Once the water warms, Felton stops fishing for saugers on Old Hickory. “Most years, the bite is gone by the first of May,” he said. “That’s when the water gets too warm for them to bite. I don’t know why that is or where they go, but it’s not on my stringer, that’s for sure.”

TIMS FORD RESERVOIR
Southern Tennessee’s Tims Ford is one of the least known walleye fisheries in the state.

“It’s not as good as Dale Hollow, but there’s a respectable population in it, and they can offer anglers fast action in the spring and fall,” said Duvall, who along with his TWRF position owned the Holiday Marina on the lake for a number of years.

He reminds anglers that as recently as four years ago, anglers were moving from Center Hill to Tims Ford because of the fantastic walleye fishing. “The run wasn’t as good in 2007 as it sometimes is, but 2008 should be really good if the water levels hold. They’re still there. It’s just that 2007 was so unusual (with respect to water levels) that they were hard to catch.”

As a practical matter, there are no weeds in Tims Ford. As a consequence, fishing it successfully is a matter of working channels, drops, holes and any other substrate irregularity you can find. The walleyes hold against them, and position themselves around them, much like largemouth bass.

And don’t ever underestimate the importance of wood in this type reservoir. Walleyes will school around stumps and laydowns just like any other game fish. In fact, fishing wood near channel swings, drops and breaks is often the most effective way of taking them in early spring.

The usual baits -- jigs or night crawler-tipped jigs, in-line spinners, jerkbaits and crankbaits will all produce on this body of water. Some of the best locations, especially after the water warms in late spring, are near the dam. Walleyes take advantage of the depth and oxygen content of the water in this area.

Summer brings a tough walleye bite on this southern Tennessee reservoir. But fall is a different matter. As the waters are pulled down in late summer and early winter, the walleyes will school around underwater structure off, and well off, the bank. You can often catch a boatload of them with a jigging spoon when they do that.

The Cumberland River
The Cumberland River, running from Celina on the Kentucky border west and north all the way to Lake Barkley, offers great walleye, sauger and saugeye fishing along nearly every mile of its path.

Starting just below Celina, weed growth in the tributaries becomes progressively heavier as you approach Cordell Hull. That’s a good thing because as the weeds go in this stretch of the river, so goes the walleye fishing.

Around the end of February or early March, the big females begin moving. They follow the river channel to the tributary channel and then move on upstream. By the third week in March, most of them are in the back of the tributaries taking advantage of the newly emerging vegetation and getting ready for their spawn. Savvy anglers follow them.