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Muskie Fishing -> Fishing Reports and Destinations -> Melton Hill Lake TN
 
Message Subject: Melton Hill Lake TN
rtowns
Posted 3/30/2012 1:33 PM (#549583)
Subject: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 36


I was thinking about taking a trip and was wondering how the fishing has been lately? I know there is some problems with muskies dying during the winter due to them being in one location near a hot water discharge and being caught on live bait. Has this affected the lake and dropped the numbers significantly or does it still have a healthy population? Also was wondering if anyone has a tip for a good guide or renting a boat. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks
dougj
Posted 3/30/2012 2:33 PM (#549597 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN





Posts: 906


Location: Warroad, Mn
Melton Hill has been slow lately. Lots of rain and the TVA has been letting lots of water out of Norris keeping the water temps low. Also quite a bit of muddy water at times. The steam plant hasn't been running this winter so there's no "Hot-Hole".

There are still some nice fish in Melton Hill, but not the numbers of say five years ago. The TWRA is looking at ways and means to increase stocking and increase protection for these fish. The lake has great potential.

Your best bet for a guide is Billy Davis http://www.meltonhillbill.com/. As far as I know there aren't any rental boats available on the lake.

Doug Johnson
Guest
Posted 4/3/2012 4:05 PM (#550457 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


I can't believe it no "Hot Hole". What's a guy to do?
firstsixfeet
Posted 4/5/2012 10:52 PM (#551187 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 2361


The current situation on the Hill as of Thursday, April 5, they had no gates open above and none below that I could discern. Later it appears they started pulling some water but still weren't putting any into the lake so most of the current inflow is coming out of Bull Run and its really dirty. The temps throughout the lake are in the 70-72 degree range, and mirror what is up in Bull Run. The lake itself appears to have a whopper of a bloom on it right now, probably due to all the nutrients coming in from Bull Run and sitting there fertilising everything. About 3 feet low also. Dock up Bull run is dry. Tough fishing without much activity. One bite, kind of a let down for a full moon pre frontal afternoon, but maybe some are still spawning. Once they open the gates upstream, and refill I am sure it will change radically, as it so often does. Note flyers and carp are in the shallows now, along with gar. Probably be my last trip down till after next thanksgiving. Good luck if you go.
firstsixfeet
Posted 4/19/2012 11:20 AM (#554249 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 2361


Fished the HIll yesterday, April 18, though I hadn't planned to, it had the best potential weather of any of the lakes I fish(looked to be spotty rain changing to clouds), and really felt water clarity was ideal even well up into Bull Run creek, however 8-9 hours of fishing was pretty much non productive. Raised one fish in the 38-42" range that boiled up, no hit, and after covering a lot more water with several incredibly gifted and acutely successful techniques, went back to the same fish and managed to miss the bugger on a hit of some sort. I could say I was sleeping, and it would be close to true, since I had been up since before 6 am the previous day with only 4 hours sleep, and I was not sharp nor blessed with the laser quick reflex times I normally possess.

All in all, a pretty discouraging day for one that really looked promising in terms of weather, time of year, water quality and temperature. Temp was 64-66 throughout the miles of lake I fished, and very uniform. Appeared that no water was moving through, and lake was pretty much full pool. Everybody on the bank, or in boats, seemed to be catching something or another, except me. I did note 7-10 bass nests in use, and some kind of rough fish spawning going on, but Casey pretty much let Mudville fade out of the playoffs.

Of note, there was some flower blooming in the bank foliage, that could just about knock you out, from the scent of the blooms. Don't know my flowers, but the scent was even stronger than honeysuckle in a holler, so to speak.
tcbetka
Posted 4/19/2012 12:19 PM (#554268 - in reply to #554249)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Location: Green Bay, WI
removed.

TB

Edited by tcbetka 4/19/2012 12:21 PM
rtowns
Posted 4/19/2012 6:02 PM (#554348 - in reply to #554268)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 36


Thanks for the report FSF. I haven't gone yet because I'm throwing around the idea of a few places. What time of the year to you feel is the most productive? The thought of fishing for stripers if the musky bite is off is also appealing.
firstsixfeet
Posted 4/19/2012 6:43 PM (#554364 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 2361


Winter when they are running the steam plant.
Wood_Duck
Posted 4/19/2012 10:42 PM (#554428 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN





Posts: 555


Location: Tennessee
tnmuskies is Billy's forum site. It definately seems to be slow right now. I'm gonna try and hit it monday morning and see if I can do any good.
Wood_Duck
Posted 4/23/2012 11:44 PM (#555321 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN





Posts: 555


Location: Tennessee
Well for an update, I fished about 5 hours before work today. Saw one fish but no follows. Still slow going
BDavis
Posted 4/24/2012 9:06 AM (#555370 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 91


Location: Knoxville, TN
I don't know what to tell you fellas. I think the fishing has been pretty good lately, it just takes a really good pair of sunglasses to turn lazy follows into biters. We are moving 6-8 fish per 4 hour trips, most coming on double cowgirls. My fishing buddy Cody got a 51.5 on a hurricane.

Here is some footage I shot the other day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Oh3EyMal8
Wood_Duck
Posted 4/24/2012 12:11 PM (#555405 - in reply to #555370)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN





Posts: 555


Location: Tennessee
That's positive to hear Billy, couple guys at work that fish it said they haven't saw a single fish in the last month.
meltonmuskyman
Posted 4/24/2012 12:47 PM (#555414 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


fishing is slow. fish mh all day with nothing to show. musky all over are slow right now. i tried all lures in my box. i fished jackass and bullrun creek and the big cove past bullrun. still not gonna give up however.
meltonmuskyman
Posted 4/24/2012 12:52 PM (#555415 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


also i have a study done on mh lake that shows where fish are year round if ya want it reply your email and ill send it to ya
muskyman
Posted 4/24/2012 2:02 PM (#555440 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


hey bdavis, did u catch have any follows on live bait. i try live bait and always have excellent success.
MuskyMATT7
Posted 4/24/2012 3:20 PM (#555469 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN





Posts: 553


Location: 15 miles east of Lake Kinkaid
Nice work Billy. Glad to see you guys are catching some nice fish!!!
Muskyman "guest"- stop trying to start trouble. No more of these fish need to be killed with live trout.

Edited by MuskyMATT7 4/24/2012 3:22 PM
muskyman
Posted 4/24/2012 4:19 PM (#555482 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


as i recall my taxes are paying for your musky. i own those fish as equally as all others do. live bait isnt cheating. i woud bet you money you have used live bait at one point in your life. minnows for crappie or worms for bluegill. if live bait is used correctly its just as safe as using lures. and im sure many people have used shad for striper. live bait has been made out to be a disgrace to use when in reality its no different than using a crankbait with 3 treble hooks. hmm one circle hook or 3 trebles. not seeing where live bait is so bad. even pate mania uses it for musky. he knows more about musky than we can ever comprehend
BDavis
Posted 4/24/2012 8:24 PM (#555535 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 91


Location: Knoxville, TN
muskyman, my days of replying to idiotic posts are over. If anybody is ever interested in fishing on Melton Hill, email me. I can sure put you on some muskies and don't even need trout to do it.
muskyman
Posted 4/24/2012 10:18 PM (#555576 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


impressive, you finally learned fighting fire with fire only leaves the fish hurt. sometimes silence means more than words of stupidity.
BDavis
Posted 4/25/2012 6:41 AM (#555605 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 91


Location: Knoxville, TN
My biggest rejection to live bait at Bull Run Steamplant is that radio tagging studies have shown that virtually every musky in the system uses it during the winter months. Edgemoor Tackle, right down the street from the steamplant, tells everybody that comes through their store that they can catch huge muskies with a trout and a balloon. What you get is a bunch of guys lining the bank with 20 lb mono a trout on a J hook and a balloon. The result is alot of cut lines, gut hooked, and mishandled muskies. Alot of guys down here have no clue how to handle muskies, and they will not try to remove the hook with those teeth, they simply cut the line. If you think it's fine to see floating muskies, so be it, but it sickens me. I don't think that all dead muskies float either, I bet you'd see lots of sinkers. I would assume alot of fish die slowly due to j hooks in the gullet. But after 8 years of watching what goes on with these fish, I got fed up and started calling foul. I'm just glad that some notable fishermen like Doug Johnson and Larry Dahlberg actually stood up for what they saw as senseless slaughter of a valuable resource. I do more live bait fishing than most, while I am fishing for stripers, so I know that what goes on at the steamplant certainly has a negative impact on the musky fishery. I'm all for using live bait, except when the muskies are all piled up into a 7 acre warm water refuge. And muskyman, whoever you are, silence is not always the best option, sometimes you have to voice your opinion when you feel there is a problem. 20 years ago, Melton Hill was full of northern pike. Lots of people objected to the stocking, so they quit and the northerns dissapeared. Without a little support, the musky program could easily be cut also and the fish would be gone within a few years and I really would not like that to happen.
TN Musky
Posted 4/25/2012 7:51 AM (#555612 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


I haven't really musky fished Melton Hill hardly at all this year jpartially because the water has seemed really dirty. I was out bass fishing last week and saw about a 35-38 inch musky following some carp though. As far as planning a trip I don't think there's anywhere to rent a boat so getting with a guide would be your best bet.
chad
Posted 4/25/2012 9:05 AM (#555640 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: Re: Melton Hill Lake TN




Posts: 34


Muskyman, you can't compare catching panfish on live bait to catching a musky on live bait. That is an idiotic comparison..
ztankersley
Posted 4/25/2012 4:15 PM (#555771 - in reply to #549583)
Subject: RE: Melton Hill Lake TN


hey guys i just opened a new forum tnbigfish.freeforums.org check it out. its for fishing in tennesse. i appreciate all people who join. fishing has always been my passion and now i have a way to spread the word. i live in tennesse close to melton hill lake and norris lake. please check it out. i fish for about anything so this forum will have all the info one could want once i get it going strong. also any tips are appreciated as well
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