Made another crappie excursion with Mark Pollard. We concentrated primarily on offshore structure... fishing 1/16tgh oz. jigs in 20 - 25 feet of water. It was a slow bite... but nearly all the fish we caught were quality crappie 11 to 14 inches. We fished from 8 am until Noon and ended the with 20 good-sized keepers. Threw back a few which were actually legal fish, but just barely over the 10-inch minimum.
Nov. 15, 2009
Made a quick afternoon trip by myself to put a few crappie in the freezer. I had to cover a lot of territory and hit a lot of places, but took home eleven slab crappie and three good-sized spotted bass for the freezer. Some on vertical structure... bluffs and boat docks... others on fallen treetops. There is a massive amount of water flow right now with spill gates open on most dams. It makes fishing on the main river channel tough due to heavy current.
Oct. 10, 2009
Mike Kolozsi has moved to Tennessee temporarily to establish a new territory for a wine distributor. He splits his time between Chattanooga and Nashville, and has been having a blast learning about the many fishing opoortunities in Tennessee. He's been on some outstanding striper trips on J. Percy Priest, and decided he wanted to try his hand at Tennessee River catfish while his Dad was in town from Chicago for a visit.
We were on the water, in the rain, before sunrise. Off to Super Secret Hole #1 in hopes of a "Big Bite!" Three hours later I'm in the dumps... not only have we not had a Big Bite, we haven't had A bite! Time to pull up stakes and head for Super Secret Hole #2.
It was a slow start at Hole #2 ... but we finally figured some stuff out, and/or the fish turned on, and we started hammering some decent blue cats with regularity. Mike estimated we caught 30 to 35 fish... I'd say it was more like 25.... take your pick. As you know I don't count. The numbers are not nearly as important as the level of fun. After a REALLY bad start, our Fun Factor at the end of a long day was very high.
Big fish of the day was 21 lbs. (a 37-inch TARP fish for Nick), several in the 10-15 lb. class. It was the first time catfishing for Mike and Nick. They are now bona fide Catfish Converts. For the record, cut bait (bluegill) definitely outperformed the chicken.
Oct. 3, 2009
Last Thursday I had surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, so I'm Fishing Wounded (which means I'm not fishing, much). Saturday I'd planned to take an Outdoor Writer friend fishing, so I asked Sam Simons to go along as First Mate. My friend had to cancel, but me and Sam pressed on anyway. He's the best First Mate I've met... it wasn't a hot & heavy day, but we (Sam) put some quality fish in the boat. Biggest in the boat was 25 lbs., but we lost a 30-35 lber. boatside due to my crippled hand.My wimpy left-hand couldn't stop the big fish's alligator roll... the fish twisted from the grabbers and snapped the line in one smooth motion. It was somewhat picturesque. Sam looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said, "That's why I LOVE livin' here. There's not many places in the world where a 30-pound cat could get away and it would be 'No big deal."
Sept. 20, 2009
UTC Basketball Coach John Shulman bought a discounted trip I donated to a UTC Athletic Fundraiser. It was my second time out with the Shulman's, so I suppose they had fun the first time. Hopefully today was a repeat. The cats are staying pretty consistent for me downstream in the tailwaters. Drift the right holes the right way, and the blues will definitely eat. We were releasing today (much to Max and Tanner's dismay), so we didn't count. But we didn't have too many dry drifts, including several doubles and even one triple. John tagged the two biggest fish today... a 10 lber. and a 12. The boys got a bit bored with the cats so we sized down the gear and chased bluegill for a while Their Fall bite is about to get strong. After the Shulman's left, I hit a couple of other bluegill holes and smoked 'em. Some on wax worms, but they hit the panfish assassins just about as well... and the assassins produced much bigger bluegill on average.
Sept. 12, 2009
I twisted his arm (just a little) and got Rob Prytula to join me. Rob is a hardcore fly fisherman and I knew he would have some fun chasing "gar on the fly." The gar are getting a bit finicky these days, but Rob managed to get several to eat his fly. It's a blast watching a 6-weight flyrod doubled over with a 3.5 ft. gar on the end of it.
Afterwards we headed up to the Dam and found a little topwater activity still going on. Rob tied on one of his self-made clouser minnows and proceeded to trounce me and my spinning gear. He caught largemouth, smallmouth and white bass while I mostly sat back and watched. Sadly a couple of decent fish we never saw "parted ways" with a couple of Rob's clousers.
Then we went to check on my cats. Low flow and a late start... it wasn't hot and heavy. But we put several nice fish in the boat... all three specieis actually... blue, channels and Rob caught a flathead (not on the fly however). The catfish were topped by an 11 lb. and a 16 lb. fished that slammed me and Rob and basically the same instant.
A great fun day on the water with a great flyfisherman. All combined I believe we caught eight different species (maybe nine). Which means life is good and gettin' better every day!
Sept. 5, 2009
Went gar fishing Monday with my friend Randy Holder. In the last few years Randy has become a serious fly fisherman, and with a few special "gar flies" provided by my friend Troy Basso, I felt sure we could have some fun.
We did (of course the trip include some "Bonus Blues.)
Sept. 4, 2009
I took off a week to make a little personal fishing trip to Florida. Therefore I had been off the Tennessee River for nearly two weeks when I headed out with Tony Middleton and has Dad, Carl. I really wondered what the catfish would be doing.
I needn't have worried... they were hungry. We had great action for the first two or three hours of the morning, filling up the Middleton cooler until it was overflowing.
The bite sort of died about 10 am... but we found a few "new fish" just as we were having to call it day aboout 11. It was a great morning on the water with a neat Father/Son duo.
August 23, 2009
John Coley and his wife Stacy traveled south from Limestone, Tenn. (near Greeneville) to fish with me today. John hasn't been home very long from a tour of duty in Iraq. He said he read of bunch of my reports on the Internet while he was across the ocean, and he was itching for some catfish. We scratched it.
Really low flow this AM... about 11,000 cfs all morning and we struggled, just catching a few squeaker blues and a handful of hard-fightin' channel cats here and yon in the AM. Finally at Noon they cranked up generators to 26,000 and that made some better blues hungry. We fished long and hard today, nearly ten hours. We never found the Mother Lode. But we nickel & dimed fish all day long, especially the afternoon. Most were released to grow, but a good mess of cats were lucky enough to win a free ride back to Limestone, Tenn. today.
August 22, 2009
John Johnston and his wife are planning to move to Chattanooga or Cleveland from Wisconsin. He loves to fish and wanted to "sample" the waters while they are pondering the move. So sample we did. It was an extremely slow start today. As per normal weekend generation schedule... we had dead water until they cranked on a couple at 8 am, but not much. They punched 'em up a little bit at 9, and that's when we started catching our fish.
John and I both had to quit today by Noon, and the bite was just getting started. We were releasing, but I actually counted fish today. We had a grand total of fifteen catfish... the majority of them, and all the better fish, came in the last hour. Drifting my typical chicken breast in 12 to 25 feet of water.
I'd say on weekends right now, the better bite is going to come in the afternoon.
August 20, 2009
Today I headed out with Tony Scales and his son Andrew. Andrew starts back to school next week and they really wanted to "get slimed" before he had to hit the books again. The bite was significantly slower on Thursday. Really not sure why because water & weather conditions were identical. Regardless, we perserved and certainly didn't get skunked. Lots of lucky cats got thrown back into the river Thursday, including a couple of VERY respectable channel cats that gave Andrew a knock down, drag out fight.
August 19, 2009
I slugged it out today with my friend Grant Yelliot and his brother-in-law Eddie. It wasn't a hot & heavy bite... but steady. Grant was keeping fish for a friend and we managed to fill up his Igloo, and actually had to start throwing fish back. Can't complain about that.
August 15, 2009
Ryan Edde from Murfreesboro, Tenn. bought his daughter a Scenic City Catfishing Trip for a Birthday present (although I think I know who REALLY wanted to go catfishing. <grin> But Kirsten and Kayla were fired up and awake bright and early to hit the water. With no generators running at Chickamauga Dam, it was a VERY slow start. That's tough on youngsters but they hung in there and we enjoyed watching some generators kick in at 8 am.
After TVA rang the dinner bell, it was on. Not a fast and furious bite since we missed the "early phase," but we were hammering eaters in fairly regular fashion, and the Edde ice chest kept filling up. It got hot and we took a break for the girls to go swimming... then they were very patient while me and Dad spent an hour or two with the big rods in search of a big bite, that didn't materialize. My big fish bite has been way off.
THAT IS until we went back to drifting light tackle so the girls could fish. Great story here ... 7-year-old Kayla's rod bowed down and it looked like she'd hung the bottom. Dad took her rod and was actually trying to break the line, but it was awkward because he was still holding his rod as well.
I said, "Here, give it to me."
I took Kayla's rod, felt it throb, handed it back to Kayla and said, "That's not the bottom. Reel your fish in."
Dad and Kayla were shocked... but the battle ensued. It actually went on a bit too long for Kayla and Dad had to (or got to) take over. It really was a very mean fish, fought hard to start on the bottom and get into some structure. At one point Ryan said, "I'm scared to death." He's fished a lot but had never had anything like this on the end of a light line. Ryan persevered for nearly 30 minutes and "patience over power" put the 26 lb. blue in the boat.
High-fives and photos, a couple of more drifts with a couple of more eaters, and the girls had all the fun and sun they could stand. Ryan was going to "hand off" the fish for cleaning and consumption to a friend. But I told him the young ladies deserved a few filets for dinner. They were impressive. There's not many little girls who would stick it out for a hard seven hours on the water, in August. I'm just glad that one very special fish decided to reward their efforts, and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
August 10, 2009
The Miller Family came to visit Chattanooga from Nashville and Arkansas. Gary, his son Scott and his son Ben are pretty serious fishermen who wanted a taste of the Tennessee River. I know my fishing reports pretty much read like broken records these days (which doesn't bother me as long as it includes fish). But what made today different was 8-year-old Ben. Many youngsters I fish with are a little quiet and shy. Don't count Ben among that group ... he came out of the truck at daylight, made a beeline across the parking lot and commenced to share nearly every fishing story he knew before I could get the straps off the boat. This young man was an absolute hoot.
Remember the fish called "Walter" in the movie "Grumpy Old Men?" Well, after Gary mentioned him... we spent the majority of the day fishing for "Walter." Of course every fish Ben reeled in was either Walter, Walter's brother, Walter's son or Walter's long lost cousin.
Gary, Ben's grandfather, is a really cool guy. It seemed that everytime he hooked a fish, his arm got tired and he'd have to ask Ben to reel in his fish.
It was a fun, fun morning. But as for the fishing... we made the first drift of the day above the Dupont Intake and absolutely whacked 'em. I think we had six fish in the boat before we drifted 100 yards. We ran back up and drifted it again, and again... and NOTHING. It was bizarre. I've never seen a stretch of river go so quickly from feast to famine.
But after a little searching we found them downstream and there really were very few "dead" periods throughout the morning... especially with Ben in the boat.
August 9, 2009
Hugh Herrington came over to Chattanooga from Pulaski to visit family. Today is his 54th birthday and he decided he wanted to spend it sampling some Scenic City catfish with his son, T.
When I saw the TVA generation schedule was "Zero," I knew it was going to be a tough trip. Our catfishing is always better when there is some water flowing through Chickamauga dam. Hugh has catfished a lot in North Alabama but said, "we always catch little ones." We didn't catch big numbers, but we managed to get him a personal best. A couple of personal best's actually, the biggest was 18#. After we beat on the cats a while in "dead water," Hugh and T said they wouldn't mind sampling some gar (which were out in force in the dead water).
That was some fun... we tangled with several and 2 or 3 biggun's. Just something special about catching those prehistoric beasties.
They finally gave us a little water at 11 am and we went back to messing with the cats, catching several good eaters before the sun climbed high and we bailed. A tough cat bite today, but a PB Birthday Blue means life is good and gettin' better every day.
August 7, 2009
Gary Allen made a return visit with Scenic City Fishing. Gary's previous visit was during the Spring bite. I fear he expected a similar fishing experience.
But we persevered and put fish in the boat, although the bite was WAY slower than my Tuesday trip. And in a "last minute guerilla move" on one quality fish spot, Gary managed to stick a 22 lber. Other than one break off, that's the biggest fish I've seen since returning from The Last Frontier....
August 4, 2009
I enjoy every fishing trip, but some are a rung higher on the ladder of fun than others. Such was the case today fishing with Cody Sims, and his youngsters Conner & Sarah.
The Sims Family (perhaps long, lost cousins) from Trenton, Ga. are enjoying a little "Staycation" as they do fun stuff close to home before the youngsters head back for school. I'm so glad they included a fishing trip with me in their plans.
The Sims's haven't fished very much, and really weren't sure what to expect. It didn't take Sarah but about 3 minutes to find out when a 9-pound cat slammed her good. I was fishing the same place, same way as the weekend, but the cats were MUCH hotter today. We smoked 'em good. Sarah first fish however maintained the "big fish of the day" lead, until right at the end when Conner stuck one that didn't want to give up. A 13-pound cat on spinning tackle in the river current is some serious fun!
The Sims's headed back to Trenton with a cooler jam-packed with catfish. We even had to release a couple of smaller ones to make room for Conner's "biggun," which he of course wanted to show off to Mom. Some serious smiles broke out on the river this morning... and that makes a fishing guide feel extra special about what he sometimes calls "work."
August 2, 2009
Charlie Wrenn from Columbia, TN brought his son, Chase, over to fish with me today. Chase is a philosophy professor at the University of Alabama... so there was definitely some "deep thinking" going on today.
Weather was great at daylight... and launching boat I could see big numbers of stripe and/or bass busting like CRAZY up by the Dam. I rigged a couple of rods and we headed that way... and of course the fish went down... and didn't come back (at least while we were lookin'). So we switched quickly back to cats.
Around 8:30 or 9 somebody turned on the faucet. Glad my bilge pump was working. But we persevered, with a little help hiding for a while under CB Robinson Bridge. Today was pretty much a repeat of Saturday. We caught fish but it wasn't hot & heavy. A fish here, a fish there... a double here, and then another double there... well-spaced out throughout the day. And in no particular spot... fish were very scattered. Spent most of our time however drifting the channel between barge tie-offs and CB Robinson. Caught fish from 8 feet, down to 20 feet... of course all on chicken breast.
The Wrenn's only wanted to keep a handful to take home and eat, so we didn't count total catch, We guessed 25 to 30 total. Biggest fish in the boat were a couple right at 10 pounds... however Chase had a bigger fish. he fought it a long time until suddenly the fish zigged when Chase zagged, and they parted ways. I'd say it was in 15-20 lb. range. But the big fish have been few and far between this weekend.
August 1, 2009
Dan and Josh Griffith came over from Middle Tennessee to fish with me today. After some family vacations of my own, it's been so long since I fished, so I was sort of starting from scratch. It took some hunting and pecking, but we finally found some decent numbers of "eating-sized" fish. That was good because Dan wanted to take home a cooler full for the freezer. After we filled the cooler, we went in search of a big bite... and that turned into a sad story.
We didn't find much, but after about three hours of perseverence one rod bounced and then bowed down. I was closest and reached for it... but before I could get it out of the holder, a BIG fish made a screaming run. Drag too tight... wouldn't slip... the fish actually twisted my rod holder around where rod was pointed straight at the fish with NO flex and "Pop Went the Leader." All that happened in about three seconds.
I was sick! I've seen a few BIG bites in my day... and that was one REALLY BIG bite. But, we'll never know. Still a great day on the water with a great father-son duo.
July 7, 2009
Rob Lanham and his sons, Noah (7) and Brody (5), came for a short little Chattanooga vacation. Mom stayed at the hotel, but lined me up for a quick fishing foray for the boys and really wanted the boys to catch "a fish."
She needn't have worried... the boys caught "a fish," and much more. The TVA generators at Chickamauga Dam were running very light to start with. Only about 6,000 cfs. We couldn't hardly drift but we found one bunch of pretty good fish holed up in a pocket. Me and Dad did most of the "hooking," while Noah and Brody did all the "reeling." Noah especially is a hardcore fisherman. I haven't seen many 7-year-olds with his intensity. It sure did make me smile every time Noah started screaming, "It's huge! It's absolutely huge! It's a huge one!!!" They did catch a few quality fish, including a 20-pounder that all three Lanham's got to "tag team." I shot a tiny bit of video of the fight that lasted MUCH longer than what I recorded.
Noah scared me later in the morning when Dad was ready to head back in by saying, "I just want to catch one more." It always worries me when anybody says that. But true to his word, we were able to get Noah and Brody a double on to end the fishing. Then we went "boat ridin'" up Chickamauga Creek, osprey-watching and even a little "gar watching." It was just an all-around fun morning on the water... which means life is good and gettin' better every day.
June 28, 2009
OK, there's more to this report... but I have got to start with the good part! I have bested the previous, official "Biggest Fish Ever Caught With Scenic City Fishing Charters" by a WIDE margin! A Scenic City Fishing PB fish! (FYI, 61 lbs. was the previous big fish by a client).
Ted Boozer and his friends, Jerry and Gary Hathcock came down from Franklin, Tenn. to fish with me today. Jerry tagged an absolute beast.....
75 LBS.... 52 inches long with a 33 inch girth. And please pay attention here... the awesome catch was made on 10 lb. test line with standard spinning tackle. It has now been certified as a 10 lb. Line Class World Record by the National Freshwater Foshing Hall of Fame (Catch & Release Category).
Now for the main report.... we actually did my first-ever Tag Team Trip. So we wouldn't be quite so crowded, Ted brought his own boat. It didn't take much "coaching." He and Gary "first fished" us about 1 minute into the trip. From there on out they were smokin'. They actually gave Jerry a little grief... until Jerry "big fished" 'em... they quieted down after that. :grin:
It was an awesome day... the bite was actually a bit slower than Saturday, but we made up for it in quality. Ted, Jerry and Gary took home two big coolers of "eaters" for the freezer. All the big fish went free.
We assaulted the gar again today. Ted even had his bow. The gar bite was a little slower today but we managed a picture fish or two... Ted even zapped one with his bow. These guys have spent a lot of time on the water and in the woods. It showed today...
June 27, 2009
Tim Sullivan and Craig Beard made their second foray down from Lyles, Tenn. to fish with me Saturday. Good water, good bait, good fishermen... we whacked 'em good. There were very few dry drifts.
No absolute monsters today, but we tagged a few quality fish. Once the water cranked up full steam, we messed with cats for a while.. but then spotted several gar working an area. We made my first effort of the year to gar fish "on purpose." I'm not sure, but I believe we may have turned Tim into a gar-fishing fanatic. It was some fun watching those big prehistoric beasts come up and eat your nylon. It was a hot, hot day and we were pretty toasted by the time we called it quits. But I believe a good time was had by all...
June 21, 2009 (Fathers Day)
Happy Father's Day... it sure was for Dwayne Bailey. His son Clint bought him a fishing trip. Today was a wonderful turnaround from a tough day yesterday. The cat's must have known it was Father's Day because we smoked 'em! We fished my standard tailwater drift with a perfect generation schedule until Noon. We probably made the first drift a bit before 6:30 am... and from that time until Noon, there were very few drifts that we didn't stick one or two fish. Most were two to eight pounds, but we tagged a few in the teens... and mid-morning Dwayne and Clint each tagged 20-pounders on back-to-back drifts. They were astounded... said they'd never seen catfish like that. And on spinning tackle it was two fun fights!
The Baileys were keepin' fish today, but we topped their cooler off about 9:30 (NOT counting the 20-pounders anda couple in the teens that were released). After that it was all catch and release. It was a good thing however that we had optimum generation until Noon however, because after that we struggled. Clint missed one big fish bite on a BIG bluegill head, and we caught a few more dinks... but all the fun was to be had before Noon.
I think today was a Father's Day present that Dwayne will remember for years to come, and that makes me proud. Which means life is good and gettin' better every day!
June 20, 2009
Charlie Thompson and his friend Amanda headed out with me today. Charlie went crappie fishing with me earlier in the year, and we had kind of a tough day. I think Charlie brings bad luck with him. It's not like we didn't catch any... but we had to work for them a lot more today. We had a lot of dry drifts. And on top of that, we lost a BIG fish. We couldn't stop him from going on one side of a railroad piling while we were on the other. I tried using the big motor to help Amanda horse him to our side of the piling, and broke him off! I always tell folks that you can get your heart broke on the light tackle, and we did today. Made me mad... but Amanda was cool about it.
We worked a couple of dry holes downriver and then headed above the Dam. It wasn't much better... although we did catch a handful of small fish before the heat made Charlie and Amanda decide it was time to go. Did talk to a couple of fellows who said they caught a 50-pounder above the Dam this AM. They boated it, and planned on keeping it except they said it broke their stringer and escaped.
So between our lost fish, and that one, it seems as if the big fish might be about to wake up again... which means life is good and gettin' better every day!
June 19, 2009
Curtis and Amanda Heck came up to Chattanooga from Mississippi for a little vacation, and wanted to sample the Tennessee River. They got a pretty good taste in a short little 3-hour tour (just call me Gilligan). Generation was pretty good and then they flipped 'em on full blast at 9 am. 45,000 is too much to drift the main seam, but we caught a few after that just drifting chicken breast in the current edges and eddies. They left at 10 and I went "scouting" for a while.
I actually tried anchoring down in a couple of deep holes for a while... put four rods out and worked on my suntan. Sat on the first hole for 45 minutes (about as long as I can stand to stay anchored) and it was dry... but in the second hole I stuck a pair of very mean 15-pounders within 15 or 20 minutes. I'll fish it again tomorrow. I rarely anchor down and I really like getting to "feel" fish hit. But there is certainly something to be said for watching a rod bow down, tip buried in the water from a rod holder.
I've fished (or grabbled) for seven days straight now ... with two more to go.
June 18, 2009
Marie Sudberry's Dad bought a trip for she and her son, along with boyfriend Russell. I believe Dad just wanted some fish to eat, but wanted somebody else to do the catchin".
Pretty good numbers today... but there were a LOT of "missed" strikes. Took 'em a while to get "the touch." But once they figured it out, we smoked some cats. We filled a big cooler and had to start releasing fish by about 9:30. I believe there's going to be a fish fry over in Wartrace, Tenn. sometime soon!
Oh yea, for the third time in my guiding career, we tagged another smallmouth on chicken breast. Drumking got a little one yesterday, and Marie stuck a nice smallie on our very first drift today.
It looks like they're going to start bumpin' the generation schedule up the next few days. My fishing might get a little tougher. But with high temps and water temperatures rising, the "lake fish" ought to start improving soon.
June 16 & 17, 2009
I managed to get away for just a couple of hours with Dickey Porter (a.k.a. Drumking on the Chattanooga Fishing Forum). We never found the Mother Lode in the short time we had to hunt... but of course DK can always find crappie somewhere.
I held my own early on today... I think I even got one or two fish up on him for a short time. But I think he was sandbaggin' because at the end of our little excursion he turned it on and of course, whipped me. We quit with 29 crappie total... DK 18 and me 11. Someday when I grow up I might be able to keep up with him. Had fun watching him do battle with a mean old channel cat, and on what spot we eached hooked nice bass (at the same time) ... mine was VERY nice. Sadly both fish wasted little time wrapping us each around dock pilings and making good their respective escapes.
On the 16th Drumking wrote, "Richard introduced me to catfishing on demand. Just name how many you want to catch, and that's how many you can catch. I had a great time today. We caught 40 catfish, plus a little bit of everything else. Smallmouth bass, spotted bass, bluegills, crappie, white bass, drum, channel cats, and bluecats. The fish ran from 2-3 pounds to around 15 pounds or so. Richard had one break off on a short line. Drag too tight. We figured the average weight to be 6 lbs or better.. for a total of nearly 250 pounds of cats. Of course, chicken breasts was the bait of choice. When the fish bite this as good as they do, why would anyone want to fish with those old stinky shad?
As always, Richard, I had a great time and you taught me a lot about catfishing. I know what to do the next time that I need a mess of catfish."
June 15, 2009
I had the fine honor of escorting Mark Ragsdale (ragsman on the Chattanooga Fishing Forum) and his sons David & Jonathan on the scenic Tennessee River this AM. We started at the crack of dawn. It was sort of a slow start, but we built up steam as the day wore on.
Spent most of our time fishing a couple of deeper areas... downriver was tough fishing because the current was screamin'. However, Jonathan was The Man! He was smokin' everybody... puttin' a fish in the boat on just about every drift. David held his own however and Dad had the big fish of the day.
TVA actually slacked off the generators later and we were able to drift the turbines and ended the day with real good numbers, although the tailwater fish are getting smaller each trip.
We weren't keepin' today... but we put at least 20 or 25 fish in the boat... probably about 120 lbs or more total.
June 14, 2009
It was a "Grabblin' Party" on Watts Bar this afternoon. My daughter rounded up two boat loads of her friends who had always marveled at her "Girls Gone Grabblin'" exploits, and off we all went with Marty & Fostana Jenkins. The boys (or young men) had a blast. Marty's video is going to be a hoot... even the parts he's going to have to "Bleep!" Bottomline... the guys wrestled with 7 or 8 blues and flatheads this afternoon. A couple made good their escape before posing for a picture however.
Below is one awesome sequence however of the big fish of the day. They got a 44-pound flathead to the surface that went absolutely bonkers. As official photographer, I was right on top of them with the motor drive hammerin' away. A pretty cool sequence of all of 'em divin' in and surrounding the beast, and amazingly they prevented his escape... at least until they wanted him to escape. It plays in a 24-frame loop... plus a few more misc. pics and escape sequences below. Click the picture wo learn more about great grabbling videos.
June 13, 2009
Alan Clemons is an outdoor writer friend from Huntsville. I've been after him to fish with me for a while. Today he and his son Wesley finally made it.
A fun day on the water (as always). We had less than an hour of optimum generation before TVA cranked 'em full bore. We caught a good number of fish in that hour, but nothing especially big. Once generators cranked up we had to start huntin' and peckin' for our fish. About Noon we pulled out and went up in the lake... my first foray into that particular area. A few fish there... but we had to work for them as well. We probably caught about 20 fish today... biggest was 17 lbs. And Alan stuck a bonus gar... first one I've ever had anyone catch on chicken.
Wesley is a smart young man. After the good morning bite ended, he lounged in the bottom of the boat most of the day... only hopping up to reel in the fish me or Alan hooked. <grin>
June 6, 2009
Randy & Reed Johnson have been kind enough to visit with me every June. It's become a tradition. The father & son duo have caught 45 lb. and 48 lb. cats respectively. They enjoy "battling each other for the biggest." Unfortunately their existing personal best records held up today.
TVA threw us a curve ball, cranking up all four generators to top speed at 8 am. That throws me off my favorite pattern, so we had to work for our fish today. We caught 'em, but we covered a lot of water to do it. We caught fish today anywhere from 8 feet deep to 50 feet deep, and all points in between. And had to fight some serious current to do it. All on chicken, as usual. A good average size... a good number of the fish we caught today were 10 - 16 lbs., with a few smaller ones thrown in for good measure.
It was a good day with two fine gentleman who keep coming back, even when I make'em work for their fish,
June 4, 2009
Holy Moly St. Josephine! I got to watch the most epic catfish battle I've seen in years today. Words don't do it justice.
Tait Rassell comes up from Atlanta each summer to visit his grandparents, and thankfully always calls on me. Every trip he has "sized up," last year catching a 35-pounder. Well true to form, Tait "sized up" again today in a big way. We started out catching good numbers... most 5 to 10 lbs., and one 20-pounder which we were darn proud of. Then a drift or two later Tait hooked up on what we thought was just going to be another solid fish... but the longer Tait fought, the fish just kept diggin', and and diggin' and diggin'... pulling drag all the way!
Meanwhile we drifted and drifted and drifted. He was using 10# test line, and putting all the pressure on the fish he could. We finally got a glimpse and thought, "well, we beat the 20-pounder." Later a better glimpse and we thought, "Oooo, we've beat 30." And then a better look and we're thinking maybe 40!
But the fish just would not give up... and to complicate matters, he had a deformed lower jaw with a serious underbite, making it nearly impossible for Mr. No Net (me), to get the grabbers on him. We took a picture or two "pre-landing" to insure Tait had photographic evidence. Then three different times I touched the fish trying to position him to get the grabbers on him.. and the big blue would get another dose of adrenalin and take off again for another ten minutes. I didn't time it, but I know it was nearly a one-hour battle and we drifted nearly a mile down river. As I tell everyone, on light line "it's a matter of patience over power."
Tait did an awesome job and we finally got the grabbers on the solid 50 lb. beast, captured on 10# test line. What a memory. I won't forget that battle for years, if ever.
We caught a few more "little codgers" 5 - 15 lbs, but everything after "The Beast" was somewhat anti-climatic. Of course I told Tait that he's got his work cut out for him if he wants to "size up" on the next trip.
June 3, 2009
I had the honor of escorting one of Tennessee's new Wildlife Commissioners onto the water today.William "Chink" Brown is a lifelong sportsman. Click HERE to read the article I wrote about Mr. Brown following today's trip. Of yea, we did catch fish.
May 31, 2009
I got to fish with Taylor Swift today... No, not THAT Taylor Swift. Kelley Swift and his son Taylor came over from Middle Tennessee to sample some Tennessee River catfish. Taylor just graduated high school and he's headed for VMI in the Fall. He's a great young man (and Dad), even if he's not quite as pretty as THE Taylor Swift.
No generators early so we killed time chasing bluegill. They're hanging in there pretty good and Kelley marveled at the biggest 'gills he said he'd ever seen. TVA finally flipped the switched on generators at 8 am and we switched to cats.
We smoked 'em good today... the fish weren't as big as (some) from Saturday, but there were LOT's more of them. We didn't make many drifts without pulling one or two cats into the boat. From the time we started about 8:15, until they hit the generators full blast at 1:00, the bite never slowed down. Big fish today was 18-pounds (except for one that broke Kelley off that we're sure was significantly larger ).
Guesstimating that we put 200 lbs., give or take, of catfish in the boat today. But all were released to grow bigger and fight again another day.
I shot a little video today. Check 'em out.
May 30, 2009
Larry Gorham came down from Kentucky to crappie fish with his wife earlier this year. Saturday he brought his grandson Ryan to chase cats. They're actually shutting the generators down overnight now. That hurts my tailwater cat bite badly ... so it was actually kind of slow. However, what we caught were QUALITY fish, including a 45 lb. Hall of Famer. And so help me, Larry wore him down on a spinning rod on 8 lb. test!
I was an absolute nervous wreck.
Larry let Ryan fight the fish for a little while, but he got wore out before the fish. It took a LONG time, and when I finally drug him over the side of the boat, we had an onshore audience that did some hootin' and hollerin' for sure. It was a rush!
We caught a few other fish... but after battling the beast for a half hour of more, it was really all downhill from there. And for those who may not have read my reports in a while, all fish caught on chicken breast.
May 24, 2009
All I can say is that I'm REALLY glad I'm not helping Dale and Nancy Jones clean fish tonight! The Jones came over from Coffee County to fish with me today and it was a absolute slaughter. On the very first drift we all three hooked up big cats virtually at the same instant. It was a Chinese Fire Drill! A 12 lb. blue, a 14 lb. blue and a 28 lb. blue on light tackle all at once. I was doing some shuckin' and jivin' to get the grabbers on them all. What fun!
The fun continued, in spite of some fairly serious rain. The Jones were keepin' fish today. We had their one regular-sized cooler in the boat and they had another big cooler in the car. Two different times the boat cooler was filled to overflowing and we had to run back to the car of "offload." It was crazy.
Later we went to chase bluegill. The Jones actually just took up fishing a year ago, and had never done anything but bait fish. Nancy had never caught a fish on an artificial lure.
She said, "I've got some in my tackle box, but I just bought 'em because they were pretty."
Lo and behold we found a Mother Lode of bull bream, rock bass, spots and a few crappie. They were ganged up in some slack water on a little 8-foot hump surrounded by deep water. Nancy got a great lesson in jig fishing, and picked it up like a pro. It was a blast! With a few more miscellaneous catfish on the bottom, we filled up their THIRD cooler of fish with bluegill and rock bass.
We released the 28 lb. blue but all the rest went on ice today. I'm guessing they've got 200 lbs. of fish (or more) to clean tonight. But they were darn happy about it.
May 23, 2009
Delane Davis has pretty cool wife. She bought him a fishing trip (with me) for his birthday. We headed out into the Chickamauga Dam Tailwaters at the crack of dawn. Tried a couple of spots that have been good, but they failed miserably for me this morning. First time in a LONG time I've fished with only 18,000 cfs running.
So it was time to drag out the light tackle and "finesse" a few big cats (if you can call chunkin' a big hunk of chicken breast "finesse fishing). First drift Delane hit paydirt... and we proceeded to put several quality cats in the boat pretty quickly. Very few "little" fish today.
Most of the ones we coerced into eating were in the 10-15 lb. class... until Delane poked a real nice one that pulled the scales to 27 pounds.
That bite slowed down so we headed downriver to hit some deep holes. We boated 3 or 4 more fish in the 8 - 13 lb. range. Didn't ever stick anything bigger, although we missed 2 or 3 of what I believe were real good fish. We were fishing whole (butterflied) bluegill... and not little ones. It was frustrating not sticking a real big one, but the 27 was Delane's personal best.
"Actually that first 8-pounder I caught was my personal best," he said with a grin.
We closed out our the day on the one bluegill honeyhole that keeps producing for me. In 30 minutes we had at least 15 "double knuckle bull bream," and a bunch of little guys. As we departed Delane said, "I've caught more fish today than I've caught in the last five years combined!"
May 21, 2009
I headed out this morning for a short outing with Marty Thompson and his daughter, Anna. Marty is an Executive Pastor for Dallas Bay Baptist Church, so I had to be on my best behavior. Anna is in a special advanced studies program at Chattanooga State where she'll have an Associates Degree soon (she's only 17!)... and then it's most likely on to Bryan College in Dayton.
We had great fun (don't I always?). We started on cats, but my catfish hole that had been paying off during high water seemed dry... they didn't want to play so we switch to bluegill. We caught quite a few, along with a couple of bonus bass. But the big tailwater 'gills are clearly lessening (for me anyway).
We switched back to cats and caught a couple on one pattern, when suddenly the bottom fell out of the river. Lo and behold TVA actually cut the generators way back. I wasn't expecting that. But it allowed me to hit a favorite light tackle pattern for the first time in weeks... and the fish did not disappoint. Marty and Anna both tagged some quality blues. They were engaged in competition for "the biggest fish," and tied at 10 pounds each, when Anna struck hard. She squealed... well, like a little girl... when the 15-pounder rolled on top and soaked her.
Watching Anna do battle with a big fish on the light line, and a Pastor in the boat... well, I suppose my prayers were answered today.
May 20, 2009
I had the pleasure of making a Quick Trip out with John Hillman and his grandson, Michael, this morning. Michael is only four years old, so I was honestly a little worried about the attention span. But the little codger actually did great. Of course it helped that we were catching plenty of fish. The bluegill were hot and heavy. I'm not catching quite as many big bulls as a week or so back... but we had a pretty good mess for the Hillman's to take home for dinner in short order, plus a hefty channel cat that took John several minutes to wear down on the ultralight.
Michael started getting a little antsy so we took a little pleasure boat ride down the river to observe the wildlife and the scenery ... and of course I let him "drive" (well-supervised, of course). The youngsters always get a really big kick out of that.
Then we came back up and I asked if they wanted to try for some cats. John wasn't real enthused, until the first rod doubled down about 30 seconds after I put it in the water. That was a decent 5 or 6 lber. Then a few minutes later the spinning rod I'd put out almost left the boat. Michael and John fought it in "tandem" for a while, and then Michael just plain got bored saying, "It's taking too long." I had a hard time convincing him, that's a good thing.
John took over the rod solo and after many, many minutes babying 8 lb. test line, he fought the 22 lb. blue to the boat. Needless to say, he was impressed. John is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana... I think perhaps we have another "Tennessee River Catfish Convert."
A few more minutes letting Michael catch fish that didn't take so long to reel in, and then the 4-year-old patience quota ran out. But it was a wonderful 2-hour tour.
May 17, 2009
Harry Eades and his friend Derrick from Franklin, Tenn. had a great trip with me last Fall and decided May 17 was the day for a return engagement. Sadly Mother Nature and TVA did all they could to make sure this trip wasn't quite as good. Not that it was bad.... we caught fish. However the bite was significantly slowed from Saturday... and the weather forecast didn't pan out exactly as anticipated. We fished in the rain to begin our trip... and fished in the rain to end our trip. It was a cool, blustery day on the river... and I wasn't dressed right. Brrrr!
Fish were really scattered and finicky.... and heavy, heavy flow made fishing some of favorite spot nearly impossible. We weren't "keepin" and "countin'," but I'd guess we caught 15-20 fish. Nothing real big... I'd guess a total of 80 to 100 lbs.
I apologized as they were departing and Derrick made me feel better when he said, "You call that a bad day?"
May 16, 2009
Today was a trip I look forward to every year... Sam Simons, a teacher, rewards his best students every year with a fishing trip, and he's kind enough to let me go along. Furaha and Ahnna started on catfish and the first hour or so the bite was HOT! Each girl got plenty of opportunities to do battle with some healthy blues and one or two channels. They put 15 quality cats in the boat in a hurry. Then the cat bite slowed and we switched to bluegill. That was pretty much non-stop action with a great number of monster bluegill. Multiple doubles and triples... Sam is a very special teacher. For those who aren't familiar with what he does, CLICK HERE to download and read an article I wrote about him last year (Word File).
May 13, 2009
I took Kevin Manning and his son, Chase, out chasing bluegill this morning. Kevin bought a trip I'd donated to the National Wild Turkey Federation... and today was Chase's 5th Birthday.
The bluegill were very cooperative, although there weren't quite as many BULL Bream as the last time I was out "pre-spill gates." But we had a goodly number of biggun's... especially considering that we spent much of the time keeping Chase entertained. Five-year old attention spans are short, even when the fish are biting. It was a short trip, which is as it should be with little ones. Great fun regardless... so life is good and gettin' better every day.
I messed with the cats a little while after they left. There are fish to be caught... but it's tough fishing when four generators are screamin'!
May 4, 2009
When the "Keep" or "Fire" Phil Fulmer debate was going on, I was betting they'd keep him one more year... which means I lost my bet with my friend Brandon Price. So I owed him a fishing trip. Never one to welsh on a bet, today was the day. He and his ladyfriend, Amanda, are headed out on a little road trip... first stop Chattanooga and Chickamauga Tailwaters. Of course the hope was to get Amanda hooked up with a big blue. We did that pretty quick with a 10# fish that she quickly followed up with a 19# fish. Not light tackle however... we started out with the big stuff in deeper water in hopes of a real bruiser. Sadly after two quick fish... that bite died.
Even more sadly, TVA had all four generators screaming... 46,000 cfs... which absolutely kills my light tackle bite. We messed around and caught a couple of small cats, but Brandon had said before we went, "I'd love to get Amanda in on some of those bull bream." So off we went.
The monster bluegill did not disapoint us. We hit a couple of places before we sort of struck the Mother Lode. We weren't keepin', so I have no idea how many we caught. It was many, many dozens at least... and lots of those bruisers you couldn't get your hand around. BPrice was really regretting not bringing his filet knife along.
However, due to recent heavy rains, TVA opened the spill gates on Chickamauga Dam which is going to pretty much wipe out the tailwater bluegill bite until the water settles back down. But we needed rain... so life is good and gettin' better everyday.
May 3, 2009
I had to cancel out a trip on Sunday due to bad weather (again). So I headed down to Jasper and dragged my buddy Charlie Duggan out of bed and said "Take me fishing!"
He had told me the stripe (white bass) were hot & heavy in Nickajack Tailwaters. He wasn't lying! I think you could have dangled your toes in the water and stripe would have come up to eat 'em. I'd say they'll hit darn near anything... but my preferred lure was a Little Sammy. It wasn't a matter of "if" you were going to get hit... but simply whether it would take two twitches or five. It was great fun.. in spite of the fact that it rained buckets off and on (although more "on" than "off"). Which is pretty much the reason we had the entire tailwater to ourselves.
Once we got bored catching stripe we loaded up his livewell with threadfins and headed downriver. It took two or three tries but we found the Mother Lode of spots and largemouth. Not huge fish... but lots of them from 1 - 3 lbs. We used up several dozen threadfins and Charlie gave me a lesson in fishing shakey heads. A good time was had by all.
May 2, 2009
Charles Perry brought his Dad, Bill, and brother, Wesley, to Chattanooga to chase some big blues. It was fun while it lasted... until the rain hit! The fish were pretty hot this morning. We got in about two or 3 hours before the monsoons (and lightning) arrived. But even in the short time we got to fish, the Perrys said it was the most (pounds) of fish they'd ever caught in freshwater... and the biggest. Personal Bests all around... Charles tagged the biggest today at 22 lbs. I think that won him an $10 bet, but I believe Bill won for "The Most." It was a very fun morning, and disappointing to have to call it quits early.
However in the afternoon I lined them up with Sam Simons of Fishing With Sam. They had a blast, fishing from shore but hammering some bragging size bass and other species.
April 26, 2009
Sunday I postponed a shellcracker trip since they're just not doing it yet. I was glad because that gave me the chance to take my two "little girls" fishing. They're both in the real life "working world" now, so it's been too long since we've been able to do that.
The cat bite was much slower today... but still plentiful enough to have great fun in great weather. In just a couple of hours I'd guess the girls brought the 3-day total of cats landed to about 475 lbs, which means that life is very good and gettin' better every day!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
I was back at it Saturday with Stretch and Ruger. Saturday we sadly did not outdo the 50 lb. beast that Stretch drilled Friday evening . However there was no shortage of bruiser blues in the 10 - 20 lb. class... especially fun on 8 lb. spinning tackle.
Ruger kept his notepad handy Friday and Saturday. You would have thought he was keeping minutes at a White House Cabinet Meeting. I laughed at him, but it was actually kind of cool. Every fish in the boat got weighed and recorded. Saturday's total was 37 catfish that weighed 305 lbs. And we spent 3 or 4 hours away from the sweet spot, fishing dead water looking for The Big Bite (that never came). Friday evening's total was 116 lbs... boosted by the 50 lb. behemoth, for a total of 421 lbs. of catfish in the boat.
I finally made 'em quit when Ruger reeled in Saturday's big fish (21 lbs.). I think they were suitably sunburnt, wore down and wore out. I know I was...
Friday, April 24, 2009
Daniel and Steve (better known as Ruger and Stretch on TNDeer.com) migrated in from West Tennessee to chase big blues this weekend. Late Friday we decided to make just a quick "exploratory" foray onto the water. We stuck two or three small fish real quick, but hadn't had lines wet for ten minutes when Stretch's line got stretched BIG TIME!
I knew it was a decent fish... but I piddled around getting lines out of the water, searching for "The Grabbers" and getting situated for a big battle. When I looked back the fish was STILL taking line, showing no signs of stopping. It turned into a trolling motor chase for a while.
It was great fun... Stretch isn't a real emotional man, but I believe I saw him grin once or twice when this 50 lb. bruiser showed himself. Of course Ruger was jumping up and down in the boat like a little school girl.
We knocked off a few 5 - 10 lbers. after we got done high-five'n over this one.
April 18, 2009
It was a beautiful morning for our annual "Member's Trip" several of us do for the Tennessee Aquarium. The target is always stripers... Saturday AM was no different. LOTS of other folks had the same idea however. Besides the five of us there for the Aquarium, there were about 15 others boats. For the most part, everybody was extremely courteous, but I did feel like I was on a "Bumber Car" ride at Lake Winnie.
There were stripers caught, and plentiful numbers of drum and other miscellaneous species. Brian Jahay and Jim Dagley each managed to catch a striper, although not the numbers I would have hoped for. Considering the crowded conditions however, it was better than a skunk.
After the morning Aquarium Trip it was back to Chickamauga for a catfish trip with Cheryl Chand and her parents, Jerry & Betty. This was a "Birthday Trip" for Jerry.... and I think it was a happy one. All I know is we had to have someone sit on their cooler to keep fish from floppin' out... and much to Cheryl's dismay, we had to start releasing fish when the cooler got full.
April 17, 2009
I was supposed to fish with Gary Allen last Friday, but raging storms changed our mind. Today was MUCH better. We hammered 'em pretty good this morning.... a bunch on light tackle. I LOVE that! Our "kicker" fish today was 35-pounds. But we caught great numbers of fish from 5 to 15 pounds. I know at least 150 lbs. came in the boat today... maybe 200? All a matter of catching the water running just right, and presenting a chunk of chicken just the right way. Everything was released to grow bigger and meaner.
April 11, 2009
A great day on the water with great folks. Double-dipped today with Steve Elg and his two sons for a Full Day Trip. Then a Quick Trip in the afternoon with Kevin McMahon and his sons.
Name a species of fish, other than drum, and we probably caught it today. We started after the cats with WLG & Company. The first hour or two was hot, then they cooled off. We started throwing jigs for crappie, and Clint Elg had a blast on a couple of hefty blues on the ultralight gear. Clint hasn't done a whole lot of fishing so he got quite a lesson bringing in a 10-pound blue on a 4 lb. test ultrlight. It took some minutes. We hammered a few bluegill and then ran downriver to chase spots. Everybody caught some of everything.
Clint is shipping out for Iraq soon so today was a super father-son(s) get together. I was proud to play host.
Afterward I picked up the McMahons and sort of repeated the process... a few crappie, a few bluegill, a couple of spots, rock bass and one hefty blue (again on the ultralight).
Bottomline.... great fun was had by all, which means life is good and gettin' better everyday..
April 4, 2009
I was on the river solo today, working on a magazine article assignment, but of course, managed to fish afterwards. It was a fun day. Caught quite a few spotted bass, although they haven't really gotten into their typical Spring spawn yet. Hit the right times and you can catch 50 to 100. Today I caught about 15 in an hour or two. A couple of cats, although right now it seems we get a real good early bite, then it slows down. And there are always bluegill to be caught in the tailwaters. They should simply get better, and bigger over the next month of so.
March 29, 2009
I had a trip scheduled with Larry Marshall a couple of weeks ago, the Saturday a monsoon hit and we were forced to postpone. Today the monsoons were gone, but the wind wasn't:<( We started out after crappie up on the lake. We managed a handful of keepers on some shallow stumps, plus a big bonus largemouth bass. He gave Larry one serious tussle on the crappie rod. I was proud to see this one slide into the net Larry said it was his personal best bass. But it wasn't long after the bonus bass that the wind ripped the lake to shreds. We finally figured out it was time to go to Plan B.
Of course Plan B for me always means catfish (when it's not Plan A). So off we went to try and hide from the wind beneath the Dam. When we first arrived the fish were on fire! In almost no time we put four fish in the boat between 20 and 25 lbs. each... plus our big fish today, a 31 lber. It was great fun listening to a catfish newbie exclaim with shock and awe at the power of big blues.
We managed several other solid fish between 5 and 15... then TVA slowed the water flow and the cats shut down like flippin' a switch. We switched over in search of tailwater crappie and found quite a few. But it was tough fishing in the screaming wind. However Larry headed back home with a cooler full of eater blues, some crappie and some bull bream,
March 28, 2009
Once it was clear that deadly thunderstorms weren't going to strike, I headed out with Clayton Cornell to check on some Chickamauga Tailwater Cats today. It wasn't fast and furious, but we poked around and found some quality fish, including one beast that Clayton coaxed into the boat on light tackle. It was quite a battle. That fished tipped the scales at an even 40 lbs.! We had two others 26 and 24 and an assortment of 3-10 lb. fish. A very fun short trip ... we caught some drifting and some from a couple of key holes. All on chicken breast. We also found a good bunch of bluegill hungry for wax worms... a few of them were quite hefty.
March 23, 2009
What a difference a day makes! I told Charlie Thompson and his brother Richard that I felt sure we could catch some good numbers of crappie. We returned to the exact same place, doing the exact same thing as 24 hours before. Fish were gone! Barring dramatic changes in weather or water conditions, it was the most amazing disappearing act I've ever witnessed. But in the short morning trip we had, we searched around and managed seven good-sized keeper crappie... and a WIDE assortment of miscellaneous species, including a hefty channel cat that gave Charlie fits on a crappie rod. It was a fun day with fun people, but just goes to show that "the only thing you can predict about fish is that they are unpredictable."
March 21 and 22, 2009
Larry and Shirley Gorham came to town from Franklin, Kentucky to sample the waters of Chickamauga Lake with me this weekend. Thier hope for the two-day trip was to carry some enough crappie home for a big fish fry. We succeeded.
DAY ONE: (Saturday) was a wonderful, albeit long day on the water. Shirley nailed a slab in the first 5 minutes. I figured that was a good sign, or a bad sign? We were trolling in the Wolftever arm of the lake and early we caught quite a few fish... but all were short. Finally picked up a half-dozen good keepers, and a bonus bass, but it was slow. We went on the prowl and finally found some more good quality fish. That day we managed 18 solid crappie and a bonus bass. Fish were mostly in 9 to 14 feet and red/chartreuse tubes were the go-to lure. Lots of fish were busting with eggs and a couple of males all colored up real pretty. The spawn is coming on.
DAY TWO: What a difference a day makes... and location. Today all I can say is "we ripped 'em." Another friend was fishing the area solo today, so the Gorhams split up and we fished two boats. We quit with 55 keeper crappie before the Gorham's decided they had to head back to Kentucky. And they all were quality fish. As Larry told one of his friends on the phone, "I don't think there's but one or two in the livewell that we had to bother measuring." Both days we used my typical early Spring pattern ... long-line trolling 1/16th oz. tube jigs. Most fish were in seven to 15 feet of water. We caught darn near every species in the river today. Besides crappie we caught largemouth bass, yellow bass, bluegill, shellcracker, yellow perch, channel cat, golden shiners and drum. Between the short crappie and all the "off" species, I'm sure we caught well over 100 fish today. Most of the "off" species came from shallow stumps.
March 14, 2009
Of course the majority of my guide trips are on weekends. I have "a day job" Monday thru Friday. That means I often can't be too selective and must take whatever weather comes. Today we had intended to fish no matter what the weather, however just after 5 am, my phone rang. Today's client (local), saw that the weather folks actually got it right when they predicted 100% rain. He opted to stay indoors. I was glad.
March 6, 2009
The pre-spawn crappie bite continues to be sort of "in between" right now. Once again today we caught good numbers, but lots of small fish. We have a 10-inch minimum size limit on crappie. Most anglers agree it's a good thing... but sometimes frustrating when you catch lots of 9.5-inch fish.Today we ended the morning with eight good-sized keepers. Will be off the water a while. Actually headed down to Crow Creek Hunting Preserve near Stevenson, Ala. to do some quail & pheasant hunting.
February 21, 2009
Continued the hunt for pre-spawn crappie on Chickamauga Lake today. It seems as if the up-and-down water temps of the last week or two has them a little bumfuzzled. We started out hot at daylight ... we caught quite a few fish the first hour, and then the bite just fizzled. Then the predicted wind kicked in hard about 10:30 or so. We toughed it out another hour or two but finally bailed. Final catch was between 20 and 25 crappie... but only 9 good keepers. It was a mix of black crappie and white crappie, far different from last time I crappie fished two weeks ago and the catch was almost exclusively white crappie. Used a typical pre-spawn trolling pattern... long lines, 16th oz. tube jigs. White/silver was working very well yesterday.
February 15, 2009
Hit Chickamauga Lake today with my good friend Charlie Duggan. It was colder than gee-willickers at sunrise... serious north wind cut right through us. But I wanted to be there because last few times out there has been a good early morning catfish bite. Not today. It was tough early. At Noon we'd caught a grand total of 3 cats. But somebody finally rang the dinner bell about that time. Much better bite from Noon to 3. And the ones that hit weren't mush-mouthing. They were hammering it pretty good. The bite may have continued, but we'd had all the fun we could stand. Ended a cold windy day with 16 cats. We had several in the 10 - 15 lb. class.
February 12, 2009
Jack Williamson had a break from his classes at Chattanooga's McCallie School, so his Dad, Scott, decided to try and hook him up with some catfish. We were launching at first light into a cold wind leftover from yesterday's storm system. But as has been the case for me lately, the early bite was good. We had plenty of fish eager to eat some shad or bluegill either one. Plenty of fun was to be had for all the first couple of hours, and we had the "secret hole" all to ourselves. Every fish we caught was in the 5-10 lb. range, and then the bite slowed down. But we persevered and were rewarded just before we had to quit. Jack went toe-to-toe with what I knew was going to be a good fish. When he finally got him into the light of day I was shocked. It was an absolutely submarine. Took me a little while to manhandle him into the boat and almost didn't have enough floor. He wasn't the heaviest, but I swear this may have been the longest catfish I've ever had in my boat. He measured just over 50-inches long. He was skinny but still he dragged the scales down to 46 pounds. He was the last fish we caught, but what a way to end a brisk, beautiful morning. Life is good and gettin' better every day.
February 8, 2009
No partners today, but I felt the urge to check on the catfish on Chickamauga Lake today. Got on the water about 7:30 and the first hour the cats were on fire! I even saw small blues taking shad off the surface. It was kind of crazy. Not sure how many I caught... wasn't counting. Probably 12 or 15. Biggest weighed 26 pounds. Then they turned off like flipping a light switch... but it was fun while it lasted.
February 7, 2009
Me and Ed McCoy smoked 'em good. Today was the first foray onto Chickamauga Lake to see if any pre-spawn crappie are starting to move into the creeks. Obviously they are. We started fishing about 7:45 and put our 30th keeper (a 2-person limit) in the boat at 1:30. We caught roughly a 1:1 ratio of keepers to throwbacks (10-inch minimum size limit)
The overwhelming majority (app. 25) were white crappie... the most white crappie I've put in the boat in several years. The majority came from 9 to 13 feet of water on a flat adjacent to the creek channel. Trolling 16th oz. tube jigs... chartreuse was the hot color.
It was never fast and furious, but using the slow & steady "tortoise" approach... we just kept hammering away on them. It was great fun!
January 24, 2009
I'd been trying to get a fishing trip in with Raymond Beach and his grandson Josh for several weeks. Between illness, raging floods and freezing cold, we've been having a hard time making it happen. Today we finally did it. It was an absolute miserable morning (weather-wise). Raymond and Josh came well-prepared. The fish weren't helping much either. But the rain finally quit and we made the right move.
I'd marked a hotspot on my GPS on December 28th. A month later, it was still good. Josh boated a fish on each of the fist three drifts. The day turned into a bit of a slugfest... but there were enough fish to keep us plugging away. We boated 14 with the usual number of missed and lost fish. It was reasonably steady action whether we were putting them in the boat or not.
Just about all we caught today were in the 8 - 12 lb. range. The water temp was 39 when we put in... climbed to a whopping 44 after the sun shined a while. TWRA Creel Clerk Tim Poole stop by to survey us. I was proud to see our fisheries folks out there keeping tabs on things.
All in all, it was just a downright fun day on the water (after the first two hours) with two super anglers ... which means life is good and gettin' better every day!
