Shelby park boat ramp

Yes and no. I was the guy in the camo coveralls standing beside the guy you talked to. He's one heck of a cutup and a good friend that keeps every trip interesting. Hope we didn't offend you or anything. You wouldn't believe what kind of day we had out there. We knew there were deeper holes between us and the Stones but were determined to find some more toward Nashville as I know Donnie Hall used to catch some big blues down there. We ended up taking a day long boat ride, one of our exploring trips we take from time to time, all the way to Cheatham Dam and back. At 2 o'clock we were eating steak in the restaurant under hwy 49 bridge in Ashland City watching our baited rods bounce through the windows. A 4 lber actually caught himself while we were eating and warming up. We saw where 7 different tornadoes crossed the river in that last storm we had. We got back to lock 2 about an hour before dark and ended up with 7 or 8 small (1 to 4 lbs) channels for the day. I figure we fished a total of less than 2.5 hours total that day and rode the rest. I'm guessing somewhere around 100 miles round trip. My face was chapped and peeled the next 3 days, but we had a good time and learned what we needed to about "The River" all in one day. That's how memories are made. Woodrow Call and Gus McKray chased buffalo, We chase fish!!! Best of times.........

How did you do?

By water levels I'm assuming you mean flow, as the actual water level is not going to ever go down that much anywhere on the Cumberland like it does on Preist or Center Hill in the wintertime or this past summer etc. The barges have to have enough water to be able to navigate the river which means they will always maintain a certain depth immediately below the dams. That being said, our river was consistently lower this summer than I have ever seen it. There was grass growing on gravel bars that probably hadn't grew grass since the dams were built. What this meant to us as far as fishing goes is none of the patterns we were used to worked anymore because all the fish scattered. They didn't have to hold in all those spots they used to because there was hardly any current in the river. It became more like a lake than a river as tva only let out enough water to keep the river navigable. This fall when the rains finally came they let all the water out all at once because of the problems with Center Hill and Wolf Creek dams. They will have to continue to do this until those dams are repaired which is going to be at least 7 years. So what we have to get used to is 1. Hardly no current, or 2. Too much current . There are times between these that are what I would call perfect flow days with just the right amount of current but you will have to watch the generation schedules closely for these times. They happen x amount of days after a good rain depending directly on how much rain they had up river from us. It is very frustrating to me personally because I used to spend my late springs through summer and early falls drifting creek minnows for you know what and it has become almost impossible to drift anything when there is any wind at all. I have a 10 year old that I have spoiled the last several years in that river and now he will be a young man before the fishing gets back to what it used to be. Very sad... Your thoughts???

Hey guys,

I'm a police dispatcher in nashville and I can tell you I would NOT leave my car or truck parked anywhere close to shelby park overnight. Way too many break ins. On the other hand, outer extremes, I think the best place to put in for overnight trips would be on the nashville side of old hickory's dam mainly because the only people ever up there over night are high school kids kissin and such at the upper parking area. Another is neely's bend at peeler park. I'm not sure very many people even use it during the day. I can't recall ever having a call for police service down there. It's way too far off the beaten path for thugs to get to i think. Another is either side of cleece's ferry. I use to live close to the annex ave. side of that ramp and there's not much that goes on over there either. Hope that helps.

Also, even though theres rarely, if ever, anything that goes on at those places that doesn't mean anything. It is Nashville and the criminals will try just about any spot for their thievery.

If anyone else has any crime questions about nashville i'll do my best to answer myself or try to find an answer from someone I work with.



Also, big question for you guys...I NEED HELP FINDING THE BIG ONES!!!. Can anyone help? I usually go out with other guys that have good boats, but I don't know what kind of structure to look for. I see holes in the rivers and lakes, but just don't know how to fish them well I guess.