Elite Series rookie Buddy Gross is the angler with the most local knowledge of Chickamauga Lake. But there’s another angler in this 85-man field with extensive knowledge of this 36,240-acre impoundment on the Tennessee River. Australian Carl Jocumsen and his wife, Kayla, have been living 15 minutes from the lake for the past year. And he’s never seen bass fishing any tougher than it has been during the three days of practice this week.
“This has been the worst three days I’ve ever had on Chickamauga, and among the worst three practices I’ve ever had for a tournament,” Jocumsen said yesterday.
It was raining this morning at takeoff time, preceding a cold front that is forecast to drop temperatures into the lower 40s tonight. That could be a good thing, according to Jocumsen.
“It can’t get any worse,” he said. “We need something to change.”
The fishing conditions are baffling to someone like Jocumsen, who has fished all four seasons at Chickamauga and caught bass in all conditions. His personal best largemouth came here – 10 pounds, 10 ounces, in March. He has caught another one over 10 pounds, three or four 9-pounders and numerous bass over 8 pounds from Chickamauga in the short time he’s lived here.
“If someone catches 15 pounds a day this week, we should bow down to him because he’s a fishing god,” Jocumsen said with a laugh.
But today is a new day and a weather change might be the remedy for Chickamauga Lake’s ills.