Douglas Lake

[Jed Cutshall Fishing]

I live in East Tennessee and have fished Lake Cherokee my whole life, but lately it has been getting tougher and tougher to catch quality fish. I've heard the air is bad and the water is stagnant and a few other excuses from people who are also having a hard time catching any sizable bass. But long story short, I'm learning to fish Douglas Lake a little bit at a time. I know they fish BASS tournaments down there and some people pull out some real lunkers. I was wondering if any of you local guys on here had any tips for a guy just starting out on a new lake in early summer? What areas produce better? Some good baits for finding fish? Where they like to school up at? Any information would help, or do y'all know where I could find a pretty reliable fishing report?

[Al Wolbach]

I live in East Tennessee and have fished Lake Cherokee my whole life, but lately it has been getting tougher and tougher to catch quality fish. I've heard the air is bad and the water is stagnant and a few other excuses from people who are also having a hard time catching any sizable bass. But long story short, I'm learning to fish Douglas Lake a little bit at a time. I know they fish BASS tournaments down there and some people pull out some real lunkers. I was wondering if any of you local guys on here had any tips for a guy just starting out on a new lake in early summer? What areas produce better? Some good baits for finding fish? Where they like to school up at? Any information would help, or do y'all know where I could find a pretty reliable fishing report?

I can't tell you because I routinely get my but kicked in big tournaments but I have learned a few things. Nearly every bass fishermen on Douglas is a tournament fisherman and will not share info and if they do you probably don't want it, but you can try/research a few things. Humps near main river channel or large creek, swimbaits and deep crank baits on long points/humps and check the generating schedule at the dam to see when the water is moving in the lake. I have lived on Douglas for 15 years and still have not found a reliable source for fishing reports except friends and some of them are questionable, lol. Ignore the newspaper advise.......Al

[Gotfishyfingers?]

I fished there a while back. Douglas lake has humps and lots of submerged bushes.  When the elites were there, the winner was "strolling" humps with a big crank bait. If you have the proper electronics, I would idle around and look for humps, especially as the days get hotter and longer. If you see some action on your screen,  use a drop-shot, spoon, carolina rig etc to check out.Toss a jig in any shallow bushes you see. Don't be surprised if ya catch a  nice size walleye, there plentiful there to.

[Al Wolbach]

It may be a little old school but maps will show all the humps and points. If you don't have a map, Bucks n' Bass in Dandridge is a good place to get one, may pick up a tip or two as well. Most of the good summer spots are community holes and have a steady rotation of boats in the 100-200 boat tournaments. So going out during a large tournament and see the areas being fished may help. There are about 10-12 spots near point 8 that almost aways have a boat camped on them, even during the weekdays. You can generally tell the tournament boats for the bluegill chasers. Swimbaits will win tournaments during the summer.