Water Is Hot But Weather May Cool Slightly For Chattanooga Bass Tournament Saturday
Although bass fishing on Chickamauga Lake has been red hot all year long, the current spate of persistent hot weather may cool fishing down a little bit for Saturday’s Chattanooga Bass tournament, said CBC tournament director Brad Ferguson.
“The water temperature right now is in the high 80s to low 90s. The hot weather has slowed things down a little bit,” Ferguson said.
While the water may be hot for the fish, the daytime temperature actually may be fairly pleasant for the fishermen. The weather forecast calls for a rain front to move through the area Friday and Saturday, dropping the temperature down near 80 degrees for the tournament.
But the weather is not the only thing affecting the fishing, Ferguson said.
“We are getting a kind of odd generating schedule this year. Normally, the past few years they pulled water all day long when it was hot like this. Now they have the Watts Bar nuclear plant on-line and they are not generating through the hydro operation until peak times – 1-2 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Even with the daytime temperature moderating for the tournament, it’s still summertime and Ferguson said CBA has put out information urging anglers to take special care in handling their fish to avoid having them die because of the heat.
While the weather has been hot and the water is, too, the points race has also heated up, Ferguson noted.
“Only a few points separate the top teams,” he said, noting that with summer night tournaments also on the schedule some anglers may not fish Saturday’s day tournament. “I’ve talked to a couple of guys who fished the night tournament and they are happy with the points they got so they are not going to fish Saturday’s tournament.”
During the months of June, July, and August the C.B.A. holds both a day event and a night event. Both tournaments during these months are open point tournaments. Under CBC rules, a participant may fish both events but will only receive points for that tournament month from the higher finish of the two.
Going into the tournament Saturday, only 10 points separate the top four teams: Chuck and Brad James are leading Rogne Brown and Cary Dotson by seven points; trailing them by one point are Brent Hayes and David Hix; and two points behind them are Galen James and Tony Townsend.
The CBA’s 2015 schedule includes: June 27 (Day). July 11 (Day), July 25 (Night), Aug. 15 (Day), Aug. 29 (Night), Sept. 19 and Oct. 10, with the Classic Nov. 7-8.
Chattanooga Bass Association
Sat, Jun 27, 2015
Chickamauga Lake
Chester Frost Park
Call 423-593-3343
