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Little Tennessee River Fishing Reports
WOLF CREEK LAKE
 Wolf Creek Lake is the second of the small lakes that we have visited on the east fork of the Tuckasegee River. It is an isolated and well back off the 'beaten path', so I expect it gets little pressure.
South of Sylva, NC, and to the east of the town of Tuckasegee on State Highway 281, Wolf Creek is only 183 acres in size, with a mere 6.9 miles of shoreline. It is somewhat shallower than its cousin, Bear Creek Lake, just down stream and has water that is a bit more clouded with algae. But, lure visibility is still a good 9-10 feet most of the time. The ramp is satisfactory and is concrete, with a gravel parking lot. The main parking lot and the section down to the ramp is a bit narrow, so you shouldn't visit this location when the skiers and boaters would be expected (weekends and holidays)
Our partner for the day was Don Hitchcock, an old fishing pal from Florida and the Stick Marsh for many years. Don spends the summer in the Franklin (NC) area and it was only a short drive for him to meet up with us near Sylva early in the morning.
As with all the lakes we are visiting, we go to the headwaters first, if possible. As the lake is small, finding the headwaters was easy, but we noted some very shallow rock outcroppings coming off some of the points along the way. They are NOT marked with Danger signs, so be very watchful.
The headwaters of Wolf Lake consist of a fairly good-sized basin that abruptly ends at a small inflow location (see photo). The water tumbles over and around rocks and then runs out into a 10-foot channel. Obviously, this point was a small waterfall before the lake was filled.
There is a significant amount of hydrilla in Wolf Lake. It does not every get more than a couple of feet off the bottom, but it is sure there. As the lake was about 3 feet low, we were able to see a good bit of it growing in that headwaters basin, especially on the flats on the shallow sloping inside of the main channel turns. We also fond it grown at least to 18 feet out in other sections of the lake, as we would shag pieces on our lures.
Pulling up to where the flowing water entered the lake, we turn 180 degrees and fished the start of the river channel, looking to target grass areas. My first cast with a spinnerbait produced a 2-3 smallmouth that rocketed up from the depths. Unfortunately, he jerked hard, shook twice and did not stay on for long (a typical smallmouth scenario). We caught no more fish in the area.
Working our way down from the headwaters, working different depths with different lures with no success. Moving to the opposite end of the lake, we fished the riprap along the dam face (see photo) with equally poor results.
Moving back up the lake, we decided to try some totally different. Smallmouths are very aggressive fish and like to chase thing, so we thought we'd give them a chance. Rigging up plastic grubs with clip-on spinners (a la Beetle Spin style), we proceeded to toss them right to the edge of the shoreline in the shallow water and rip them out with a fast retrieve. Sure enough, little smallmouths came zooming up to nail the offering. We never got any of a decent size, but at least we had found a way to catch some fish. We also found beautiful red-eyed rock bass (see photo) would grab the spinner, as well. In Florida, the rock bass is usually what we refer to as a goggle-eye. However, this red-eyed little critter is really colorful coming from this clear deep water.
Next, we will be traveling 50 miles to the east on Interstate 40 to test the waters of Lake James, near Marion, NC. Lake James currently has a controversy going over whether or not to treat hydrilla in its waters. The property owners want it to go, while the fishermen want it to stay.
Stop back soon and see what we found out.
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