Trolling at different depths can bring you cooler filled with different Fontana Lake targets
On Fontana Lake, water temperatures in June and July cement the summer fishing season. While a few fish can still be found in and around the shallows — usually only early and late in the day — most have retreated to deeper, cooler water in the 10,230-acre lake west of Bryson City.
Fontana holds a variety of fish, ranging from smallmouth bass to rainbow trout, white bass and even walleye. The casual angler may employ a variety of tactics to target these fish, but guide James McManus of 153 Charters Fishing spends most of the summer trolling the lake’s depths, trying to convince a number of different species to bite.
“What happens is, as the summer goes on and it gets hotter and hotter, the fish go deeper and deeper,” said McManus. “In early June, you may be still catching some fish on the bank. Once you typically get to late June, it becomes a trolling venture.”
Trolling on Fontana is much like peeling an onion; it’s done in layers. Different fish species have different comfort zones, which means they can be found in different water depths. The favorable aspect to this tendency to stack up on Fontana is that by trolling a set of lures or baits at different depths, you can catch a variety of fish.
At the top of the trolling chain are smallmouth and spotted bass. These fish have a better tolerance for high water temperatures and make their living feeding on shad and other forage fish near the surface.
“This time of year, you can find a lot of spotted bass schooling at or near the surface, so I want to make sure that I have at least one or two baits in my trolling spread in the upper column,” McManus said. “From there, I can run a few baits deeper and another set deeper using a downrigger. By targeting a variety of depths, I can fish for just about everything in the lake.”
Smallmouth bass typically hold at the same summer level as the lake’s spotted bass. While they can be quite aggressive, it usually takes a little more finesse to hook up with a smallmouth.
“We target the spots and smallmouth about the same way, using side planers and freelines. A small umbrella rig trolled behind a side planer can tear up the spots and smallmouth,” said McManus. “They see that small pod of bait skipping along, and it’s more than they can resist.”
White bass tend to hold deeper, but they are readily caught using on baits trolled behind downriggers or leadcore line fished between 60 and 70 feet deep. White bass are a notorious schooling fish, so where you find one, there will almost always be more close by.
“White bass sort of hold the middle ground between the spots and smallmouth and the walleye down below,” said McManus. “They are great fighters, and you can catch numbers of them when you find the right school.”
Lurking in the depths during the late summer and early fall, walleye are a McManus favorite; he uses two downrigger balls and controlled depths to target the light-sensitive fish.
“You typically find walleye in the 80- to 100-foot depth range this time of year,” he said. “They like to hold on the drop at the very end of long points and deep humps. The good thing about this lake and fishing for walleye is there is very little structure — no trees like you’ll find in other lakes to hang up your downriggers.”
“Catching fish is just a matter of putting out baits at all levels, cranking up the motor and starting to troll,” he said. “What more could you want on a nice summer day (than) beautiful scenery and fish willing to bite?”
Baits choices range from small crankbaits to jigs and spoons — all artificial baits, because live bait requires additional measures to keep alive when artificials will do the trick just as well.
“Most of my go-to white and black bass baits are small Rapala Shad Raps and medium jigs,” said McManus. “The baitfish in this lake are ¾- to an inch long during the summer, so you have to size your baits according to what size the shad are.”
The crankbaits and jigs also work for white bass, but at deeper levels. McManus will include Alabama rigs trolled off the downrigger ball as well as trolling spoons. He’s looking for a reaction bite, and the reaction is about the same from every fish; it’s just a matter of depth.
“When you get on the white bass, they will hang with the walleye but just above them,” he said. “If you’re catching white bass and you’re trolling, if you’ll drop a little bit deeper, typically, you’ll start catching some walleye.”
Trolling runs vary, but McManus starts working his way from the e big tributary rivers (the Nantahala, Tuckasegee and Little Tennessee) down the lake toward the dam as the summer progress, watching his graph along the way. Points and the mouth of pockets — Fontana has more than you can count — will often harbor fish, and those spots are worth circling back for a second look.
“That’s pretty standard for July,” said McManus. “Start where the Tuckaseegee and the Little Tennessee Rivers come together and work your way down toward the dam.”
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE — Fontana Lake is in Swain County, in the extreme southwestern corner of North Carolina. Bryson City offers the best access to the lake, heading west on US 74. A number of public ramps and private boat-access areas dot the lake’s shoreline. For a complete list, visit www.GreatSmokiesFishing.com.
BEST TECHNIQUES — Summer fishing on Fontana Lake is primarily a trolling deal. Anglers target black bass closer to the surface, white bass and rainbow trout in the mid-depths, and walleye closer to the bottom. Flatlines and side planers work well on bass, which school high in the water column. To target white bass, trout and walleye, anglers rely on downriggers to present crankbaits, jigs and spoons at precise depths deep in the water column.
FISHING INFO/GUIDES — James McManus, 828-421-8125, www.153charters.com; Ronnie Parris, 828-736-9471, www.smokymountainourdoorsunlimited.com. Almond Boat & RV Park, 828-488-6423. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Bryson City/Swain County Chamber of Commerce, 800-867-9246, www.greatsmokies.com.
MAPS — Kingfisher Maps, www.kfmaps.com; Fontana Dam Visitor Center, 800-882-5263, www.tva.com/sites/fontana.htm; Delorme North Carolina Atlas & Gazetteer, 800-561-5105, www.delorme.com.
