Local Fish Surveys Indicate Largemouth Bass In Much Better Shape

Old Hickory bass anglers have seen good and bad times, but the last year might be one that is perplexing to them based on information obtained from the lake by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

“Our electro-fishing surveys have indicated for a long time that Old Hickory Lake is one of the best largemouth bass impoundments in Tennessee and that includes information we gathered this year,” noted Todd St. John, a reservoir fish manager for the TWRA.

Many Old Hickory anglers would admit that the long run-of-the-river impoundment has had classic bass-catching years, but that 2007 was one in which largemouth bass had far more uncooperative than cooperative days.

“I’ve heard that,” said St. John recently while discussing the results of  various annual surveys conducted on Old Hickory, Percy Priest, and Cheatham Reservoirs in Middle Tennessee. “What we found on Old Hickory, however, were numbers and sizes of bass that tell us that the bass population is in great condition.

“In order to make our surveys dependable, we revisit the same survey sites every year at the same time, use basically the same boat and equipment to shock and stun bass,  and the same nets to pick them up in order to accurately compare results from year to year. Old Hickory’s largemouth bass population has been impressive for a long time.”

And not just for small fish, either, said St. John. Many of the fish stunned by the agency’s generator powered alternating current are 15 inches and larger.

“We usually collect about 150 bass per hour when we’re working on Old Hickory with our shocking gear—some years a few more some a few less,” said St. John. “Percy Priest is probably considered the best largemouth bass lake in the Nashville area, but we collect quite a few more largemouth on Old Hickory than on Priest.

Of the 590 Old Hickory largemouth collected this past summer, about 25 percent were larger than 15 inches.

“We have a bunch of fish below the keeper size in Old Hickory, which is something I don’t have to tell bass fishermen,” said St.  John. “But we have a strong population of fish above the reservoir’s bass size limit of 15 inches.”

It may have been this year’s drought and low water flow that caused lower oxygen levels and as a result fishing patterns differed from normal years, or it may have been another unknown quirk of nature that created tough bass fishing, but Old Hickory is a lake that is a lot better than average, assured St. John.

“Anglers need to be patient with Old Hickory,” noted the TWRA biologist. We had a meeting six or seven years ago with concerned anglers and local Old Hickory business people after a summer when the bass fishing was down, but the following spring the lake had one of its classic bass years and everybody caught fish.”