The crazy weather we’ve had this past week with hot days, thunder storms and rain in the afternoon has slowed the bite down some on Lake Blue Ridge. Also with the lack of rain the past month and TVA having to draw water for the Ocoee rafting the lake is down about 4 feet. But we have manage to catch some fish. The Spotted bass and Smallmouth bass have been deep in the 10′ to 35′ feet and when we find some largemouth bass there 5′-10 feet.  Our best bait this week has been a 3.5″ tube. There has been some topwater action the first couple hours in the morning, I’ve mostly been throwing a fluke or a small Strike King sexy dog. The bait fish that there chasing is only around 21/2 to 3″ so stay with something in that size range. With the hot weather the best advice I can give is to slow way down fishing and also drop down in line size, I’m using 5lb and 7lb Gamma fluorocarbon.