It's bream fishing time in Tennessee and while there's no shortage of great places to go, some will certainly be better than others.

Excellent bream fishing encompasses a combination of both big bream as well as fast-paced action. While most lakes will require some culling of fish, the listed lakes generally have an excellent average size of fish, and lots of them -- and these lakes are scattered across the state.

A few local tips are provided for catching bream on some of the lakes are also included, but generally bream are not that hard to catch. You just need to get on the right lake are start fishing.

NICKAJACK LAKE
Most bream fishermen don't usually think of Nickajack when considering good bream fisheries around the state. But they're missing an extremely good bet by overlooking this body of water. While the lower end of the lake near Nickajack Dam widens and has more of the big lake look, much of the lake is a series of small feeder creeks and opens up into small bays and flats that empty into the Tennessee River.

Many of these creeks actually deepen as you wind back into them -- and they open into some of the best bream fishing areas in the state.

This is particularly true during May, when the bream really get on the beds.

I grew up bream fishing several lakes in east Tennessee and while I spent a lot of time on Chickamauga Lake, another awesome bream factory just up the river from Nickajack, this lake was always as consistently productive as any lake I fished. In addition to being chock full of big bluegill, the lake is full of hefty shellcrackers.

The easiest way to find a big bed of bream on Nickajack Lake is to slip a boat into the quiet coves and pockets off the main lake. Simply use light tackle and cast in front of the boat toward the shallow water as you slowly move along with an electric kicker or even a sculling paddle.

Look for gravel and sandy bottoms and when you catch the first big bream or shellcracker, stop the forward progress of the boat and slowly fish your way back. If you work the process just right, you can find the edge of a big bed of bream and slowly work right through the area without spooking the fish, catching them as fast as you can cast a cricket into the bream bed.

When the action slows, continue the searching process and when you finish that area, move to another creek or cove.

Wade fishing for bream during May is also a great technique. Simply slip into the water and start slowly wading along the shoreline, casting in front of you as you wade. Usually you'll only need to be knee-deep or so in the water to effectively fish, but the fish may be very shallow, or in out to 3 to 4 feet of water. I've used this technique many times on Nickajack to fish from a public access point and cover a good stretch of water without having to rely on a boat