I am finally getting to come up and fish Lake Nantahala. Me and a friend will be bringing our kayaks and our plan is to camp sat-mon on one of the small islands (maybe little choga) or on National Forest land. We will mainly be bass/walleye fishing but I have ordered some hoochies, some trolling weights and dodgers so we're definitely going to try for the kokes and trout. My main question is, how crowded will the lake be since its memorial day weekend? Second is the smallmouth fishing better in the head or the lower lake? Thank you guys and tight lines!
Finally, Nantahala trip is a go.
- Thread starter JWare
- Start date
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rgarbar
Well-known member
There will be a hatch of large overpowered recreational boats and jet skiers tearing up and down the lake. There are usually a lot of campers the holiday weekends and the choice camp sites fill up quickly. I don't normally target walleye or small mouth at Nantahala(the skiniest walleyes I have ever seen). Small mouth bass and walleye are fair at best at Nantahala. I would head to Hiawassee or Fontana for those species. I would fish the points for walleye and bass(often mark fish there). Open water for kokanee and trout. Big Choga cove might be a bit more quiet as the boat launch ramp is closed there.
Thank you, our goal is to be at the ramp before daylight so maybe we'll beat some of the campers. I saw in your recent post that you've caught kokes on pink at 30'...I have a depth finder that I can search for fish...if I maintain a trolling speed of 1.5mph what weight and line out would be needed to keep the lure at 25-40'.
rgarbar
Well-known member
I use downriggers with an accurate line counter with 4 to 6lb. weights to get the lures down to depth. My Fishfinders/sonar confirm the depth as well. Some use lead core line to get lures down deep but counting colors and boat speeds and lure weights make lead core a little confusing to me. Scotty make a small rather primitive downrigger for a kayak(I have one). It works but has no line counter. I marked the cable. A fishfinder could also be used to confirm the depth of your lure with this kayak downrigger.
