Blue Ridge Lake Report..Fishing is hot...Walleye, Rainbows, Smallmouth, and Spots....

[jerdog101]

Fished Friday and Saturday at Blue Ridge Lake. Water temp. was 78F and the fishing was productive early in the morning and at sunset. We left the lake a little lighter with 8 walleye, 2 rainbows, 2 spots, and 3 smallmouth. Missed another 6 fish with one breaking me off. I think it was a big walleye! Caught fish anywhere from 8 feet down to 45 feet deep. Marked lots of fish and bait pods up near the dam and off main lake points.

Tight lines!

 

[antharper]

Awesome trip !!!

 

[Cashvaluerecovery]

Man yall musta been deep look at those eyes popping out. Really awesome catches.

 

[The mtn man]

You did good, nice smallmouth too.

 

[StriperrHunterr]

Excellent work. Those walleyes can't believe what they're seeing.

 

[jerdog101]

Fish were anywhere from 20 to 40 feet deep.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Nice catch! Those are some nice smallies, and seems like y'alls walleye down there average a lot bigger than ours.

 

[deerhunter09]

Man, keep everything else but turn those Smallies loose.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Nothing wrong with keeping a smallmouth. They eat good. What's killing the smallmouth ain't the fillet knife, it's those durn spots that the catch-and-release professional bass fishing guys keep moving around.

 

[jerseycat9]

Just this one time I'm gonna say it..... Should have let the smallie go

 

[Mr. Cawley]

Man, keep everything else but turn those Smallies loose.

I agree. Keep those spots, walleyes, and rainbows, but please let those small jaws go.

 

[The mtn man]

What difference would it make if he keeps the smallmouth, or let them go, if a fellow keeping a few smallmouth is gonna be detrimental to the smallmouth population, I say there is no hope for them anyway, might be the last chance he has to eat a Georgia smallmouth. It bothers me that the smallmouth are disappearing, but releasing a few is not gonna bring them back, I say good for him, he caught a few of the last remaining fish from a doomed species.

 

[lampern]

Release the smallmouths, keep the spots.

What people don't realize is the bag limit for black bass is combined species.

If you keep a smallmouth, you cannot keep a spotted bass.

10 fish limit, spots, largemouth and smallmouth combined.

Smallmouth may or may not be doomed.

In Fontana Lake North Carolina and South Holston Lake Tennessee, both species coexist.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Release the smallmouths, keep the spots.

What people don't realize is the bag limit for black bass is combined species.

If you keep a smallmouth, you cannot keep a spotted bass.

10 fish limit, spots, largemouth and smallmouth combined.

Smallmouth may or may not be doomed.

In Fontana Lake North Carolina and South Holston Lake Tennessee, both species coexist.

The reason they're co-existing in Fontana is that spots have just started showing up in big numbers over the last decade or so. I have fished Fontana a lot, and until ten year ago or so, never caught a spot. Now, you catch more spots than anything else. They will do away with the smallmouths eventually just like they have everywhere else they've been introduced.

What us fishermen keep to eat is not likely to have hardly any impact one way or the other in the overall scheme of things. Releasing three smallmouth bass will have absolutely no impact on the future of that species in that lake.

 

[jerdog101]

I won't get into the debate over keeping or releasing fish, I just follow the laws and abide by the regulations. I fish Chattanooga, TN and there you are only allowed to keep one 18+" smallmouth. This is something they could impose on Blue Ridge. I do whatever the DNR recommends or has in place.

 

[lampern]

What the DNR should simply do is single out spotted bass like Tennessee does.

Tennessee has a separate bag limit for spotted bass and does not combine them with smallmouth or largemouth.

 

[Jsppayne22]

I may be wrong here but I think there is not a limit on spots in Blue Ridge. There may even be a sign by the lake telling you to keep all spots. Either way, nice catch and keep you limit if you want.

 

[lampern]

10 fish limit combined with lgmth and smllmth

 

[jeremyledford]

Nice job catching fish!

I'm not going to bash this thread, but seeing a blue ridge smallie in a cooler eats holes in my soul.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Nice job catching fish!

I'm not going to bash this thread, but seeing a blue ridge smallie in a cooler eats holes in my soul.

Would it be better if a heron or otter or snapping turtle or striper or 35 lb. flathead ate it instead of him? Everyone of those fish are gonna die and be eaten by something. Why is it so bad for it to be a human?

I've probably ate a thousand smallmouths, and probably released 5,000 more. Neither action made me morally superior or inferior to anybody else.