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Lake Santeetlah

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9K views 44 replies 8 participants last post by  RI RORYL 
#1 ·
Didn’t get on the water till around 10, lake was above the heavy frost line and was only 33 when we put in. Wind was howling, white caps on the water kept us from the spots I was going to fish originally but as the day wore on the wind slowly calmed. About 2:30 the lake had almost gone completely calm. But I had promised to leave by 3-3:30. We still got into a few but sure did have a lot on the graph that didn’t wanna work with me.



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#2 ·
I knew it. I knew it. You're the legendary Rainbow Bandito! ;) Have the trout come up to the top 30 feet of water? I've had my eye on another trip to Santeetlah lately. My brother, Rex, was ill this fall. He nearly died. His Carolina permit expired and he's yet to renew it now that's he's recovered. We've been to Chilhowee a few times and caught some decent-sized Rainbows, 16-18", and plenty of Perch. I'd like to do another lake whilst the weather isn't too harsh. I'll need to winterize and service my boat before too, too long. I might just buy him a new permit so I can have an easier trip. I'll pick a warmer day than you did!
 
#3 ·
They were still in 40ish feet of water, they were schooled up pretty good but couldn’t get a hit out of the schools. I don’t know if I had my gear to deep or just didn’t have the right stuff for them. But I tried about everything I had on them.


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#4 ·
Glad to see you out there. That's one of my favorite lakes. Some days are hit or miss. But I can tell you that when you catch and fish, focus on that area. They seem to stay grouped up tight there. Small spoons like lurh Jensen needle fish work well.

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#5 ·
It’s my girlfriends favorite lake so we spend a good bit of Time on it.

All trout were caught on spoons. Caught one spot on a green wiggle hoochie.

The trout were caught on the brake lines coming in or out of coves/fingers into the main channel where the wind was ripping.

I’m still trying to figure out how deep I need to be at if fish are are a certain depth.


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#6 ·
Your electronics seem to indicate the surface water was 57.5 degrees. That seems cool enough for the Trout to come up in the water collum. The rough water might have been keeping them down? ....and the bait...?

Are you sure the schools you saw were not Walleyes or White Bass? Can you tell on your screen?

The Brown Trout ought to be up the creeks looking to spawn. Some of the Rainbows might have followed them for the egg bonanza...? So many strains of Rainbows have been stocked over the years, there might be a segment of the Rainbow population that wants to spawn in the fall and are up the creeks...? I think there are strains of Rainbows that spawn in every season but summer.

When Rex and I were at Chilhowee last Thursday, we couldn't get a Trout strike, just Perch, on the main channel. When we went up Abrams Creek and trolled out, we caught two Rainbows and a Largemouth on the way out. The water was cooler, 55-6, up the creek than the main channel, 57-9. I have not fished this late in the season much in the past. I'm learning as I'm going, I hope! I think that some of Chilhowee's Rainbows are up Abrams Creek presently. Rainbows like to roam and they could well be up there to check out the feed...???

If you're fishing Hoochies deep, I'd recommend trying Purple Splatter. They'll see it deep better. Purple is the most visible color in deep, dark water. Before the Santeetlah Trout Tourney, Rex and I had a go at Santeetlah. We wanted to see if Trout would come up to 20 feet. We fished a big, 2.25", green hoochie I made on a lead-core outfit with 4 colors (40 yards) of lead line. So, I'm confident the hoochies were running at 20-25 feet. We got no Trout strikes but we caught 3 Smallmouths and a Largemouth. We put about 2 inches of nightcrawler on the front hook. That works for Trout and Perch too.

I think there's a good chance that the Trout will be shallower on a calmer day....??? They were in Abrams Creek. Our spoon took a Largemouth at 3 feet and a Rainbow at 7 feet. The larger Rainbow hit a tiny Rapala Shad Rap plug that runs about 3-8 feet.
 

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#7 ·
We found bait balls in 10-30 ft of water. Most didn’t seem to have any larger fish with them. We tried to fish the wind swept banks when we could.

As for the fish marked I’m still not familiar enough to know by the marks what I’m looking at I know the bigger trout have a good yellow line in the middle of mark. From all accounts I figured we would have picked up something from the schools of fish we went through but never did. All fish were single marks and didn’t get marked. We did catch one spot on the down rigger when I changed some stuff up and had a mini ford finder fallowed by a green hoochie at about 25ft on the line counter on down rigger.

I’m counting out walleye that high in the water column at mid day and it sunny there eyes are to sensitive for that I think. I did mark some schools in 100ft stacked up similar to what I’ve seen other people post and say that it’s usually walleye. I almost pulled everything in and started jigging for them.

As for baits I tried cranks, hoochies, crawler harness and spoons and everything but the bass was on spoons.

I saw your post on Tennessee anglers and got me thinking I may be running gear to deep for the fish I’m marking.


Or maybe it was rough water and the front moving in that didn’t get us many fish.

I also tried planner boards and leadcore behind boards but it was to rough really for either most of the day. So I stayed with dipsy divers and downriggers.




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#8 ·
I've been running the downrigger spoons at 3-15 feet mostly at Chilhowee. I took it down to 20 feet a few times but don't recall a strike that deep. 7-12 feet seems to be where the most strikes have been. The hoochies I've been running at 20-30 feet. That's catching fish but more Perch than Rainbows and Smallmouths. Chilhowee is still a bit over-run with Perch. They don't roam and when all the big predator fish left when the gates were open during repairs, they multiplied. For now, I've quit running flashers or cowbells with a swimin' crawler behind 'em. The Perch will find that too fast and steal the bait.

As cool as Santeetlah is, it seems like one ought to be able to get Trout strikes in the 10-20 foot range on spoons...??? ….same for plugs. I've never fished Santeetlah in cool weather but the conditions sound like they're similar to Chilhowee. I'd like to give Santeetlah a go. I've been to Chilhowee four times in a row.
 
#11 ·
…..every time I've dropped a downrigger to 30 feet I have only pulled up bass.
That statement got me thinking that Bass and Trout have traded places now that the warm season is over. Trout are now comfortable anyplace in the water column and are shallow where most of the food is. The bass are deep, sitting, idling, and waiting for spring 'cause it's chilly everywhere. They just need a quiet place to sit...??? When I've fished Santeetlah in the early spring, when the water is still chilly, I've caught Trout between 10-20 feet.

I know that Largemouth Bass will come up into the shallows in winter when it's raining hard and there's a warm foot or two on top of the cold water. One of my neighbors used to fish for Largemouths in the winter. He used a stout cane pole with about 10 feet of high test line tipped with a lead-head. He put a combination of rubber worms and a night crawler on it. He cut the rubber worms up to give it multiple fingers, rather like hoochies tails resulting in lots of wiggle. He'd work banks and drop is rig at stumps or rocks that looked fishy. The way he put it, you wanna tickle 'em on the nose and they'll strike it. He wrote an article about this that appeared in either Sports Afield or Field & Stream, I can't remember which. I do recall two of his favorite lakes for this were Hiwassee and Blue Ridge. He had to fish in the rain or right after to catch 'em this way. He caught lots of 5-10 pounders fishing that wad of rubber and real worms.... I never went on one of these trips. The fish pictures were amazing!

So, I'm supposing Bass sit deep in the winter but will occasionally come up temporally to sit in some warm, comfortable water.
 
#10 ·
ill have to give fishing shallower a try next time i get out there. which could be after the new year but hopefully i can get out there and a couple other lakes this winter. most of my saturdays are tied up now grouse hunting but looks like i should be able to go out on a few sundays.
 
#12 ·
I can echo much of what has been said here. I was in the area for Thanksgiving....though not on Santeetlah.....and found Trout Very Active. I caught them trolling in the 15 ft range on three different lakes....Fontana, Bear Creek and Wolf Creek. On one lake, i watched Browns up a creek smashing shad on the surface. I thought they were Bass at first.....but, finally caught one to confirm. I trolled custom Hoochies behind small flashers. Firetiger (custom) was the color that worked best. I will be back for Christmas and will definitely be on Santeetlah. By the way Troutgirl......Bass are relatively shallow right now too....chasing Shad up the creeks on Fontana in particular. Temps were Fontana 60, Bear 55 and Wolf 53....D
 
#13 ·
My last trip to Chilhowee, all the fish we caught that weren't Perch were up Abrams Creek. I don't fish the Abrams branch of the lake in the warm months. Lately, it was cooler in Abrams, 55-56, than on the main channel, 57-59. We drove into Abrams Creek and trolled out. Where we started it was very shallow. I put out a spoon on the downrigger, I set it at 3 feet. It only took about 40 yards for me to catch an 18" Largemouth. Soon after that my brother and I caught each caught a Rainbow. Both were caught at less than 10 feet. One hit a spoon and the other hit the smallest size Rapala rap plug.

I've been making hoochies too. I'm making all mine with wiggle lips. Are you using the wiggle lips? I can't find any wiggle lips at the western places that I order my hoochies from. I bought a bag of various hoochie skirts but I don't know if I have any Firetiger skirts. I did make a black, white, and pink hoochie to try. It was the ugliest, silliest looking skirt in the bag. I figure that gives it a chance to work. I've done really well with purple splatter and green skirts. I've found some skirts that are a tad bit longer than the Kokanee size. I think they're 2" and 2.125". I've done well with them. The Smallmouths sure have liked the green ones. I wonder if they take 'em to be Tadpoles...?

 

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#14 ·
I was laughing at myself while fishing Saturday thinking about this post...I'm here spouting off about how the trout have been biting in the top 15ft... I was trolling a fool proof December spread...a 2.5 mag lip 200 ft back, downrigger 12 down 100 back with dodger and hoochie, mini dipsey with watermelon Michigan stinger... And guess what I caught all day?? Bass! I was on call for work, so I couldn't head up to the creek mouths or I'd lose cell service. Just when you think you've got these goofy fish figured out...
 
#15 ·
Hi Troutgirl. First....Thank You and the late Rgarbar for turning me on to the Hoochies. Yes....I use the Wiggle Hoochies....exclusively. I usually setup with a Wedding Ring and Mini Flashers on lead core and Wiggle Hoochies behind a Dodger on lead core. As soon as I determine a preference, I begin to experiment. You can get the Wiggle Heads from Mack's or Crystal Basin Tackle. I get skirts.....2.5 inch ones from Janns Netcraft. I have found the larger profile draws larger fish for me and i am going to try the even larger Wiggle Heads my next trip. I use a 5 ft leader and replace the single hooks with a VMC Sureset #8 treble. This particular treble has one longer hook...that gets tipped with a crawler. The hookup ratio is greatly improved. I had a trip this summer where I had Plenty of Action.....but, was missing fish. This led me to start making my own Wiggle Hoochies. The larger trout I caught were an unexpected nice bonus.

I caught plenty of Spots on Fontana....with one just shy of 4lbs.....but not trolling. I enjoy Swimbait Fishing this time of year.....but, I always look forward to putting the casting rods away and Trolling. This last trip, I got into a bunch of 17-19 inch Trout which were Really Healthy and put up some Great Fights! I also use Nantahala Nailer Spoons and Rapalas.....but, the Wiggle Hoochies have been far and away my best producers. The pictured Hoochie was Not a big producer.....but, I lost the two Firetiger Ones to some bigger trout (my imagination). The Trout pic has one 14 inch Trout and some of the 17-19 inch ones. I kept 17 Trout over the four days....and all but one had beautiful red/pink flesh...D


 

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#16 ·
Here's some of the hoochie stuff I've been working with and some Father Murphy mini dodgers I'm partial to. I've done OK with some bigger flashers but the Father Murphy mini dodgers are very light. I think that're made of aluminum. They have so very little sink that I really like them in shallow Chilhowee Lake. Other, heavier, flashers have worked there but I get snagged more with them. I use beads to space the hooks the way I want them. I'll use 2-4 beads on bigger skirts. I use just one with small skirts.

Are you putting a whole crawler on the hoochies? I usually use about 1-2 inches of crawler on the front hook. I'll put bigger pieces on sometimes if I'm someplace other than Chilhowee. Chilhowee is over-run with Perch sine the draw-down for dam repairs. A whole crawler gets shredded quick in Chilhowee by Perch nibbles. In another year or two the big predator fish and fishermen will thin out the Perch surplus there.

I've caught more Bass on the bigger hoochies, so far. Trout have hit the little ones regardless of size, it seems. I've caught my two biggest Trout, both over 5 pounds, out of Chilhowee on the small, purple splatter hoochies with a tiny piece of crawler. Both of 'em bit the back hook off the hoochies while we were getting the hooks out of 'em. The only lake I've not done very well with hoochies is Watauga. The fish there seem to be looking for minnows. Next spring I might try hoochies closer to the banks whilst the Rainbows are still shallow.

I'm gonna look into those VCM trebles you were on about. I've been think about trying treble hooks.
 

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#17 ·
Thanks for sharing what you've been using. As for myself.....I've been using Seps Sidekick Dodgers.....a smaller dodger like the Father Murphy ones you use. I also use the Seps Micro Mini Flashers ahead of a Wedding Ring. This is particularly useful in the summer when I need to get deep with minimal drag. As for Crawlers....I use just a 2-3 inch piece. I let the Trout tell me what they want and i am set up to change quickly. I never run more than three lines and usually just two. This last trip, once I located a school of nice trout........I was getting slammed on almost every pass. On one pass, I had two large Trout on....in 15-25 mph wind gusts.....it was both exciting and terrifying.....trying to manage the boat (close to rocks) and two Live rods at once. I try to keep things as simple as possible when I am alone. I managed to land both trout and keep the boat off the rocks......but, I needed to sit for a minute afterwards in the middle of the lake.

I have marked several schools of fish on Santeetlah this year and look forward to working them in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the Trout were very active again in November.....and I expect more of the same in December. I enjoy having the lake mostly to myself. The only secret is to be Prepared and have the Proper Gear. Cheers!....D

 

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#18 ·
I've used Sep's stuff. I use their chain swivels. I have used those little, Mini-Micro attractors. The last time I used them they twisted my line up when I got weeds on the rig. Soon thereafter I tried Mack's Flash Lite Trolls with the plastic blades. The first time was at Santeetlah. I was pulling a night crawler on a single hook behind the four blade size. I caught a 19" Rainbow that took the entire troll air born on a jump. Before that, using trolls with metal blades, when Rainbows jumped they couldn't lift the metal blades all the way out of the water. The troll would come out part way and the Rainbow would do a sort of low, barrel roll jump. I'm not sure the Flash Lite rigs attract better than metal blades but I like the catching on 'em better.

I use other dodgers and flashers besides the Father Murphy ones. I like Father Murphy in Chilhowee because of how light they are. They don't drag my depth down beyond what I'm trying for with the amount of lead-core line I have out. The Crystal Basin dodgers that are very similar to the Sep's have worked well for me. I also have Sling Blades and Double D flashers. I've caught fish using all of them. I have not formulated strong preferences about the lot of 'em yet.

Are you putting about half of a crawler on those Wedding Ring spinners? I had a couple of 'em but I snagged 'em and lost 'em in Chilhowee. I was putting a half on them when I was fishing 'em. I never have acquired anymore of 'em. I've done pretty well running whole crawlers on a single hook behind Flash Lite blades or 4-5" flashers. I might try them again, anywhere but Chilhowee where the Perch would beat the Rainbows to 'em far too often! In a year or two the big predator fish will beat back the Perch and things will get back to normal.

I wish I had fished yesterday or today but I had things keeping me home and my brother had to work. Next week looks terrible to fish, comfortably. Yesterday I heard that Watauga has "turned-over". The surface temp was 53 yesterday. The fish are back up in the top 50 feet again. A friend caught a 26" Laker and now I wanna go there too! I sure would like a toasty, warm Christmas season so I can give myself the gift of fishing...hopefully without needing gloves and wool shirts....
 
#20 ·
I have an order on the way from Jann's as well (Hooks and Skirts). After i get it (Friday).....I'll post the entire rig. The other Very Important part that I haven't discussed yet.....is the Luhr Jensen trolling rudder. They're very common.....especially in Great Lakes fishing rigs. I add a snap swivel to the back.....and to the hole on the bottom with split rings. This gets attached to the Lead Core.....and allows me to quickly change lures and weights. I add various weights from a half ounce to three ounces as a drop from the rudder. This lets me do away with Dipsey's and I easily reach 50 ft without a Downrigger. It acts like a 'bouncer" over surprise humps (like Santeetlah is Full of). It also Simplifies my rigs. The less working parts in the boat....the less fumbling around....the Better for me!

As for the Wedding Rings.....I generally find the Trout almost always have a Preference.....either Spinners and Spoons or Wigglers and Rapalas. I use the Wiggle Hoochies and Wedding Rings to find out what is happening....and then fine tune from there. I look forward to hearing how others do. I hope and expect the trout to be in a stable pattern for the winter. The lakes with Shad are getting into a predictable state and blade baits and jigs should be productive....Good Fishing!....D

 

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#24 ·
Logan.....I'll be up there between Christmas and New Years. I've fished streams for trout for the last 40 years.....I'm still learning how to Troll in the Lakes. If you're out....flag me down and we'll chat. I've shared a Lot of what has worked for me. I should be on Santeetlah a couple of days.....17 ft Camo Triton.....I'll be poking along about 1.5 mph. You can't miss the white beard.....Cheers....D

 

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#25 ·
I'm local, always happy to help...although I've only been here a few years.... I've had good luck adjusting and tweaking what I know from 20 years of fishing Lake Michigan and Superior. Reading through these posts can make your head spin.
I may not be as knowledgeable as some of the folks on this thread, it's a constant learning curve. I fish a couple days a week. You are always welcome to send me a message for current water temps, bait and fish locations. I don't post as much as I used to, but I really love threads like this one. This single thread is packed with an unbelievable amount of knowledge. Troutgirl and a couple others helped a lot when I first started fishing here. Soak up everything you can from them.
 
#27 ·
Great thread yall :) Read through a couple of times taking notes. Building up my trout trolling gear. I have not done much trolling for trout, but did go with a bud a few times up north. Do the Trout in lakes in WNC not go for small crank baits like rapalas etc.. ?
 
#31 ·
Any tips on making hoochies? Thanks
Watch some videos on YouTube there are a ton of videos on how to tie them slip on a couple beads and a skirt your done.

You can use beads to add weight or you can get floating beads to make them lighter or neutral in the water.

Don’t over look Craft stores all my beads come from there


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#32 ·
You can use the bead/s to space where you want the hooks to be. For Kokanee (1.5" skirts) sized hoochies I use one or two small beads. For the two inch skirts, I've been using two to four beads, depending on bead size. With the longer skirts, you're gonna want the hook/s to be a bit farther back. If you make a hoochie as a whole night crawler rig, you'll want to go with 3-4 beads to space the hooks back.

I vary my leader lengths between 2-3.5 feet. I'm undecided about what's optimum. When I finish a hoochie I put a split ring on the leader so I can easily move it from one flasher to another without losing leader length. I've made two hoochies recently where I substituted a chain swivel for the split ring. I have not used either, yet.

Be careful when you snip off the head of the hoochie for the wiggle lip. It's easy to cut it off too far so that it won't snug up on the wiggle lip. Every time you cut try to err on the side of not quite enough. Some skirts stretch more than others.

If one has little experience with hoochies buy 1 or 2 Crystal Basin Hoochie Things. The Green and Purple Splatter colors have worked well for me. Buy at least one just to examine it and use it....just add a split ring to the leader. Kokanee Tackle's .com has 'em on sale for $3.99 presently. If I wasn't making hoochies I'd stock up. I still buy a few ready to go hoochies from time to time if I see a color that grabs me and hopefully the fish too.
 
#35 ·
I use inline sinkers all the time--generally I use rubber core twist on sinkers as they make them from 1/16oz to 3 oz--make sure they are straight and 3-4' above the lure and they will never affect the action. this allows you to change weights quickly. i have a bunch of each size. I spray paint all my sinkers flat black also.

okuma line counter combo's are great but make sure for our appalachian reservoir trout you buy med light or buy them separate--their med are too heavy except for leadcore trolling. Personally, i like fiberglass rods for trolling. My downrigger rods are $29 kokanee rods in 7'6''- they are awesome with a garcia 5500 linecounter. my side rods are all 8'-8'6'' light to med-lt action with garcia 6500 line counters--which are great for a spread even if i don't use in-line planer boards (church tx 6 & 12's).

best of luck to all and happy holidays
i'll be on lake apalachia and lake hiwassie 1/2-1/6 and can't wait--18' lowe walk-thru windshield with FL reg.--say hey if you are around

coach
 
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