Swepco

[wily]

it's getting close to the time that I start thinking about swepco. i just wanted to start a topic so we could share info. if anyone goes please post it here. i probably won't come down til december but i plan to fish it at least a couple times this year.

thanks

[Flysmallie]

Are there any restictions on boats and motors for this lake?

[wily]

i don't think so. i know they built a new ramp last year.

hopefully one of the locals will weigh-in and let us know for sure.

[Clay Goforth]

No motor restrictions that I am aware of...Lake is not very big as you know but I run my Ranger and have seen plenty of Champions, Skeeters, and other big bass boats. I hate to tell you all that there is No Limit whatsoever and there be a 150 limit or something like that.

[Donna G]

I LOVE Swepco. One of the few places I ever caught more than Champ. Believe it was 51 that day. What a blast. I get a thrill out of catching bass with soft plastics and we were usually predominantly Texas-rigged worms and Carolina rigs that day. I asked him to post on this forum since he keeps up with the restrictions, etc. at Swepco. It used to be completely catch and release, but I believe they are allowing you to keep a few now. These fish are hun-gry. Please don't throw your old plastics in the lake. Bass have been caught there with a belly full.

Last trip to Swepco was during warm weather, strangely enough. Regardless, we still caught a few. I got a nice one right at the discharge when the temp gauge showed 105, I think. Amazing. He felt like a warm puppy when I released him.

[hoglaw]

Last I heard, they were encouraging anglers to keep fish. The bass population is stunted. I have fished it quite a bit at night from a canoe. We always caught long skinny fish. It's a pretty amazing catfishing lake too. I think we were fishing the discharge in January when we caught 5lb plus channels on every cast. They were all full of eggs. Crazy stuff.

[Quillback]

I'm thinking about fishing it around Thanksgiving when I can get out during the week, that lake can get crowded on a weekend during the winter. I haven't been there since they started allowing people to keep bass - I wonder how the fishing is holding up. Sounds like there's some cats in that lake, never have tried for them, I'll have to give it a try this year.

[Clay Goforth]

I'm thinking about fishing it around Thanksgiving when I can get out during the week, that lake can get crowded on a weekend during the winter. I haven't been there since they started allowing people to keep bass - I wonder how the fishing is holding up. Sounds like there's some cats in that lake, never have tried for them, I'll have to give it a try this year.

I am headed there tomorrow morning for a few hours and will let you know what the outcome is and what they seem to be biting on...granted I do actually get a bite

[Clay Goforth]

Well, here is the report as promised. My friend and I put on the water about 8:45 this morning and fished until noon. 4 boated keepers and half a dozen short hits that were missed. There were only 4 other boats out there and I didn't see any of them having any better luck. We talked to one boat and they hadn't boated a fish all morning. 2 fish came on a fluke, 1 on a shaky head worm and 1 on a weighted worm hook baby brush hog. All of the short hits came on a spinner bait. Probably should have thrown the spinnerbait more but my buddy was demo-ing a couple of our rods to replace a couple of his loomis rods and a spinnerbait rod wasn't one of them so we didn't throw it a lot. If I were going back tomorrow, I would throw the baby brushhog a lot more in the early hours and move to the spinnerbait probably exclusively when the wind picks up.

[Quillback]

Thanks for the rport, I did not make it out there, boat problems. But everything is back together, and I'll hopefully get out there around the holidays - if it isn't too cold.