Rain, rain and more rain may make fishing tough for Music City BFL on Old Hickory
Fishing in the Music City BFL on Old Hickory Lake could be tough this weekend, but that suits Tim Staley.
“I may not win all the time any more,” said Staley, who is ranked 11th in the Music City Division points race,” but I’ve always got a decent bag of fish. If fishing is really good sometimes I get beat, but if it’s tough I do better a lot of times.”
The heavy rains that have pounded the country’s midsection and surrounding areas for the past month have put a lot of water in the Cumberland River drainage and all that water has to go somewhere, so tons of water are flowing through the Cordell Hull Lock and Dam into Old Hickory.
“We’ve had a lot of rain – an inch and a half yesterday,” Staley said Wednesday. They are putting so much water through Old Hickory right now that it’s kind of making the fish on drops get scattered out.”
Whoever wins the tournament, he said, likely will be somebody who lucks up and locates good fish between the river and the flats.
“They will be coming off the river and towards the flats, trying to get out of that cold water. They like cool water, but when it has been so hot and then it gets that cold it throws them off,” he said. “They have been dumping so much water out of Cordell Hull that it is in the 70s when it ought to be 80 degrees or close to it. That kind of change will affect the fish.”
They will also be looking for some relief from the heavy current created by all the moving water, Staley said.
“Fish like current, but they don’t like a lot of current, so when they are pulling water that hard they try to get out of it.”
Staley, who grew up and lives in Dowelltown, Tenn., near Center Hill Lake, is used to fishing deep water, he said, but he really likes fishing the shallower lakes like Old Hickory and Kentucky Lake.
He has recorded three top 10s in the Music City Division points – 9th in 2002, 4th in 2005 and1st in 2004. He has 21 top 10s in tournament competition, with four wins, and has earned more than $91,000 fishing mostly the Music City Division.
After a slow start – 62nd on Dale Hollow in March – Staley finished 4th on Center Hill in May and 10th on Kentucky Lake in June.
“I don’t get to fish as much as I used to because I have to work more now,” said Staley who is a contractor, building houses, and also a fishing guide. “I’ll probably work a half day Friday then get to the lake and see if I can figure something out before the meeting.”
Walmart Bass Fishing League – Music City Division
Sat, Jul 18, 2015
Old Hickory
Bulls Creek Access (Flipper’s)
