Nov. 13, 2011

A week ago Sunday, me and Sam Simons had a magic day on the Chickamauga Tailwaters. This Sunday I hoped to repeat the performance with Jason White and his friend, Aaron Wolfe.

Not!

It wasn't a bust by any means ... but we definitely had to work, and work hard for our fish (even with live bait). We knew the wind was supposed to get bad, but it actually stayed quite calm early and we had great fishing conditions... excellent flow, good cloud cover, prime time of year... but the fish hadn't read that book.

In spite of having to pay our dues, we put some quality fish in the boat. Jason claimed first fish honors while Aaron claimed big fish honors with a 5.2 lb. largemouth. We caught all three species of black bass, two species of catfish and some white bass.

About 11:30 or 12 the predicted wind wind arrived with a vengeance and not long after, we bailed. But it was a great morning with two guys who enjoy fishing just about as much as me (if not more). That means life is good and gettin' better every day.

Nov. 12, 2011

Mark another one off my Bucket List!

For many, many moons I have dreamed of catching "fish with teeth" (besides gar).... specifically, a muskellunge. No need to travel to Northern latitudes however. You can do it just about a one hour drive from Chattanooga on the Collins River near McMinnville, Tenn. ... at least if Dwayne Hickey is guiding you.

Like any fishing, it's not a sure thing. I've been twice before with Dwayne without success... but it was due to conditions, not the guide. On Saturday the moon and the stars aligned for me and Randy Holder. What a day we had with Dwayne! Sight fishing in very skinny water for these watery wolves... and we are no longer "Muskie Virgins!"

It's an amazing experience... muskies "ain't skeered." Find one and they'll just sit and stare at you with a steely-eyed glaze, wondering what you're doing on "their river." It doesn't mean they're easy targets however. Because they do own the river, they eat what they want, when they want... OR they DON'T eat what they don't want!

It's sometimes hard to tell when you might be seeing the same fish over again, but I figured we saw at least ten muskies. They definitely did NOT want artificials. They'd look, but not touch. Dwayne says that will change when we get some rain and the water gets some color. But we were fishing super clear water conditions and thanks to some very frisky suckers Dwayne had netted, we had a Plan B. Five of the ten or so muskie we spotted, or lured close with an artificial, could not resist a tasty live morsel dangled on a circle hook in their stretch of river.

But if you want to know the height of frustration, watch a 45-inch muskie swimming along 2 inches behind your struggling sucker for two minutes, and then decide NOT to eat it and swim off. I've still got adrenalin pumping from that one. Dwayne fishes lots of different water in lots of conditions, but he says wintertime is always the right time.

If you want an amazing fishing experience, unlike anything you've ever experienced in Tennessee... or anywhere, you need to call or e-mail Dwayne Hickey.
(931) 273-7937 or hickstock@hotmail.com.

Nov. 6, 2011

After Day 4 in the woods Saturday, without laying eyes on a deer yet, I have convinced myself I'm a lousy deer hunter. In my old age I've become a much better fisherman. My friend Sam Simons taunted me, telling me what a great day he had on the water Saturday. So I didn't have to twist his arm too hard to go back Sunday.

The fish weren't where Sam caught 'em Saturday... but no matter, we found 'em. While fishing it really didn't feel like we caught that many fish... but after looking at the pictures, I realized ... we did. We caught all three species of black bass, and we had great quality!

The young whippersnapper whipped the old man today. He put two 21-inch class HOF smallmouth in the boat.

I got the tailend of the fight with one of them on video... at the SAME TIME I hooked up. It got real interesting for a minute or so... hence the name of this video is DOUBLE TROUBLE!

We were fishing live bait, mainly because we like to catch fish. Circle hooks help insure none of them get deep-hooked however. We were actually using some store-bought shiners and some Sam caught with the cast net.

It was another good morning on the Tennessee River, which means life is good and gettin' better everyday.

October 29 - 30, 2011

Staff Sgt. Rob Brown just got home recently from a year in Afghanistan. He flew into Chattanooga from his station in California to receive a special award during the Navy League Convention Downtown. I think however, he was much more excited about going fishing than he was about the award.

His Mom, Ronnie, drove up from Hinesville, Ga. and she joined us bright and early on this cold AM. The plan was to mix it up... drift some shiners for smallmouth and try to stick a trophy cat. It was a tough bite today. The smallmouth were actually more cooperative than the cats.

Ronnie got big fish honors (on smallmouth and cats). Big smallie was 21-inches, but without much girth he weighed in at 4.2 lbs. We had several other nice brown fish, although we had to work for them. Actually we caught all three species of bass today... spots, largemouth and smallies.

The catfish were in a very negative mood today... but they both caught fish they were proud of. Therefore I was too!

Like any good Marine, Rob is gung ho. Her asked if we could go again on Sunday.

Hoo-ah!

We headed out again Sunday for Round 2.

After about an hour or two of no fish, missed strikes, lost fish and even broken lines... I feared I'd made a horrible error. But FINALLY we got on a couple of spots that started producing for us.

Yesterday Rob's Mom sort of put it on him, and he REALLY wanted a quality smallmouth. He got it. His big smallmouth today was an inch shorter than Mom's, but more girth. They weighed the exact same... 4.2 lbs.

Before our day ended Rob counted up and figured we caught seven different species of fish. I stuck a pretty good cat on the light tackle, and as you can see on video, Rob and Ronnie refused to take the handoff. Ronnie got a respectable 3 lb. smallie while I was fighting the big cat (16 lbs.) ... and then Rob got into a great battle with a big drum.

Since I was rolling video today, I only took one still picture (but it's a NICE one).

FYI, my on-screen clock is set an hour slow

It was just a REALLY fun day with REALLY fun people. That means life is good and gettin' better everyday!

October 16, 2011

I was really worried about this trip. TVA's weekend generation schedules have been crazy. Saturday night I see that it will be dead water (ZERO generation) until 2 pm in the afternoon. Ugh! But Trey Chenkus and his Dad, John, were flexible and we met up at 1 pm. Trey's wife, Candace, bought this trip as a gift.

We messed around near the Dam in the dead water and managed to put several eater cats in the cooler for Trey and John. When they hit the generators at 2 pm, we headed downriver looking for a BIG bite. We sat at the first stop for a hour without a single rattle or wiggle. Off to spot #2 which has produced one or two fish for me... but really hasn't been all that great... until today.

First fish was a strong 15-pounder. A while later Trey sized up with a 20-pounder. Then John sized down with an 8-pounder. The finally a rod tip buried and when he grabbed the rod Trey said, "Oh my, this one is a lot bigger!"

It was a fun battle. And as mentioned before, I'm back to working without a net. John took over the end of the video so you get to watch my outstanding "grabber" technique on an HOF Blue.

Once we came down off this adrenalin rush we went back to fishing and sadly, we broke off two more big fish. This spot is very rocky and the fish simply got into rocks and were able to break leaders.
We ended the day drifting shiners. We were smackin' eater blue cats and the occasional white bass, but no smallmouth.

No matter. It was a great afternoon which means life is good and gettin' better every day!

October 8, 2011

I passed up on deer hunting Saturday to go fishing with my friend Ross Malone. We started out at daylight drifting shiners. There was a crowd in the tailwaters today? We caught a mixed bag on the shiners, although the bite was much slower than I wanted. Ross did tag one decent smallie. He also broke off a big fish. Ross learned the hard way that, drifting shiners, I only use a 6 lb. test leader. Later he caught a channel cat that gave him absolute fits.

Just proves that (A) catfish have short memories, and (B) they don't care much about anything except their next meal.

It was a beautiful, dark blue Blue cat... one of those that didn't have hardly any white on its belly. He was almost blue all over. Of course he lives to fight another day. That means life is good and gettin' better everyday.

October 1, 2011

Randy and Reed Johnson have fished with me a lot. Seems like we always get into something.

Saturday we knew the adds were against us. NO FLOW from TVA generators until 1 pm. That's bad, but we started at 10 am anyway. As expected, the bite was totally non-existent. We headed up to the Dam a little before 1 pm to try and catch some eaters-sized catfish.

First fish... Reed reels in one that hovered at 25 lbs., on light tackle so it took "some minutes." They turned the generators on and we started drifting.

Once the flow got settled out the fish were on fire! We smoked 'em... I always catch lots of eater channel cats in October, but we were finding great numbers of quality blues (5 - 10 lbs.) as well. Reed caught another 20-pound-plus fish... and we broke off a couple I'm sure were big fish.

It was a wonderful afternoon that felt more like a May catfish bite than it did October. Caught most on chicken... some on cut bait.

September 10, 2011

(SIT BACK FOR AN EPIC REPORT/TALE)

Sometimes I feel like I'm living a charmed life. I was sort of dreading Saturday's guide trip. With the exception of one trophy catfish, my previous trip was really slow. And of course we've had flooding rains and extreme high water since then, so I had absolutely no clue what the tailwater cats were up to, and I told the Winlands as much.

Dale, Matt and Mark are from Tullahoma. They had been referred by Clint Bailey who's fished with me several times, so I sure didn't want to let them down. Matt was home on a short leave from the Coast Guard. Mark is a Senior Wildlife Biology major at Tennessee Tech (my alma mater). This fishing trip was sort of a "family reunion/event," so I sure didn't want to screw it up... the pressure was on.

Within 15 minutes of the first anchor, a little guy ( 8 lber.) latches on. "OK," I thought. "We've at least broken the ice." A while later another rod bows down and Matt does battle with a bigger fish... a 28 lber.... they're very happy, and so am I (although I tried to keep wearing my, "I do this every day" face).

A while later another rod bows down hard. I suspect "Big fish!," but sadly, it was a swing and a miss for Mark. I'm heartbroken. But redemption comes a while later as another rod doubles down and Mark goes toe-to-toe with a beast. When the monster surfaced, Mark exclaimed, "Oh my Lord. I didn't know fish got that big!" It was 41 lbs. and based on their reactions, I know that no matter what happens (or doesn't happen) the rest of the day, I'm golden!

But the big bite seems good so we can't give up yet. Sure enough, in a while one of my heavy-weight spinning rods bows to the water. Matt grabs ahold and it quickly turned into a wild ride. It's a big spinning rod, but still it lacks the power of the casting tackle and this fish is having its way with Matt... and it's running upstream, dangerously close to the anchor rope. (I've got some video I'll add later) We reel everything in and haul anchor in a hurry. I get on the trolling motor to try and keep Matt on top of the fish and off the bottom. We were a long way downstream before he gets the fish boatside.

Of course since a client broke the last one, and my bum shoulder has healed, I am back to NOT carrying a net. I hate fooling with nets, and I love to watch folks do battle with fish all the way to the end. I coach a lot and teach them a lot of patience in getting big fish to the point that I can get my grabbers (plus my bloodied hand) around their lower jaw. Plus I have a HUGE amount of faith in (shameless plug) Daiichi Circle Hooks. But what a rush when you do haul a big one over the side without a net!

This fish beat the previous ... we "sized up" with every catch... 8, 28, 41 and 45... and the Winland's thought I hung the moon. I've got them fooled because I know it's not up to me... it's up to the fish.

This all transpired in about three hours but the Winlands brought a cooler and wanted to take some eaters home so we decided to break out the small tackle and start drifting. Like I said, last time out we struggled to put a half-dozen eaters in the boat in about three hours.

Saturday the first drift line I hit was absolutely on fire. Big 4-6 pound channel cats were hammering us, with the occasional blue up to 8 or 10 lbs. We went back and forth over the same 300-yard drift line for three hours, although the cooler was full after 2 hours. We switched drift lines to an area I've caught some bigger fish... a slower bite but true to form, Dale stuck a big one. It was a 20 minute battle to get the blue boatside... I guessed 25 or 30 lbs. But that one came unbuttoned before I could get grabbers on it (Guess I needed a net that time , huh? But BTW, it was NOT hooked on a Daiichi!)

We had another happening that I have NEVER seen before. One of them was fighting a hefty channel cat. He got it wore down and was bringing it to the boat when we looked down and there was a MONSTER catfish following the little guy. I don't know if the big guy wanted to eat the little one, or if he just wanted the chunk of chicken breast hanging out of it's mouth, but it was a 30 or 40 lb. fish following. That was first for me.

FYI, the big fish were caught on huge hunks of skipjack and they came from two different deep holes (three different anchors) 30 to 45 feet deep. And it seems my big fish bite lately has been an "early bite." The drift fish were all in 10 - 20 feet of water over bottom that had good "texture," caught drifting chicken breast.

TVA cranked up the generation full blast by 1 pm and that pretty much killed our bite. But it was SURE fun while it lasted... and that means life is good and gettin' better everyday!

August 28, 2011

Me and my family went to Watts Bar Lake to hang out with some friends. We had a rented pontoon boat on water I'd never laid eyes on in my life. But of course I just had to put a line in the water. Lo and behold we stuck another BIG ONE. I hope I haven't used up all my luck for a while.

August 27, 2011

Jeff Conklin from Nashville brought his family down from Nashville for a weekend getaway in Chattanooga... but the primary goal was to battle some Tennessee River catfish.

Saturday I must say our numbers were absolutely horrible... my "light tackle bite" seems to have just died to almost nothing. But thank goodness that what we lacked in numbers, we made up for in size.

Ben did battle with one hefty fish just minutes after we started. Sadly the fish came unbutton after 2 or 3 minutes. I fish Daiichi circle hooks and that is VERY rare! We were sort of bummed out.

But it wasn't long after that when another rod bowed low to the water. Ben wrestled it from the rod holder and the battle was on! It started slow but like the Energizer Bunny... it went on, and on, and on.

After a pretty good while I pulled out the iPhone and gave it to Ben's Dad to shoot video. It is GOOD STUFF!

We caught a few more fish, including a 15-poinder that Ben called "a little one."

That means life is good and gettin' better ever day!

August 13, 2011

Today's client cancelled out... Rob Prytula and I have had a standing date to try out some new "Gar Flies" he tied up... so today was the day.

Of course I made him catfish early.... we caught a few off anchor... two 10's and a 16-pounder. Then we switched to light tackle and caught a few eaters, although it was a much slower bite than Wednesday. Then it was off on a gar hunt.

We found them in the slack water beneath the Dam in good numbers... but they were finicky. Lots of follows but not many bites. We each caught a couple of small ones and then finally Rob got slammed by a behemoth gar. It gave him huge fits on the fly rod. He got it to the boat three or four times and then it would take off on a drag-screaming run again. It was great fun just watchin'... much less doin' the catchin'.

We finally got him in the boat, untangled from the fly and suitably photographed. And then IT happened.

I stepped off my front deck onto the boat floor which had been massively "slimed" by the huge gar, my feet flew and I promptly crashed down on my rear end... right hand (holding the iPhone) crashing into the gunnel of the boat and iPhone crashing into the Tennessee River. It was only 11 feet of water so I almost dove in after it. Then realized it was ruined, even if I did find it. If anybody snags an iPhone beneath the Dam, return it so I can give it proper burial.

Nothing was hurt but my pride, and my pocketbook. So no pictures today, but hopefully a legitimate excuse. I sure wish you could see the huge gar Rob tagged on the flyrod.

We fished a while longer but my heart wasn't much in it so we bailed shortly after Noon.

Aug. 10, 2011

A few weeks ago I took Michael Moore and his daughter, McKinleigh, fishing. They had a great time. Michael knew he better get his son, Maverick, out before the summer got away or he'd be in trouble.

The Moore family apparently brings good luck because we had another great morning.... lots of fish in a mere three hours, including a 25-pounder and a 20. The 25-pounder came first and was the biggest fish of Maverick's young life. But the 20 came on light tackle so it REALLY gave him a fit.

Amazingly we caught most of the eaters in a section of river I had actually never (seriously) fished before... a river bottom with relatively little structure. We got to the spot where I would normally pull up stakes and move... but we got a bite and I kept drifting. And then we kept getting bit and kept getting bit for a long stretch of river that would normally produce little or nothing. 14 feet deep and pretty much flat as flitter, but our chicken couldn't get far without getting bit. It was fun.

Here's a video of the tail end of Maverick's battle with the 25#, caught off anchor.

July 31, 2011

I decided to go in search of some skipjack today by myself. Got a late start... hit the water a little after Noon. For an hour or so things went great... caught some MONSTER skipjack. Some on a Sabiki rig, some on float & fly. Discovered a cool technique... I anchored in current and just let the Sabiki rig "troll" in the current about 20 feet behind the boat while I was casting the float & fly. Every few minutes a school of skipjack would come along and go crazy on the Sabiki rig... even without any "action" to it.

Lost and missed a LOT on the float & fly... not so many on the Sabiki, except when I'd hook more than two. I put 14 in the cooler and like I said, some of them were HUGE. But about 1:30 it was like someone flipped a light switch. The skipjack just absolutely disappeared. I fished hard for another 45 minutes and couldn't catch a single one. Sort of strange how they just shutdown.

But I couldn't leave the water without trying to feed a skipjack to a big catfish. I created a little video documentary of that effort to orund out this fishing report. Don't expect anything Spielbergish... but you may find it entertaining (especially an extremely unflattering low angle shot):

July 30, 2011

Tim Harty has been seeing my posts on the TNDeer.com Fishing Forum and decided to bring the family down from Knoxville to sample some catfishing. The Harty Family are neat folks... really laid back and easy going. That makes it really easy on a guide.

The bite has been strange lately... my "eater" cats just haven't been cooperating in the numbers I like. I decided to put one big skipjack I had in the freezer to use. We went and caught a handful of little bluegill in a hurry and headed to anchor down in Hole #1. I am not known for my patience... hence I'm not very good at "anchoring down." We sat for about 30 minutes without a bite. I advised the Harty's "Time to move." As I turned to get ready to pull anchor I heard Tim yell, "There's one!"

The battle took far longer than I thought it should have, until I realized I had the drag way too light and Tim simply couldn't make any headway on the fish. We tightened 'er down and Tim finally got the 44-inch beast boatside. Paul (9 years old) didn't quite know what to think of a fish that was nearly as long as he is tall. Quick pictures and a clean release.

We hung out there a few more minutes but soon decided to move on to Hole #2. Again, all was quite for 15 or 20 minutes then a rod tip nearly buried itself in the Tennessee River. Drag was set right on this fish so it fought hard. Tim did the lion's share of the work but Paul helped his Dad out. Here's some video of the last 2 or 3 minutes of the battle.

It was interesting that the second fish was an inch shorter than the first fish, but weighed six more pounds. As they say, "Got girth?"

After two big fish in the boat we sized down so Paul and Karen could get in on the action. As per norm, we found a few good eaters drifting chicken on the light tackle, and Paul did battle with most of them. Tim did hook one other BIG fish on the light tackle. The fish was absolutely having it's way.... going where it wanted to go whenever it wanted to go there. Sadly it simply came unbuttoned after about a minute.

Paul's 9-year-old patience pill wore off after about four hours, which was fine because it got us off the water just before the huge thunderstorms rolled in.

It was a great morning with a great family... and that means life is good and gettin' better every day!

July 16, 2011

Headed out today with Sara and Desmond from Nashville. They tried to make it down last summer and had to cancel out so we were glad to make it happen this summer.

TVA was running 18,500 cfs today... I thought that would be pretty good. I was wrong! Cats were slow as molasses. We hit 'em hard for 3 or 4 hours and could only manage about 12 or 15 fish. Fortunately Sara had the hot hand... she caught most of them.

Before we called it a day I decided to run to the Dam and maybe make a drift or two up there for cats. Instead we were greeted by stripe (white bass) tearing it up on top.

I quickly re-rigged a couple of ultralight rods with popping corks and spoons and it was "game on!" Sara and Desmond were in awe. They'd never seen stripe in a feeding frenzy. We had a few schools literally explode right at the boat.

And lots of them were BIG stripe... on the ultralights w/4 lb. test they were almost too hot to handle. Desmond even caught one little striper in the bunch. It was great fun and a fantastic way to end the day. And that means life is good and gettin' better every day!

July 14, 2011

I made a real quick trip out with Mike Moore and his daughter, McKinleigh, this morning. We really didn't have long to fish so I was sort of "runnin' and gunnin'," if you can do that catfishing?

Hit a spot.... drift 100 yards and if nobody got bit, gun to the next spot. We had pretty good flow (21,000 cfs), and drifting chicken breast, as always.

The sun wasn't all the way up when we started... and apparently the catfish weren't awake yet. It was a very slow start. But as the sun rose, we started waking up a few fish... including one hefty blue Mike finally hooked up with. Mike and McKinleigh were a little bit freaked out when they first laid eyes on it.

McKinleigh was great fun. She's a dancer at heart... but she "ain't skeered of no catfish," like some girly girls. Dad carried four good-sized 'eaters" home to filet for McKinleigh's dinner before they headed for the Midnight premier of the latest Harry Potter movie. It's a fun little "father-daughter staycation." More Dads and daughters should do that.

McKinkeigh reminded me a lot of my own girls which made this quick morning trip extra special for me... and that means life is good and gettin' better every day.

July 10, 2011

Henry Lehman and his sons, Austin & Sterling, from Dickson, Tenn. fished with me Sunday. The Lehman's first fished with me in 2006... my first year guiding. Henry shot the very first video I ever posted of Sterling battling a big (31 lb.) catfish. Now Sterling is serving his second year in the U.S Coast Guard while his younger brother, Austin, is a rising Sophomore at UT Martin studying for a career in wildlife.

Here's the video Henry shot of Sterling and Austin in 2006:

We had a great day. Never really hit a Mother Lode, but we just kept hamering away at them in spite of the heat. Henry brought one of the biggest cooler's that's ever been in my boat. It was one of those 150 Quart jobs... Henry said he remembered running out of cooler space on previous trips and "That's not going happen this time." Sad to say, he was right. I think it was one of the first coolers I wasn't able to "fill up." But in seven hours of fishing we were able to provide at least 200 lbs. of catfish with a free ride back to Dickson, Tenn. That means life is good and getting better every day.

Here is video of one of those fish Henry captured:

July 3, 2011

We got the (July 4th) Holiday Blues... not the kind you might think. These blues were catfish, with a few channel cats thrown in for good measure.

Sunday I was out with Lyle and Juanita Boyd from Asheville, NC who came to Chattanooga for a July 4th Holiday getaway. TVA threw us a curve ball and didn't crank up any generators until 10 am. But we managed to find one or two sweet spots in the dead water and put several nice fish in the boat. After they cranked up generators, we started drifting and right off the bat Juanita reels in a big 20 lb. blue! It didn't happen in a hurry. On light tackle it took Juanita a while to get the brute boatside.

This video is of a great channel cat Lyle caught later in the day. Most of the battle was well over before I got video rolling.

We called it a day about 12:30 so the Boyd's could head back for Asheville with a great taste of Tennessee River catfishing. That means life is good and gettin' better every day.

July 2, 2011

Saturday I fished with Michael Bowers and his sons, Chris and Austin. Michael and Austin live in Knoxville while Chris is in Atlanta, so the Scenic City was a good place to "meet in the middle." We fished hard, right through the heat. It was just solid, consistent fishing most of the day... drifting chicken breast through 10 to 25 feet of water.

I actually kept an accurate count of fish today... I usually don't, but some reason I put the fish clicker into action. When we quit about 4 pm we had put 45 catfish in the boat, with several misses and a few lost fish. We never found that "kicker" fish on this day. The biggest fish were in the 8 or 9 lb. range.

Here's a good blue Michael caught. Again, most of the battle was well over before I got video rolling.

June 26, 2011

On Sunday it was a return visit (x3) from Clint Bailey. Clint lives in Lynchburg and works at the Jack Daniels Distillery. He always tips me with "product!" Woohoo!

The previous two trips Clint was fishing during my best May fishing... but this year we were forced to postpone due to floodwaters in early May. I told him to expect "different" fishing in late June. We caught good numbers of catfish early but nothing really big. Then a big storm rolled through that chased us beneath a Riverpark Pavillon for a while. When we came back out we had the river to ourselves.

Water flow had cranked up full blast so we tried the shiner bite a while. We caught a couple of bass and a crappie, but it was slow. Then suddenly, not long after the storm cleared, the white bass (stripe) went absolutely crazy!

I've fished these waters fifty years and I believe that in an hour-and-a-half Sunday, we caught more white bass than I've ever caught at one time in my entire life. It was sheer pandemonium. At one point Clint counted and he caught a stripe on 20 consecutive casts. Chip and I were not far behind him. Most were small ones but quite a few were big "boat paddles," as Benny Hull calls them.

At one point I said to Clint and Chip, "Ya'll let me know if you get tired of this and want to go back to catfishing." To which Clint responded, "Don't hold your breath!"

The feeding frenzy finally slowed but it was incredible while it lasted. Here's a short little video to show you what we used to catch 'em, but I believe they would have hit a bare hook:

Life is good and getting better every day!

June 25, 2011

Saturday I was out with Patrick Falk and his father, David. Patrick was the recipient of a trip I donated to a church fundraiser.

Weekend water generation schedules at Chickamauga Dam have been heavy lately. That makes my style of drift fishing a little more difficult... but we made it work. The Falks were catching a decent number of catfish, topped by a 16-pounder Peter boated.... that is until David hung a horse.

We were right downtown so David had an audience from folks at Coolidge Park and some that were staying on the Delta Queen. On light tackle you don't horse big fish to the boat, so this was about 20-minute battle to whip the 30-pound beast. I shot video of the last couple of minutes, although I had to lay the camera down to help Patrick land the whopper. Since my net broke, and my shoulder is no longer on the "disable list," I'm back to making people fight big fish all the way to the grabbers. I think it really makes it more fun even if it might result in the occasional heartbreak. Enjoy the video:

June 18, 2011

My client cancelled on me today so I decided I would garner some points at "the Real Job." I asked my boss, Tom Henderson, if he wanted to go catch some catfish. He was gung ho and ready to go.

The fish were really hot on our first drift. Tom asked, "Is it always this good?"

I just grinned.

Tom took a cooler full of cats home to clean and take to his Dad for Father's Day. Biggest we caught on the light tackle was 10#. We made a quick try for big fish at one spot. We missed a few bites then Tom finally stuck a pretty good fish. It was battle-scarred, spawned out 36-inch blue that should have weighed more than it did. But Tom said it was his "personal best" freshwater fish so that's a good thing.

The wind got up pretty stiff and with very little flow, it made drifting tough. We went back up the the Dam and played with bluegill and called it a day about Noon. Life is good and gettin' better every day!

I shot just a little sampling of video, including an underwater release shot of Tom's PB fish.

June 11, 2011

Brandon Rambo and his friend Mike were in Chattanooga with their wives. The wives were attending a conference together so they sent 'the boys out to play with me.

We played hard... the catfish were hot. We never hit the Mother Lode but we just had great consistent action all day long. It was unusual if we went more than 10 or 15 minutes without a fish. I'd say we caught 40 or 50 cats... a good number of quality fish, probably 250 lbs. total (give or take).

Here's video of the largest fish of the day... I shot the last few minutes of Mike's battle with a 25 lber. When you're fishing with light tackle, big fish take "some minutes."

June 4, 2011

Saturday I had the fine honor of fishing with the Honorable Judge David Durham, Criminal Court Judge over Tennessee's 5-county 15th Juducial District... and my not-so-honorable outdoor writer friend, John Sloan from Lebanon, TN. John and David fished with me in 2006 and we had a great trip. I knew I had a tough act to follow... and when I saw TVA wasn't going to run any generators at Chickamauga Dam until 11 am, my heart sank knowing we'd be fishing dead water until then... I was a "worried and troubled young man."

I threw out the possibility of shooting docks for crappie instead... but we're all pretty darn old so we opted to go for the lazy man's game and as John will write for his newspaper, "go fish in the dam shade" in the tailwaters of Chickamauga Dam.

To say we made lemonade from lemons is an understatement. We started chasing bluegill for catfish bait. It was not fast and furious, but we were catching quality 'gills.In about 30 minutes we filled the livewell with about 2 dozen eatin'-sized bream (and one big yellow perch). We also snagged several hard-fighting channel cats on the ultralight rods while doing that. Turns out catching the bluegill was wasted effort (caught all our cats on chicken breast)... but it was still great fun "catchin' bait."

We turned our attention to the cats... set out several big rods in the dead water baited with bluegill... and started casting the light tackle baited with chicken into some of my favorite hotspots. Turns out the light tackle and chicken is where it was at. In three hours we boated a bunch of quality blues. No monsters... biggest hit 13 lbs.... but great fun. I also had some shiners and let them swim around until they got eaten by a stripe. It was pretty much constant action, even though the big rods w/bluegill never got touched. Hmmm?

Finally at 11 am the TVA sirens went off and two generators fired up. I was basically just sitting around waiting on the current to pick up and the water to settle out. I suggested David throw out a shiner, which he did, and promptly hooked a screaming big fish that came unbuttoned. That hurt, but it inspired me to set up a drift pattern with the shiners even though it was 11 o'clock and hot!

But so were the fish.... every single drift we did battle with a blue cat, a channel cat, a spotted bass or a smallmouth! I hooked one fish on an ultralight bluegill rod w/4 lb. test line. It held in one place just a like and old blue cat would fight and I was sure that's what I had. A few minutes later when it got close to the boat and went screaming by, our jaws dropped at the sight of a big brown fish. Yikes! Did I mention I have no net right now (busted by a previous client and I haven't bought a new one). It was exciting fighting that fish to the finish until John could lip him. Woohoo!

We ran out of shiners and headed downstream to drift up some more cats. We had steady action until we all decided we were burnt out (literally) at 1:30. So inspite of dead water, we finagled around and found the right patterns for seven hours of action from Bluegill, Yellow Perch, Channels, Blues, Stripe, Spots and Smallmouth.

It was a great day... just the kind of day you want when you have "His Honor," and a reputable (or reputed) Outdoor Writer in the boat! That means life is good and gettin' better every day!

May 28, 2011

Had a great day fishing with Chris Sanders and his Dad, Jim. This was a trip I donated to the Chattanooga Ducks Unlimited Banquet fundraiser last year.

The cats have moved... but Chris and Jim helped me figure that out. We were catching a few, but not burning the woods up on my typical pattern near the Dam. So I decided it was time to head downstream and check some hot summertime haunts.

Paydirt!

We put great numbers of quality fish in the boat. My usual summer pattern drifting chicken breast in 10 to 20 feet of water on some key sections of the river with optimum structure.

May 22, 2011

There was a big difference between yesterday and today. The fish were there but the "bigguns'" did a vanishing act. Today I had the fine honor of fishing with the one, but not only, Taylor Swift and HIS Dad, Kelly. This was the 4th time fishing with me for the Swifts.

I tried to get Taylor to sing for me, but he would have none of it. He's a college sophomore... last summer Taylor spent 75 days in Alaska, living in the wilderness in an Outdoor Leadership Training school. This summer he's working in a box factory... as his Dad said, "Back to the real world this summer."

But back to the fishing world.... we smoked some fish we just never could find a kicker. I can't even say we ever lost or broke one off. I suppose we made up for it with lots of quality channel cats which all fight like demons. And we had some good numbers of decent blues.

Sam Simons and his partners caught one of my tagged cats... it was a 16 lber. that was caught and tagged last weekend in the same vicinity where they caught it. That was the first tag return. Just another reason life is good and gettin' better every day.

May 21, 2011

I hate to be redundant... but once the Chickamauga Dam tailwater cats turn on in May, they are pretty darn consistent. I suppose that's why I like taking people fishing for them.

Saturday Dan Griffith and his son Josh came back to fish for a third time with me. It was a banner day with three cats 20 lbs.-plus, and one that hit 30 lbs. On light spinning tackle, every one of those battles "took some minutes." The Griffiths took home a cooler full for the freezer. The first hour or so our problem was catching fish small enough to fit in the cooler. You can watch along as Josh battles several of them.

May 15, 2011

Whew! I'm tarred! But what a fun weekend fishing.

After a great day Saturday, Sunday it was Round Two with Richard Boehms and his Dad, Henry from Tupelo, Miss. They crappie fished here last year and had planned another crappie trip in March that got stormed out, so opted for a May catfish trip instead. I suspect they have no regrets. We fished nine hours today and I'm estimating we put 300 lbs. of catfish in the boat. Those who have fished with me know I'm prone to UNDER estimate. Richard and Henry kept the small fish for the frying pan and have two big coolers of about 100 lbs. of catfish to clean tonight.

The two big fish in the boat included a 31 lber. (see below), and a 20 lber. But Richard battled another larger beast for 15 to 20 minutes that we never saw, and then it managed to wrap up in something on the bottom and bursted off! Henry also had an 11 lb. channel cat which is a beast of a channel cat. Both days have seen an excellent mix of blues and channels. Of course all on light tackle, and that means life is good and gettin' better every day.

May 14, 2011

Saturday Lee Dunn made a return trip from Knoxville, but rather than a friend, this time he brought his sons, Zachary and Lucas. Those two boys put some fish in the boat. Dad did a lot more watching and videotaping than he did fishing.

It was odd... the first 4 or 5 drifts we made we just caught small channel cats. But we moved over and found another drift line and that's where the blues were. We had several fish in the 10 to 15 lb. class. Then Zachary finally got ahold of a big boy that broke the 30 lb. mark.

Everything caught on chicken BTW. I went through about 10 lbs. of chicken breast this weekend. Thank goodness for those Bi-Lo "2 for the price of 1" sales!

Enjoy the video of several of today's catches:

May 8, 2011

The water finally got back down to a slower flow, far more suitable for my style of catfishing. I headed out Sunday afternoon with Ed McCoy. My "pet" tailwater cats are there in force... although most are still running a little on the small size. Drifting chicken, Ed and I managed a few that broke the 10 lb. mark and a couple that pushed 15. But what we lacked in size we made up for in numbers.

Ed headed for the house and sunset. I decided to hang around and drop a few cut bluegill on the big rods.

It was quite active for an hour or so. I boated a 15 and two 20's, had a bigger fish come unbuttoned and missed a couple more. Then it went dead about 10 so I bailed out.

I started a new "project" today... I'm tagging catfish. One of the TWRA biologists gave me some new tags to try out that they hope will "hold" better on catfish which are normally tough to keep a tag on.
SO, if anybody catches a catfish with a yellow tag on it... please let me know when and where.

We didn't tag every fish... we skipped the real little ones or some that were "quick released" at boatside... but we tagged nineteen (19) cats Sunday. I'll be tagging more over the next several weeks. They DO NOT have a phone number on them. They just say "TWRA ."

I wouldn't expect a huge number or re-captures, but hopefully we'll have a few. Just PM me here on CFF, or e-mail Richard@ScenicCityFishing.com or call the number on my website.

May 6, 2011

Stan Darden and his friend Mike from Chicago needed a break after a hard week working so we escaped to the river for a while. My pet catfish are finally starting to cooperate a little as the water gets to an "almost" manageable flow. It's still tough fishing my favored "chicken drift" pattern, but we're starting to make it work.

But mixing in shiners with the chicken, it really was a mixed bag morning. We had all three species of bass, stripe, crappie, rock bass, bluegill, channel cats and blue cats. Can't complain about that.

I can complain about my Minn Kota falling apart. I really shouldn't... this is it's sixth year of "hard" use after being raised and lowered about ten thousand times, the plastic screw holes keeping the head together all gave up the ghost. I rebuilt it with that wonderful product known as "duct tape," covered by a layer of electrician's tape. But I suppose I'm in the market for a new trolling motor. Anybody got a 55 lb. (or more) thrust, hand-steering TM they want to let go of for a song?

It's been a tough Spring fishing season for me... but I think I'm finally about to turn a corner. But this time last year I was in bad pain from a bum shoulder, to be followed by a spontaneous ruptured disc in my neck. So no matter what... life is good and getting better every day!

May 1, 2011

I went out with my friend Sam Simons and my daughter Priscilla. Sam is on a good "live shiner" pattern. We whacked some quality bass today, along with a few catfish. I shot video today with my i-Kam Extreme Video Glasses.

April 17, 2011

OK, this is my sixth year of being an alleged "professional" guide. Today was my second worst day ever on record! And the first worst I could blame on fishermen that didn't know how to fish. I didn't have that excuse today.

Bill Moore from South Carolina is paying a visit with his daughter and son-in-law, Tim Miller. Of course he started the day telling me about a great catfish trip he had once on Santee Cooper. I knew I was in trouble then. We were on the Top Secret Spot at 8 am... we fished, and fished, and fished HARD. Baits (chicken and bluegill) were in the water being fished dead on target for 6.5 hours non-stop. We reeled in one measly, non-picture-worthy catfish. And it was actually captured by accident on an unmanned rod. We didn't know it was there until we started reeling up to move.

We had maybe a half-dozen "hit & run" hits all day. If it's any consolation of the three or four other boats we saw and talked to, I only saw one other also non-picture-worthy catfish reeled in.

Bill and Tim were GREAT sports, thank goodness. And the weather was absolutely wonderful. So I got to fish with some fine folks and enjoy some gentle breezes under a warm sun. So I suppose, in spite of it all, "Life is good and gettin' better every day!"

April 16, 2011

Jeff Seyfert and I have been trying to get together for a year. Didn't work out last year due to his ailments and mine. We thought today was the day. Mother Nature had other ideas.

When we started I told Jeff and his friend Steve that the wind was going to get bad... I just didn't know how bad, or how fast! We hit the water at daylight and weren't 30 minutes into the morning when gale force winds came screaming up the river. After catching one smallmouth, we bailed on the 46K turbine drift and headed into the eye of the storm. You know it's bad when you've got to run your trolling motor full speed, pointed DOWNSTREAM with the 46K current just to move against the wind. Holy Moly!

We battled it for an hour or so... managed two more nice smallmouth, and a few assorted drum and catfish. Broke off a BIG fish of some variety when I couldn't maneuver in the wind and it wrapped Jeff's line in a half-hitch around the motor.

It got to the point it was impossible to move downstream with the current and fish effectively so I headed back upstream in search of a protected bank. There was no such thing! By this time Steve was grabbing a toboggan and gloves. Jeff was pulling sleeves over his hands... I suggested we call it a short day and re-schedule. They did not object.

Even though we caught a few fish, this was one of those days that when we quit fishing, I knew life was good and gettin' better every day!

April 10, 2011

Lots of water in the system so TVA is generating full blast. That makes it very tough fishing Chickamauga Dam tailwaters, but I gave it a shot along with several other folks from the Chattanooga Fishing Forum.
I asked Drumking to preach a sermon for us. He respectfully declined, opting to preach to the stripers instead... and leaving me to pray for good striper luck on my own. As I heard recently, God answers EVERY prayer, but sometimes the answer is "No."
I committed to stripers for an hour or so... no bites for me. Reliable's son, Addison" embarassed us all by capturing a striper and then "parading down the river" in front of us all while he battled it. I caught a little bit of video of them as they screamed by in the current.
I gave up on stripers when the sun got up and went looking for a brown fish. Not counting one fat little spot, one bite on the pig & jig was the only thing between me and a skunk. Whew! Life is good and gettin' better every day.

April 9, 2011

Randy and Reed Johnson have fished with me several times... and usually we've had great trips. I guess we were due for a bad one. :(
Instead of catfish, they wanted a few crappie for the freezer. We had to postpone our March date due to storms and floods on Chickamauga Lake. We got better weather Saturday, but we all still sort of knew what was coming. We just hoped the warm weather might make a difference. Wishful thinking...
We did find one little pocket of fish... we probably caught about 20 in an hour. Unfortunately there were only four keepers (1 TARP).
Reed will turn 80 years old in July. I sure pray I can motivate as well as he does when I hit the big 8-0!
We hit several other spots without succes and threw in the towel about 2 o'clock.
I'm done with Spring crappie fishing... Mother Nature threw us a killer curve ball this year. Put this one in the books, stick a fork in it, the fat lady has sung (IMHO). I am on to catfish and other piscatorial species.

April 2, 2011

Ron Swallow and his friend Tom Ensley drove all the way from Dayton, Ohio to fish with me Saturday. They've been down several times on their own to fish for bluegill and shellcracker, but they wanted to learn how to catch some crappie.
I did a great job showing them my technique... I did a lousy job showing them fish.
As others have noted, crappie had lockjaw Saturday. Water temps are in the low 50's... stupid cold for this time of year. Personally I fear that the crazy weather and water conditions have pretty much ruined any chance we'll have for a serious, en masse, crappie spawn this year.
But back to report... we slugged it out with the crappie and crazy wind until a little after Noon for a grand total of seven keepers. So I decided it was time for Plan B. We pulled the boat out, I stocked up on wax worms and shiners (thanks to a morning report from my buddy Sam) and we headed below the Dam.
The wind was a major headache even down there... no way was I going downriver against 3-foot rollers. We messed around and caught bunches of bluegill for a while, although the "bigguns" haven't shown up yet. One keeper crappie teased us, but we could find no more. I wanted to wait for the "late bite" to break out the shiners. Ron and Tom were clearly none too impressed with the fishing while we were "killin' time."
But when the first shiner went in the water, Ron hooked up and we were in for a ride. After a ten-minute battle without seeing the fish, I was betting on a big drum or big catfish. Lo and behold Ron brings a striper to the net that was pushing 20 lbs. Not a bad job using an 8 lb. leader!
From then on, it was "on." Not numbers, but quality fish. Both of them landed a mixed bag of big drum, stripers, smallmouth, and catfish.. with one or two "break off's" thrown in for good measure. Besides his "personal best" ( and first) striper, Ron also boated a trophy smallmouth that was an ounce or two shy of 5 lbs.
I hated for the two of them to come all the way from Dayton, Ohio for lackluster fishing... but after a long, hard 14-hour day on the water the stars aligned and we ended on a very high note. They tipped well ... which means life is good and gettin' better every day.

March 20, 2011

It was a Birthday trip for Ethan Seitz (12) with his Dad, Pat. With warming water temperatures, it seems as if crappie fishing should pick up everyday... and it did. We found spawning fish pretty shallow, 7 - 8 feet or less. We caught Ethan a limit of big crappie in the boat the first two hours, including one TARP, plus a wide assortment of short crappie and other miscellaneous species. However the bite died for us a little after ten. Regardless, it was MUCH better than the day before.
It was especially fun watching Ethan do battle with a monster drum on a crappie rod with 6 lb. test line. Ethan did a great job and put the 12 lb. gray beast in the net... his biggest fish ever. I shot the very tail end of the battle on video.

March 19, 2011

Harry Eades and his friend Derrick made their third trip from Franklin, TN to fish with me. I had hoped that nearly two weeks after "the mini-flood of 2011" my crappie would wake up. They did a little, but very little. We slugged it out all day for relatively few fish... but what we lacked in numbers, we made up for in quality. Harry and Derrick each had crappie that would qualify for the Tennessee Angler Recognition Program (TARP). They went home with enough fish for an excellent fish fry.

March 12, 2011

Last weekend was a total washout due to massive rains ... and I cancelled out today's crappie clients because of flood waters.
So, in hopes the catfish wouldn't be quite so discriminating, me and Sam decided to go explore some catfish haunts. It was a valient effort... one 5 lb. fish came down to about "one pound per hour of fishing."
The ONE fish came on very first anchor, and we had several bites from what we guessed were similar-sized fish. But we left 'em looking for "the big bite." Never happened... after a few futile casts for crappie, we decided it was nap time.

February 27, 2011

I got to be "the client" today. Mt friend Sam Simons guided me to explore some of his favorite catfish haunts, and show off his new electronics. It was VERY nice getting to sit back and let somebody else do all the work. All I had to do was fish!
We had to work for them today however... sort of slow going but Sam stayed at it until we finally hit one little flurry of fish. We boated a 16, a 15 and a 10 in the span of about 20 minutes, and then it went dead again. But we had great fun exploring, swapping war stories and I now have the fever for some new electronics for my boat.
Here is a little video of Sam battling the 15...Watch him bite Sam's finger... that was fun.

Life is good and gettin' better every day!

February 26, 2011

Headed back out chasing pre-spawn crappie today with my friend Ed McCoy. We were sort of fishing in a tag team with Ross Malone and Nathan Beard in another boat. It's always nice when you can have two or even three boats "scouting" out the best areas where fish seem to be holding.
The fish weren't where I found them Wednesday, at least not in the same numbers. Guessing colder weather and water temps moved them.
We never did find the Mother Lode, but when you're trolling you just keep plugging along and slowly but surely you're going to put fish in the boat. As Ed is always prone to say, "It doesn't matter where you go, as long as you keep going." Late in the day Ross and Nathan found a really sweet line which put us a bunch of fish in the boat in a hurry. However the wind had gotten up and we would have to run the big motor upwind and then drift/troll back downwind... then reel up lines and repeat procedure.
We finished about 2 pm with 4 limits, 60 crappie between our two boats... plus I had a nice bonus bass. We caught a lot more short fish than I caught on Wednesday. A variety of colors worked... red/chartreuse, pink/white, blue/black, etc. I usually don't sweat color too much. I typically believe if you put a lure on a crappie's nose, presented the right way, he's not going to turn down what looks like a free meal. A lot of the fish we clean today had some big shad minnows in them. Kind of amazes me that they'll bother eating a little 1/16th oz. tube jig when they're already carrying around some big shad minnows in their bellies... but I'm glad they do.
This time last year what very little fishing I did, I was in severe pain awaiting shoulder surgery. It is a beautiful thing to not hurt, and to catch fish. That means life is REALLY good and gettin' better every day!

February 23, 2011

I'm home from my world travels... I had one more vacation day so I decided to battle my jet lag checking on the pre-spawn crappie.
For those who haven't seen my reports before, this time of year I love long-line trolling for pre-spawners moving up creeks before they go shallow to spawn. Trolling is a deadly technique this time of year. It took me an hour or so but I finally found one area where the fish were hanging. It was a flat, only about 7 feet deep... there was no discernable structure. They just decided that area was where they wanted to be.
Lure of choice... always my "go to" color... red & chartreuse tube jig. I always use a GPS to insure a constant trolling speed and lure depth. The speed might vary anywhere from 0.6 mph up 1.2 mph, depending upon line size, lure size and water depth. But once you find the right combination in the right place... you can "smack 'em!" It's a fantastic method for kids... or even adults who may not have developed the skills and "touch" often required when casting for crappie. (I'm doing all I can to cut Drumking off at the pass here before he accuses me of "cheating." )
Once I got in that zone, I put a limit in the boat in relatively short order... and even culled a couple of smaller fish before pulling up stakes. I caught a mix of black and white crappie (kept 9 blacks and 6 whites). I had a couple of whites over 14-inches... one of them pushing 15. It was interesting to note that nearly all the white crappie were females... nearly all the blacks were males. My father-in-law was a very happy man when I handed him a ziplock bag full of filets to spread among his neighbors.
I took my little dachsund, Pollyanna, on her very first fishing trip. She enjoyed the boat ride and the sunshine... but she could really care less about the fish.

February 13, 2011

I'm in a faraway land and got to mark one off of my Bucket List today. We went fishing for Mekong Catfish. Bungsamran is a pay lake in the city limits of Bangkok. You've probably seen it on TV ... Jeremy Wade of "River Monsters" has been here (although he didn't tell you it's a pay lake). You sort of feel like you're at Lake Winnepesauka except it's Mekong Cats swimming around rather than carp. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
And it is still "fishing," waiting & hoping for the "big bite," even if you are fishing from your own private bungalow. And it REALLY feels like fishing when you hook one of these beasts... and then try to muscle him hard enough to keep from running under a dock.
For you catmen who know the difference between the power of a big blue and the power of big channel cat.... take a Tennessee River channel cat that weighs 40 or 50 pounds... and put him on steroids! That is a Mekong Catfish fight. Catch 2 or 3 and you are ready to say "Uncle."
It was a grand experience. I was fishing with Eddy Mounce of Fish Thailand. http://www.fishthailand.co.uk/ He's a great guy and runs a great operation.

February 6, 2011

Duck season is over... time to fish. Me and Sam wanted to chase some winter blues. We intended to take his boat and his new depth finder but "technical difficulties" necessitated my boat. Turned out Sam just had a wire come unplugged on his trim switch.
The cats were not overly cooperative. We had lots of mushmouths hits, but few "takers." Sam just scored one picture-worthy blue... I scored one "chicken fish" that wasn't picture-worthy.
Bit thank goodness Sam had a few shiners left over and still kickin' from a trip a week ago so we decided they needed to be drowned. We only had two takers on the shiners... but they were quality fish!
Nothing like a great big brown fish on a beautiful winter day to flat "make your day!"
I shot some video on my "i-Kam Video Glasses."

January 16, 2011

Written by Jim Miller:
Met-up with Richard at 8:30am. Checked out Kings Slough-too low and icey. Headed to the East Ramp-too icey, but what is that? Someone has already broken through the ice a few yards. Richard and I want to fish. Richard has a plan. Fit his G3 into that small crack and run the motor enough to thaw out the ice, and run it somemore under the ice making a big bulge in the ice that cracked it good. Then drive G3 slowly over the ice to break us a path to the lake. Good plan Richard.
After the delayed blast off we headed down to the lower end as it was 32 degrees on the upper end. Started on the sunny side of the lake and it was a nice 37 degrees. Stayed on that side of the lake all day and worked along the shore very slow and steady. Nothing for the first hour plus, and then Richard scores a real nice rainbow trout. It was nice to break the ice (again). Then Richard scores a nice spot. We plod along with a few misses, pulldowns, and I have an idea about a deep pocket. Ask Richard to troll over there, and right on cue a nice 18ish spot pulls my float down, Richard videos it, and being camera shy the spot pulls off on cue and exits stage right.

Had another good pull down in the same spot, but missed it. Move around a little more and I get a nice keeper size spot. I actually touched this one.
We keep moving along with a few misses and a few snags, and I'm about to say something to Richard about the point being good that we are approaching when he is suddenly in a battle for possession of his rod. The first 30 secords I wasn't sure who was going to win. Then the big fish got out into the deeper water and Richard was in charge. After a long fight Richard proudly held up the big fish of the day, 18 plus inches.
We continue along with the sun dropping low, and I hook up with another nice keeper. I'm making fun of the way it was fighting as it couldn't bend in the middle. It was wiggling stiffly like a shark when it pulled loose at the boat. Let that be a lesson to me to not make fun of a spot. The weather cooperated pretty well. We would have liked to have had more cloud cover, but at least the wind didn't bother us too much. And the sun felt pretty good after last week.
That was about it on the fish catching. It was great to get back out on the water with Richard. I hope we can do it again soon.