Dallas’ only concern is the effect gill-netting for rough fish could have on the big rockfish population at Old Hickory; he hopes the practice is stopped. As things stand now, Dallas’ biggest striper last year was a 58-pound behemoth. His best day ever included a catch of three over 50 pounds.

The legendary striper guide said you’ll find Old Hickory’s late-winter monsters around the warmwater discharge at the steam plant, in the main channel, up in creeks, and traveling alongside main channel islands.

At first light, it’s topwater time on Old Hickory. Dallas said you have to be ready when they surface during the feeding on skipjack herring in the warmwater discharge. It happens fast, doesn’t last long, but could produce that fish of a lifetime on a Red Fin.

After the sun gets up, it’s all about live bait. Up in the creeks, the gizzard shad are smallish in size, too small for the cast net when catching bait. That’s why Dallas will buy shiners to match the size of what they’re feeding on in those areas. He likes 14-pound monofilament and a No. 1 bait hook when fishing the small shiners.

Dallas will also use live bait on down-lines but said you can just cover so much more water with planer boards. In the warm water discharge, he’ll pull boards mainly with skipjack on line about 20 feet behind his boards. Dallas said the stripers won’t look at a 6-inch gizzard shad but will readily take a 12-inch skipjack because they’re used to seeing the gizzard shad feed on the smaller shad in the warm waters.

This kind of live-bait fishing is for trophy rockfish. For the stripers he’s catching, Dallas relies on 130-pound-test line on his boards in this area.

The cold weather associated with this period is big-fish time on Old Hickory Lake. Dallas likes to fish the nastiest day he can find right before a big cold front. On the edges of these fronts, he’s boated as many as 15 stripers over 40 pounds in a single day. Right now, he said eight to 10 stripers per trip is a good day, but if you are concentrating on trophies, expect to catch an average of two big stripers using skipjack.

The Bull Creek Ramp will put you within three miles of the good striper fishing, as does the public ramp at Drake’s Creek. The creel limit for Old Hickory striped bass is the same as the statewide regulations at two per day with a minimum length of 15 inches.

DESTINATION INFORMATION
To fish with these veteran guides at any of the locations give them a call.
• Ezell Cox -- (423) 626-6547.
• Fred McClintock -- (931) 243-2142 or at TrophyGuideService.com.
• Wayne Smith -- (865) 992-5260.
• Ralph Dallas -- (615) 824-5792 or 615-735-3917.