Little help: Douglas lake

[Will3369]

This lake has been a struggle, I have fished this lake for almost 8 months, pretty regularly. 1 to 2 times a week. Granted I am only bank/shore fishing. Compared to most lakes I have fished over the last 40 yrs the fishing is very unpredictable/bad. Granted that may be because I am limited to where I can go from the bank. Prior to fishing Douglas lake it had been 2 yrs since I had been skunked bass fishing. It seems here its every other trip you get skunked. So my questions are as follows, I have searched and searched to find when they start refilling the lake and can not find a def answer anywhere. Also they tell me in the summer they switch to live bait in order to catch bass. ( I have never heard of this on a good bass lake? ) Also the Tackle store in Dandridge TN is only open 1 day a week. How is that possible on what is supposed to be such a great bass lake? I am new to the area and don’t know many people. I struggle with finding the  answers to some  of these questions. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. And thanks in advance.

[TnRiver46]

Well, it did suffer the worst flood since 1791 in late sept Early October. They installed a mile long boom to remove all the junk floating down (siding, insulation, lumber, etc). There are barges still removing massive amounts of debris to this day, so the cards are stacked against you right now. It is very easy to find when they start raising the lake. Tva.com and the Tva app will tell you, among other places. Pre internet we used to just call the number and a recording would tell you all lake info. The “operating guide” function for each lake will show you a line graph of current lake levels. It usually starts going up in March and is fullish in June then starts dropping in August/sept. You can see the spike in last years graph from the flood here. These are the same graph, top one is with my phone sideways and bottom one is with phone vertical. 

 

 

As for the fishing off the bank, never done much of that, it will ruin your shoes. People slay crappie off the bank in Nina creek and at swanns marina in late winter/early spring. I don’t know where you could even access it, I live about an hour away. I would personally fish off the rocks right below the dam, that’s just what I like. Not sure if it’s reopened after the flood, a lot of things washed away. Lots of walleye, bass, crappie, white bass, etc. there 

[Will3369]

Thanks for your reply. Oh I have the lake app on my phone, last 2 weeks the water came up 15 feet only to have about 10 feet drained back out. I guess my question should be when do they leave the water in. When  it fills. ( that is the only time I do ok is when there is water) after the flood when it filled I killed it from shore/bank but when they let all the water out back to slow. 

[TnRiver46]

58 minutes ago, Will3369 said:

Thanks for your reply. Oh I have the lake app on my phone, last 2 weeks the water came up 15 feet only to have about 10 feet drained back out. I guess my question should be when do they leave the water in. When  it fills. ( that is the only time I do ok is when there is water) after the flood when it filled I killed it from shore/bank but when they let all the water out back to slow. 

It’s dependent upon precipitation but they leave it full from June- August/sept. It’s when the line is at its highest on those pics I posted 

[Will3369]

So it’s determined by weather/rainfall. Thats understandable I guess being a resivoir.  Are there any good natural lakes nearby that offer good year round fishing with minimal to no draw down? 

[TnRiver46]

Natural lakes? Negative. There’s only one in the entire state and it was formed by a massive earthquake in the early 1800s . It’s called reelfoot lake and it’s near the Mississippi River, the earthquake sloshed a bunch of water out of the river into a low lying area. Loaded with crappie and bass but the lake is slowly drying up over time 

[Will3369]

Thanks for all your info, some of the best I have gotten so far. 

[TnRiver46]

Anytime buddy. If you’re into white bass there is a crazy yearly run between leadvale and rankin on the upper end of Douglas, lots of fun 

[VolFan]

There’s a bit of a run below the dam too, but it usually fishes pretty good. You can get up close if the waters not running or fish the riverine portion downstream. White roostertails will almost always catch something. Once it’s warmer the edges of current and close to the bank are best for largemouths but that’s one of those places where you could catch any of a number of species. 

[Smirak]

Alright - seriously - we need to all get together and fish soon. Someone agree? We’re all “local-ish”. 

[Will3369]

I am always down to fish!!