAY THEY KEEP
THEIR PARKS AND THE ACCESS
THAT THEY OFFER. IT IS JUST UNBELIEVABLE HOW REALLY BEAUTIFUL IT IS.”
– DANA DANFORTH