I headed out today with Bruce Garner and his daughter Anna Beth. You may recognize Bruce from TV. He's the guy who serves as the official spokesperson for the Chattanooga Fire Dept. But Sunday was all about fish. Bruce and Anna Beth both know their way around fishing rods... but neither had much experience with Tennessee River catfish. They both got a pretty good dose.
Definitely no "big fish" bite going on in the Chickamauga Tailwaters for me right now. But you can have lots and lots of fun with 2 - 8 lb. fish. Hook a big-headed, mean 6 lb. channel cat and you'll be thinking "big fish" however.
Same pattern (and places) as previous weeks. Drifting chicken breast over mostly main channel humps and holes 12 to 25 feet deep. They were running 30,000 cfs yesterday so you could cover a lot of water in a hurry.
It was a gorgeous day out with a fabulous father-daughter team, and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
August 14
Sharon Harlen bought a fishing trip for her husband, Herb, a while back. It's taken us a while to get our schedules to match up, but today was the day. What a blast we had! It's always fun when you're catching fish... but the Harlens are really neat people. They just moved to Chattanooga from Nashville earlier this year, and after today, they are impressed with the fishing.
We smoked the cats pretty good today. We weren't catching big fish, but excellent numbers of eaters (2 to 8 lbs.) on light tackle. Mostly blues, but a few channels, including one super long & lanky channel cat Sharon caught. We were releasing so I didn't count, but I'm sure we had 30-fish-plus this morning. And we spent part of the time playing with my pet bluegill. It was just a fun, fish-catching day.
We changed locations a lot today and left fish biting more than once. We (or I) would just get tired of looking at the same scenery so we'd pull up and go check a similar area elsewhere, and there they'd be. I had kind of a tough time last weekend using the exact same methodology. But today the fish were hot, and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!
August 7
I had the fine and pleasant honor of escorting Roy Thompson (a.k.a. Grumpy), and his grandson, Peter on the beautiful Tennessee River today. Grumpy is a cool Grandfather. They have a family tradition that every grandkid (Peter is the 6th) is taken on a 3-week road trip with Grandma and Grandpa when they're eight or nine years old. It's just the youngster and grandparents in an RV roaming the country like gypsies. I was very proud they included me as one stop in their adventure.
My pet catfish sort of had the lockjaw today... we caught fish, but we had to work for them. All drifting chicken as usual, but we never could find a "sweet" spot... just one fish here, another one there.... and even mix of blues and channels. No big fish but all solid eaters that gave Peter a pretty good tussel. Roy wanted enough for a big catfish fry at their campsite at Harrison Bay this evening. We didn't have any problem filling that request with a half-dozen solid eaters, and we threw back another four or five before Peter got a little bored. So we switched over to bluegill.
Peter caught several, but it turned out he had more fun "netting" the bluegill me and Roy caught. We actually caught a LARGE quantity. They weren't huge... but enough solid bluegill to have made a considerable mess if we'd been keepin'. Roy also had a bonus smallmouth.
Weather was GREAT... at least until we bailed at 11:30. A fun morning with fun people which makes me proud and happy that I get to do what I do. And that means life is good and gettin' better everyday!
July 31
As you can see, it's been a LONG time since I posted my last report. I did fish June 6 and again June 14... good trips and there are pictures in the 2010 Photo Gallery. But before I got around to posting a written report, I suffered a ruptured disc in my neck.
Owwww!
I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on my worst enemy. Anyway, I've been OOS (out-of-sevice) since that time. No working and no fishing. I believe I can honestly say this is my longest period off the water in at least six years.
But on July 31... Hooray! I returned to the water fishing/guiding today for the first time. I had postponed Scott Miller, son Ben and girlfriend Kara twice already... so today's trip was going to happen! But I had neither the time nor inclination to do any scouting. I told Scott in advance we would be fishing with our fingers crossed. Worked out pretty good... the blues were in the mood to play. It wasn't hot and heavy, but steady enough to keep even a 9-year-old from getting bored. That's saying something.
Lo and behold, Ben had the big fish of the day. I was actually extremely impressed with the great patience the little guy showed battling a pretty big blue (16 lbs.) on light tackle. He played the fish like an expert and Dad did the honors with the net. (Yes, since I'm "playin' hurt," I am still carrying a net. )
Cloud cover kept it from getting too hot until later in the day... and I wasn't hurting (too much) when I came off the water. I actually didn't fish very much myself... but the time or two I did "set a hook," I figured out I still don't need to be doing much of that.
But I was proud to once again have the honor of escorting fine folks out to sample what the Tennessee River has to offer. She is often more generous than I deserve, which means "Life is back to being good again, and getting better every day!"
May 29
I had the fine honor of escorting Randy and Reed Johnson from McMinn County onto the river again Saturday. This is the 4th time Randy and Reed have fished with me. Every time they've sized up... last year Reed caught a 47 lber., and a few weeks ago they caught one that broke 60 on their own. I told 'em that I feared we might have a tough time "sizing up" from that on this trip.
I hate it when I'm right.
We started with a tag team effort... Reed drifting chicken breast while Randy and I drifted shiners. We caught everything. Randy commented early on that, "We've caught five fish and we haven't caught the same species twice." This was the first time Randy had ever caught smallmouth and he was impressed. "These thing just don't quit," he exclaimed once.
After the early bite died we started moving up and down the river trying to find where the "big blues" have gone. We failed:(
We caught lots of fish, we guesstimated about 30 included several quality fish... we just couldn't find a bruiser anywhere.
No matter... it was another great day with the Johnsons.
May 24
Just made a short little trip with my firend Glenn Gass and his son Nicholas. Glenn admits he is not very "outdoorsy," but somehom Nicholas has caught the fishing bug. I think we scratched his itch pretty good with a bunch of bluegill and a few respectable catfish today. All were sort of on the small side today... but that suited four-year-old Nicholas just fine.
May 23
Today was the 3rd Annual Scenic City/Fishing Teacher Student Extravaganza. Sam Simons (known at Red Bank Elementary as "The Fishing Teacher") rewards his best students with fishing trips, and I'm proud to help out in my own meager fashion. This trip was sponsored & paid for by my friend Kirk Gardner. He bought a trip I donated to the Ronald McDonald House. Then he turned around and donated it to Sam's kids.
We ran four young ladies through two "fishing shifts." First up was Ciara and Ja'Quayah. We concentrating drifting shiners and each young lady tagged a few fish. We switched out to bluegill and Ja'Quayah was smokin' 'em. We enjoyed a boat ride down the river... and then it was time for the second shift.
Hayley and Anslee tagged teamed bass and cats. Hayley tagged two different LARGE catfish (and I do mean large!) that both came unbuttoned. Hayley did great... no mistakes on her part. They just came unbuttoned. Of course the little ones DIDN'T get away (even though they weren't so little to Hayley).
Meanwhile Anslee stuck a beatiful smallmouth (and broke off a couple more, oops).
It was great fun... we spent a while letting the young ladies take their turn on bluegill and they absolutely did NOT want to quit. They were fishing fools. I think they'd still be out there if we let 'em.
May 22
I had the honor of playing host to Kelly and Taylor Swift again. Our plan was to pursue tailwater cats. Sadly, TVA had other plans. They had generators cranked almost to the max. Sources tell me it was because Watts Bar Nuke plant tripped off and they needed extra power. Oh well. We went to Plan B.
Me and the Swift's headed North to the the Sequoyah Nuke. We started out throwing live shiners and had a ball catching a serious mixed bag including crappie, smallmouth, spots and largemouth. We went through three dozen shiners in a big hurry. Time for Plan C.
We started drifting for cats but after some fast action shiner fishing, it felt like work. Four cats in about and hour-and-a-half. Bored, we switched gears and headed for Plan D after bluegill/shellcrackers. We caught a zillion, but had a tough time finding quality.
Finally we switched again to Plan E and spent the remainder of the afternoon teaching the Swifts to shoot docks for crappie. They enjoyed that. Taylor especially.
As you'd expect, it began as somewhat of a cluster. But as time wore on, the Swifts got pretty good. We found no docks that were loaded, but we found some quality fish on several different "new to me" docks.
They left Chickamauga headed back to Nashville with some great fishing memories and some new-found knowledge. That means life is good and gettin' better every day.
May 16
On Sunday Chad Perry from Crossville came down while his Dad, Bill, came up from Atlanta. Saturday evening Bill and Chad had fished with Sam Simons and boated a good mix of smallmouth, cats and a few other misc. species.
My last trip with Chad and Bill got rained out after about two hours, and I was worried today. But we got enough fishing in before the first storm to land an absolutely beast. Bill went toe-to-toe in a heavyweight battle that lasted an hour, give or take.
Bill's monster blue pulled the scales to 52.2 lbs ... landed on spinning tackle with 10 lb. test line. It was an amazing fight with a fish that just wouldn't say "Uncle."
I believe we had two other very large blues on the line that managed to break off. Of course that doesn't count a fair number of "little" cats, several of which won a free ride back to Atlanta with Bill.
By the way, these days I'm drift fishing with nothing but chicken breast
May 15
Charlie Lowery, from Athens, bought a trip I'd donated to Ducks Unlimited and Saturday brought Carly, his 7-year-old daughter along. Carly has caught some fish, but not catfish... until now. To say Carly whipped the old man is a bit of an understatement. Her biggest catfish of the day included a 19-pounder and a 24-pounder... both large enought to qualify for the Tennessee Angler Recognition Program. But after battling one of the big blues, Carly told her Dad, I'm ready to catch some bluegill. She needed a break.
Carly and Charlie left the river with a large ice chest packed full of catfish and bull bluegill.
May 8 and 9
It was a very busy weekend for Scenic City Fishing Charters. Back-to-back full day trips... both days including, shall we say, "energetic" youngsters. This old man is whipped... we had some great fun, some great catches and some great heartache. Reporting from the beginning, fished Saturday with Dan Griffith and his son Josh. We hammered the cats pretty darn hard... the big fish of the day was Dan's very first fish... a 38 lb. beast. Josh broke off another big one, but managed to whip a 22 lber. that almost whipped him. To keep Josh's interest, we rotated back-and-forth between catfishing and bluegill fishing. All their big cats were released, but they carried a cooler full of eater cats and bull bream home to eat.
Dan and Josh fished with me last August, and we did well. But I told them May is my favorite month so he booked early. I have a feeling I'll be hearing from Dan soon to book another date for next May.emoThumbsup
On Sunday Joey Arender and his son Brock came down. Joey is a taxidermist from Murfreesboro and fished with me before. His older son, Blake, son caught 48 lb. beast. But on that trip we were fishing big tackle, not the wimpy spinning rods in shallow water. Joey and Brock got a whole new experience catfishing this time around. Although we actually started out fishing shiners because Joey wanted a couple of respectable spotted bass to take home to mount for displays. We managed two spots right at the 17-inch mark that will wind up on a wall somewhere. But we also caught great numbers of big, "boat paddle" white bass, several small stripers and a couple of average smallies. Joey was fishing with very light tackle and got broke off a couple of times by who knows what.
Later in the morning we started concentrating on cats. With the passing cold front it was slow, but as the day wore on, the catting picked up. Not big numbers but great quality... channels and blues. Joey broke one cat we know was a monster when he couldn't get his anti-reverse clicked off quick enough. He was heartbroke on that one.emoBang
But not very long afterwards, he hooked up again and the BIG battle was on.
I'm guessing it took 30 or 40 minutes and that we drifted about a mile downriver. Finally Joey got the beast boatside. I put my Team Catfish Grabbers on his lower jaw, the big boy rolled and "Snap!" ... by grabbers broke in half. emoEek Amazingly the fish stayed hooked up, but with a big dose of adrenalin, the battle raged on for another ten minutes. Remember... this time of year I'm fishing standard spinning rods and ten-pound test line. I worried the entire time because he was WAY too big for the net on-board. My only set of grabbers were broke... and as many of you know, I'm crippled. After shoulder surgery, my right arm is still fairly useless. I knew if I grabbed this fish with my right-hand, I would end up back in surgery.
The fish came boat side, I locked my lefthand on his lower jaw, he rolled and my wimpy left hand just couldn't stop him. I think I may have screamed when the line snapped. Joey and I both wrapped arms on the beast against the side of the boat. Of course those who have been there know, that's useless. The beastly blue kicked once and was gone.
It was the absolute worst experience of my guiding career. (sad)
Joey was a trooper and talked about nothing other than "the great fight" and "I got to lay hands on him." However Joey did asked me, "What happened to your metal grabbers." (They're lost).
How big was it? I don't know... I suspect 50 lbs. at least, maybe a little less... but maybe much more. I have resolved that as long as I'm crippled, I really am going to have to get a bigger net.
May 1, 2010
Clint Bailey and his Dad fished with me last June. This time Clint brought his brother Cody along instead.
I absolutely LOVE the month of May. It typically brings me a catfish bonanza. Although I was actually worried when we started fishing at daylight. Just as we got there TVA did some "switching out" of the generators and changed the amount and direction of the flow. For nearly an hour we caught very little. But the fish finally settled down and we figured out the right drift, because we started just smokin' em.
It was realy a not a "numbers day," but almost every blue we caught weighed 8 to 15 lbs., and we had multiple fish over 15, three fish over 20 lbs. and the "bruiser" of the day was a short, but VERY fat, 40 lber. caught by Clint. They both had their personal best fish today... not catfish, but biggest fish period. We also caught good numbers of channel cats 3 to 6 lbs.
As usual, checked on my pet bluegill and more of those big bull bruiser bream are showing up, Clint and Cody topped off their cooler with 20 monster bluegill inspiring Clint to say, "This is one of the most amazing fisheries I've ever seen!" I didn't disagree.
Clint works for Jack Daniels in Lynchburg, so my tip was a bottle of "Gentleman Jack," and that means life is VERY good, and gettin' better every day!
Here is a video of the last 3 minutes of one 20-minute battle with a 20-pound blue.
April 25, 2010
My clients postponed today due to anticipated high winds. That means I was forced to go fishing with a friend, Erik Almy. I brought the boat and he brought the shiners.
The high winds came, but not before we got in two or three hours of great fishing. It was just plain old wonderful fun. I don't get to "fish for fun" much this time of year, especially with partners as caring and gracious as Erik. He is so kind that after he boated the first two or three smallmouth of the morning, he graciously said, "I know you're a professional guide and all that, but it is OK with me if you want to catch a fish or two." (As if I hadn't been trying!)
But once I got SpurHunter's blessings, I managed to hold my own. I may have even caught up... but who's counting.
However Spur definitely had the big fishes of the day, including a 4 lb. smallmouth bass and a 22 lb. blue. We caught a wide assortment of piscatorial creatures... we even checked on my pet bluegill (which had moved on me). Most are still small but we managed a few big bulls that won a free ride back to Cleveland with Erik.
I think I can lay claim to the biggest bull bream which measured a solid 9 and 3/4 inches long. It drives me crazy... I've caught LOTS of those 9 & 3/4's, but haven't been able to pull off a 10-inch Tennessee Angler Recognition Program bluegill yet.
Regardless it was a wonderful morning with large numbers of fish caught of a wide variety,
April 21, 2010
I had the pleasure of of escorting Bruce Gibson and Joe Stephens on the river Wednesday. We were supposed to go Tuesday but bowed out due to rain.
Joe is from Cinncinnati and visiting Bruce. Joe REALLY wanted to crappie fish, but I convinced him that I am off the crappie bite, and into catfish. I don't think Joe was disappointed.
We hit water at daylight and the fish were HOT for two hours. Biggest fish in the boat were 19 and 20 lbs., but I am certain we had much bigger fish on the line twice. One came unbuttoned and the other bursted off. But Bruce and Joe had a grand time regardless.
Me, Bruce and Joe spent just a very few minutes checking on bluegill. We did manage to catch a few of those big monster bull bream (9-inchers-plus).
April 18, 2010
Vicky, Steve and Bill Mausey are in Chattanooga from St. Louis for a vacation this week. They say they try to fish wherever they go, and I was happy to oblige.
We just made a Quick Trip this morning... and it was quite a change from yesterday's experience. Yesterday was cloudy and warm (58 at sunrise). Tonight was clear and followed a cold front (46 degrees at sunrise). Even the hardy Mr. Catfish is somewhat perturbed when Mother Nature does that to us.
But we aggravated a few quality blue and channel cats into the boat. Didn't count close but we boated at least ten fish in a couple of hours... the biggest fish boated was 18 lbs., although I believe Vicky had a much bigger fish on the line once that came a'loose! She said she'll dream about that one going to sleep tonight.
But it was another beautiful morning on the Tennessee River.
April 17, 2010
Lee Dunn's wife bought him a fishing trip with me as a Christmas present. Lee brought his friend Justin along. The two of them keep the helicopters flying for the Knox County Sheriff's Dept.
What can I say... Lee and Justin timed it well. We actually struggled the first couple of hours on a pattern that's producing a few fish, but today it was very few. I switched gears and tried something different... Bingo, Bango, Bongo... we smoked 'em!
From about 9 am until 2 pm we caught at least 250 lbs. of catfish. We had a perfect mix of big blues and hard fighting channel cats. What can I say... it was an awesome day, and we left 'em bitin'!
Justin had the big fish of the day with a 50 lber. Lee smoked Justin on numbers, but the biggest fish he could come up with was a mere 44 lber. A pair of huge blues, all fish caught on spinning tackle with 10 lb. test line.
April 11, 2010
I had a great day Sunday with Edie Miller and Collin Fountain, both Big Orange students. Collin is a hardcore deer hunter and tracked me down on the TNDeer.com Forum. They drove from Knoxville EARLY and we beat the sun to Chickamauga Lake.
Before the sun got above the horizon the crappie were on fire. They're in the shallow stumps. We were trolling six rods and we couldn't hardly keep up with them all for the first 30 minutes. Lots of them had on their pretty "crappie tuxedo" spawning colors. The bite slowed as the sun came up, but we stayed on fish all morning. Collin and Edie headed back to Knoxville just after Noon with forty slabs... most caught in five to eight feet of water.
It was a gorgeous day on the water with two folks who really enjoyed taking advantage of what Mother Nature has to offer. In one spot we found deer bedded on shore (pics below), geese and ducks flying overhead and a turkey even flew across the slough as we were catching crappie. Harrison Bay Golf Course wasn't very far away and Edie said if there were a Heaven on Earth for Collin, that was it.
And that means life if good and gettin' better every day
April 10, 2010
I caught a friend of mine, Eric Maurer (also know as the Catfish Master) just as he was coming off the disabled list following some surgery and dragged him with me to chase some Riverpark catfish for my first "test run" of the year.
Let the cattin' commence... sort of.
We didn't really spend a very long time at any one spot. Just sort of made a milk run to sample a few different places and methods. The grand total was eight catfish. Probably could have squeaked out a few more if we'd hung tight in the sweet spot, but opted to "scout" instead. The biggest blue was a TARP fish... 35 inches, we guesstimated 20 lbs., maybe a little more. But Eric battled the beast on light tackle, so he was sort of extra fun. The only bait in the boat was chicken.
We sampled one bluegill hole as well. Caught plenty... just a few bull bream, but I'm sure they are just around the corner.
Happy Spring to everyone. Life is good and gettin' better every day!
April 9, 2010
My friend Mark Pollard asked me to join him for a while this morning. I only had about two hours or so to fish. We hop-scotched a lot... hitting a few "known"spots, and scouted a few unknown new spots.
We nickel and dimed a few crappie in most spots, although the rising water and cold front seems to be changing things up just a little bit. The best fish we caught were on the last dock we fished... a dock neither of us had ever fished before. It's just now getting enough water on it to be productive
April 4, 2010
The weather was better today, but because I was stubborn, searching for the huge pre-spawn concentrations of crappie we were on a week ago, we didn't move shallow until late in the morning. It was especially aggravating because Kelley and Taylor Swift were supposed to fish with me last weekend, but we got blown out by Sunday's severe weather.
We did manage a cooler full of quality crappie for the Swift's most on stumps in 5 - 6 feet of water, or on brush. But we worked hard for them. I learned something about the crappie today that will pay dividents in the coming days.
April 3, 2010
Gary Allen joined me to chase some crappie. Water temperature was 56 degrees when we started. It was a very slow start. We finally located a good bunch of fish, but the majority were small. The pre-spawn bite I enjoy fishing is coming to an end. It's time to start searching for spawning crappie shallow. But on this day, neither of us was crazy about fishing in the rain, so we bailed out about the time we got on a few fish.
March 27, 2010
Finally... I got to return to the fold. Following shoulder surgery, I am well enough to return to the water, on "light duty." On the pre-spawn crappie bite... long-line trolling in 10 to 18 feet of water is the ticket right now. Previous catfish clients, Tim Sullivan and Craig Beard, wanted to sample Chickamauga crappie and drove over from Lyles, Tenn. They knew they would be following orders from a "crippled captain." They followed orders well. We started shortly before 8 am and had a 45-fish limit of solid keepers just after 1 pm. I'm guessing we caught 100 throwbacks, give or take. We had LOTS of company on the water on a beautiful March day. Some of my other friends were out there as well. Everybody I know limited. Sadly I had to cancel Sunday's . Wind Advisories, with gusts up to 30 mph, is just no fun on the water.
March 20, 2010
Ross Malone handled a trip for me since my shoulder is still hurting (albeit healing). Richard and Henry Boehm, and their friend Jeff. Ross said, "Henry through out and caught a slab in the first cast. that was how good it was. On the first pass we must have caught 8 to 10 fish with some nice keepers so I felt we were going to have a good day. More than once we had 4 rods going so that was a good feeling. We fished hard and ended the day with 40 limits (60 legal-sized crappie).
February 27, 2010
I made my first foray checking on pre-spawn crappie Saturday. It was good start. Began long-line trolling just after 8 am on a shallow spawning flat in 6 - 10 feet of water. Terrrible... we trolled for an hour with one crappie to show for it.
We moved farther out the creek working 11 - 15 of water in and around the main creek channel ... Bingo! We found 'em.
In two hours we caught more than 30 crappie, about half shorts and half good keepers. We quit about 11:30 and Ross went home with 15 for the freezer. He said the majority of the fish he cleaned were males, which I believe are the first to move into the pre-spawn mode. That means things should just continue to improve in the coming weeks.
Sadly, I am down for the count... I have a broken wing. Yesterday morning almost killed my shoulder that is hurting bad. I had to defer (almost) all the reeling to Ross and I wasn't sure if there was enough hydocodone in the world to help me when I got home. I have an MRI Tuesday and sometime after that my Doc will tell me if (or probably when), he'll do surgery. Talk about bad timing....
January 23, 2010
Had the first official "guide trip" of 2010. It was somewhat of a fiasco. Hearne and Beema overslept and initially no showed, and didn't answer calls to cell phone. I headed to water anyway. Got on the lake and they called apologizing profusely for over-sleeping. We finally hooked up with each other, but not with fish. Nary a nibble, not a bump, not a bent rod of any variety. With cool weather, wind and lack of action, it didn't take Hearne and Beema long to say "Uncle." My first trip of 2010 ends without a single catfish boated... only the second time that's happened in my guiding "career." Ugh! I return to the water determined to catch a catfish... fished hard for three more hours with nary a nibble, not a bump, not a bent rod of any variety. I said Uncle! You know how when you go fishing, you really hate to catch a fish on the very first cast because that often means bad things are ahead. I am hoping that a horrible first trip of the year means there is nothing but good things ahead.
January 10, 2010
It was many years ago when Jim Miller introduced me to the Float & Fly. He schooled me then on Dale Hollow. We made another foray back to Carters Lake ... and yes, the teacher took me to school again. I fished Carters back in December with guide Louie Bartenfield. We learned that the Float & Fly technique works great on Carters. The day with Jim however was a VERY tough, and very COLD day... there were four boats on the lake, counting us. All caught relatively few fish. Bluebird skies, high pressure, cold, cold & rough wind ... all combined to make it a struggle for everyone... especially me. My boat, I was on the trolling motor... which of course meant I had first shot at everything.
End result:
Me - Big, fat zero
Jim - Six healthy spots...
All caught from the back of the boat, fishing behind me, scooping up my leftovers. Both of us were fishing Float & Fly... after his third fish he even gave me a fly identical to his. No really big fish caught.... which is my only excuse. I only wanted a biggun'. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it)
Yesterday morning almost killed my shoulder that is hurting bad. I had to defer (almost) all the reeling to Ross and I wasn't sure if there was enough hydocodone in the world to help me when I got home. 
I have an MRI Tuesday and sometime after that my Doc will tell me if (or probably when), he'll do surgery. Talk about bad timing....