REELFOOT LAKE/ TENNESSEE

[abishop]

Anyone been there? Looking to book a week next spring. Fishing for crappie and gills. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Looked at the Tennessee site and it is DEAD. Best places and times? Thanks

[mark1957]

I've been going there for aprox. 15 years.  Only for bluegill.  They spawn May, June, and July during full moon. Google the group Reelfoot Lake fishing.  This is a slow time of year.  Some of the guides are still catching.

[Jig_Head]

I've been 3 times, all were about 15 - 20 years ago tho...stayed at Blue Bank Resort. A boat with gas and bait were included with the price when you stay there

[rivereddy]

We've made multiple trips down to Reelfoot to fish for crappies.  Early March to mid April is our usual time frame.  We pull our little camper down and stay at the state park. Since we can't take the boat, we fish out of our canoe. This can be a challenge as that time of year is really windy and we tend to get blown around.   Due to its shallow nature, our canoe lets us get into some pretty good spots.  We also don't have to worry about hitting one of the countless stumps and tearing up our lower unit. Like everywhere else, one has to find the fish, but when it's on it's awesome.  Formed by an earthquake, this is one interesting lake. Before flooding, it was a cypress filled lowland.  Cypress wood is really rot resistant so the lake is filled with stumps that are at or near the surface. You will want a good "lookout" up forward.

fish on,

rivereddy

[abishop]

Thanks, Rivereddy what size was the norm? I could remember somewhere a long time ago there were no limits. Is it still that way?

[Hermdog]

We went there a couple time, later in the year. Was hot and most the fish we caught were cats. We stayed at the Blue Bank resort, nice place. I would recommend renting a boat, that lake is FULL of stumps!!

[rivereddy]

I looked up the Tennessee regs and found that at least a few years back the daily limit was 30 crappie with no size limit.  Most of the crappies we caught were between 9 - 14 inches.  For my family, we kept crappie from 9 1/2 " to about 11".  It's been some since the lake was
commercially fished for specs.  The netting licenses were "frozen" and when the owners quit or passed commercial fishing stopped. sport fishing really took off when the netting ceased.

One note  - In addition to a Tessessee license, one needs a special "reelfoot" license as well.  the last time we were there it was an additional
$10.00 or so.

fish on,

rivereddy