Reelfoot Lake

Fishing Warm water Forum
1

Anybody here fish Reelfoot Lake,TN? My son lives right close there, and I’m going to go visit him sometime within the next 60 days. What kinds of opportunities are there on Reelfoot? Son doesn’t fish much, so I’m looking for information. Does anyone rent boats on the lake? What flies would you use? Best time to hit the water? Places to try? Hazards, or places to avoid? This ol’ Idaho spud will be out of his element, but I’ve done some limited warm water fishing, and it’s fun!! Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Lew

2

Lew,

This may not be a very helpful post as it has been more than two decades since I fished Reelfoot. However, the lake has a huge supply of big gluegill and crappie, largemouth bass, catfish, and a wild looking prehistoric type of trash fish known as a Grinnel. You can bust the Grinnel on topwater later in the Spring.

As for the panfish we did well dropping small bluegill nymphs alongside the millions of stumps in the lake. Small clousers and panfish charlies in white and chartreuse with some flash in the tail ought to work well.

We had no trouble renting boats aptly named “stumpjumpers”. You can get online and find out about where to rent boats at several different boat docks.

The lake is no deeper than 7ft deep at any point; that’s what I’ve been told, but you do have to watch for stumps. When I was there you could follow the trails in the vegetation made by the boats and never hit a stump. One more thing … if you go in May or anytime later, watch out for cottonmouths; the lake is full of them. I think one day we counted over 40.

Good luck, and good fishing.
Regards,
Greg

3

I was there last May.I rented a boat at Cypress point Lodge and WAs Able to hit stumps every day in the middle of the lake.The lodge had a entire wall full of replacement props .Also my wife was ready to leave after the first day due to the amount of snakes that were every where.The fishing was good when the wind laid enough to get out on the lake

4

Lew,

I live in Dresden, TN, not far from Reelfoot. Fishing success has been pretty slow there recently due to heavy rains and cold weather. However, as soon as the weather improves slightly, the crappie will start biting well. There are a number of places to rent boats at Reelfoot. For a taste of the “real” Reelfoot Lake, try to rent a true “Reelfoot” boat with the articulated oars. See the following link for Mr. Calhoun’s boats: [url=http://www.reelfoot.com/:28728]http://www.reelfoot.com/[/url:28728]
Also, you will find links there for a number of resorts at Reelfoot. If resorts don’t float your boat, you can find motels at Union City, TN, about 25-30 miles away.

As indicated by others, bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, and channel catfish are the primary quarry of local anglers. The best bluegill fishing usually begins in late April and normally peaks in May. Crappie fishing usually starts getting good in March, peaking in April. Largemouth bass usually start up in March and peak in May or early June. Catfish peak in the June timeframe. BTW - the fish referred to by another respondant as a “grinnel” is also known as a bowfin. These are indeed very ancient fish, and will certainly tear up some tackle!

Typically, anglers fish the stumps and emergent aquatic vegetation in Reelfoot. Most of the aquatic vegetation will not be growing much in the next 60 days, so you would be wise to concentrate on stumps and cypress knees. For crappie, use minnow-imitating flies; light-weighted Clousers at at their best here. When the water warms up some and the bluegill get cranking, use size 10 or 12 nymphs and small popping bugs. For largemouth, use larger streamer flies, Clousers and larger popping bugs. for catfish, use size 4-8 Woolly Worms and Woolly Buggers. Right here, you purists need to stop reading! For the cats, add some fish attractant such as Fish Formula or even WD-40. Cats like this stuff!

Reelfoot can be a dangerous lake to navigate. This entire area was once a bottomland forest. During the New Madrid Fault earthquakes of 1811-12, the Reelfoot Lake area sank approximately 20 feet and the Mississippi River flowed backwards for nearly three days filling in the void. There are MANY stumps where those old trees rotted off just below the water’s surface many years ago. Additionally, there are cypress stands scattered all over the lake. You can find some water approaching 20 feet of depth in the lower part of the lake and in the Washout. However, most of the water will be much shallower than that and, as indicated before, stump-laden.
Contact some of the folks at the resorts for specific information. Regardless of whether you catch many fish or not, Reelfoot Lake is a very unique place to visit. Be certain to visit the Tennessee Reelfoot State Park and Museum near Blue bank. Excellent natural history displays!

5

Thanks for the input folks. I knew you’d come through. It sounds like I may need to hire a guide to avoid the snakes and the stumps. What does one do when encountering cottonmouths? Are the guides “flyfisher friendly”? What kind of flyline would you use? I’m set for accomodations, but may need to rent a vehicle, which I suppose would be available at Union City. Thanks again for your help.

Lew

6

I can’t resist a good snake story. I went to college over in Martin, TN and usually made at least one trip a month out to Reelfoot. My parents used to come down an visit, and I usually dragged my dad either out to one of the local farm ponds, but this trip a couple of friends and myself took him out to Reelfoot. We rented a couple of those infamous Reelfoot boats. Round bottomed and not very stable. We were using spinning gear rather than the long cane poles a lot of the locals used, so we had to get in fairly close to the cypress knees. We were fishing, and all of a sudden there’s this racket and a bit of cussing. My dad I looked over and about 50 yards away there were my two friends standing at either end of the boat, and one was poking at something in the bottom of the boat. This went on for a minute or so before the oar came up and this long thin shape went flying in the air and away from the boat. We picked up and went over to see what happen. Here a cottonmouth had dropped from the cypress tree and landed in the boat.
I ragged those guys the rest of the year about that snake.
I wasn’t into fly fishing then so we used the standard baits, minnows for the crappie, and crickets for the bream. Never did catch a true slab crappie, but did pull out some saucer size bream.

7

Lew,

Hiring a guide for the first day would be a wise move. Not necessarily to help you avoid snakes and stumps (guides get surprised by these things like everyone else!), but to show you techniques and types of cover to fish appropriate for the time you are there. I think I can pretty safely say it is unlikely you will find a guide who is geared up for the fly fisherman. Fly tackle is not utilized by many folks on Reelfoot. But I will bet you can easily find a guide who will be happy to guide you to fish you can attempt to catch with fly gear.

As far as lines go, I would think a WF floating line would be your best bet. For bluegill and crappie, a 3 or 4 weight outfit will be dandy. For the bass and catfish, I would recommend a 6,7,or 8 weight outfit. Don’t worry too much about using larger tippet sizes; Reelfoot water is typically dingy from being highly eutrophic. You should do fine with tapered leaders from 7.5 to 9 feet in length and about 3x to 4x for bluegill and crappie and 2x up to 0x for bass and cats. I have even used about 4 feet of 20 lb. test mono for larger poppers for bass when fishing the really nasty stuff.

Don’t worry too much about the snakes. Yes, there are plenty of snakes there; all kinds of really large water snakes as well as cottonmouths. But with a little common sense and observation, you shouldn’t have any significant problem. The weather is cold here now, and probably won’t warm up so much that the snakes get tremendously active in the next 60 days. Once air temps get up in the 70’s and 80’s with consistency, they will become more active. If you encounter warm weather during your trip, just watch where you walk along the shore getting to your boat. While on the water, keep an eye on any tree limbs your boat may pass under. On really warm days, snakes like to lay along limbs just over the water. If you snag on a cypress limb or knee, carefully look all around the area before going in to retrieve your fly. Again, be observant! People get into trouble when they are not paying attention. Although I do not know of a particular outfit to recommend for a rental car, I’m fairly certain one can be found in Union City. Just Google Union City car rentals or check out online yellow pages. If you wish, you may e-mail me closer to your departure and I will see if I can get more up-to-date info for you. (Please put Reelfoot Lake in your subject line so I don’t mistake your message for spam!)

8

Thanks Gary. I appreciate the information. I’ll need to pin a few more things down before I can be definitive about when (or if) this is going to happen. At any rate, it’s always good to glean information from different areas,(even if it DOES come from the “Dark Side”).

Lew

9

I fished Reelfoot a coupla years ago. The wind BLEW the entire time I was there and pretty much forced us into the cypress stands if we wanted to fish. One thing I think you need is a short flyrod - I had an 8 1/2’ rod [friend had an 8’] and we were both forced to pretty much just “dap” our flies. I think you need a 5 1/2’-6’ at the most and then you’ll be roll casting a lot.

The bluegills are certainly “chunky” and you must be able to “stub” fish up to a pound - I’d say figure on a 3 or 4 wt min. Most nymphs we used worked and a strike indicator was a big help to keep the flies out of the trash on the bottom. Shady side of the cypress was ALWAYS good for a fish or two.

A LOTTA snakes but we didn’t see any cottonmouths - just lots and lots of brown and gray watersnakes. Up in the trees, too. A few splashed down [my friend is terrified of snakes!! LOL] but you soon learn to keep an eye out.

Donald

10

Hey Philly, I went to UT Martin too. I was there in the late 70’s and early 80’s. When were you there.
Ed

11

EdD:
I was there from 1971 to 1975. Last time I was there was in 79. Keep meaning to get down there for homecoming, but job or family keep getting in the way.