By Ronnie Parris
I know I’m always preaching about using small baits to catch finicky fish. Well, every now and then, there are times of exception and right now is one of them. Like it or not, the Blueback Herrin are in our mountain lakes and I’m afraid they’re here to stay. The reluctance of our state biologists to stock stripers to help control their numbers tells me we will just have to get used to low fish numbers and fish that are eating less often, since they can eat one Blueback instead of 15 Threadfin to get the same amount of food. The only win in the Blueback scenario is that we are seeing some really large Bass and Walleye since the food is so readily available. The Walleye in the photo with this article is proof of the nutritional value the Bluebacks add.
This, so far, has been the toughest year to catch Bass and Walleye in Fontana. Unless the residents of Swain and Graham Counties can get together and change some of the management practices that clearly aren’t working in Fontana, I’m afraid this will only get worse. With Hiwassee and Chatuge as a pattern on how good the striper and hybrid stockings can be for the other lake species with high Blueback populations, it’s a shame when residents with a lake like Fontana, with all the creeks and rivers filling its waters, are having to drive to other lakes with better management practices. Hopefully our biologists will listen to folks that fish the lake instead of making decisions from what they’ve learned in a book. I am afraid that, whatever they do, we will be in for a long spell of less than average catches. As always, stay safe and take a kid fishing!
Ronnie Parris is owner and head guide of Smoky Mountain Outdoors Unlimited-Fontana Lake Fishing Guides, headquartered in Bryson City, N.C., heart of the Great Smoky Mountains (www.smounlimited.com; (828) 488-9711).