Growing up on the Tennessee River, current has always been important to me, but this time of year it really comes to the forefront. Afternoon in June and July sees the offshore bite get really good.
About 4 p.m. is when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) starts running more current to create more power. People get home from work and turn on their air conditioning, so the TVA has to meet that summertime demand.
When the current increases, that triggers those offshore fish to feed. You can detect visual signs of increased current, but the easiest way is to check out the TVA’s published schedules.
You’ll find this at TVA.com, or the TVA has a user-friendly app. Both of these resources have information on every TVA lake, including the hourly water release — the cubic feet per second (CFS) — the tailwater elevation level and the future generation schedule.
You can plan your trip accordingly in the summertime because the TVA tells you how many generators they plan to run and how much current you can expect. If we get a lot of rain, the current might run nonstop as they move water through the system.
Dirty water can be tough to fish, but after the water cleans up a little and they’re still running current, the fish are everywhere and they’re flat-out chewing.
Anytime the current is running, it puts the fish in specific spots where they can use current breaks for their feeding advantage. Before that happens, you have to determine which schools will bite at which time of day. The good thing is you can cool down by running around and finding new schools.
Usually, the first two hours of daylight are pretty good. You can throw your traditional moving baits and catch a few fish.
After that, you have to get lucky and fish where no one has fished, or fish really slow. My favorite baits for the lull is a 6-inch Roboworm on a drop shot, a Neko-rigged 6-inch Yamamoto Kut Tail worm and a football jig.
You can catch some of the biggest fish when they’re not really wanting to feed by fishing slow and on the bottom. They don’t want to come up, so not even a minnow bait is good.
I do try to work in a scrounger, a crankbait or hair jig for every school just to see if they’re ready. But I only make a couple of casts, then I turn to those slower baits.
I like fishing the afternoon current on Fort Loudoun and Guntersville, but Pickwick is my favorite. It’s crazy, sometimes you’ll scan in the morning and you’ll find nothing, but then you roll up on the same places around 5 p.m. and there are hundreds of fish.
When you find a school that’s set up to feed, you always want to throw up current. The only time I’ll throw downcurrent is in a strong wind and that’s the only way I can fish. Otherwise, you gotta go with the current.
Those fish have been fished for years, so they know if a bait’s not coming with the current like the real baitfish. They’re smart, so if you want to take advantage of the afternoon current bite, you gotta play by their rules.
