Davo & Stump Jumper's Win on Watts Bar 9/9/2006

[Davo]

Well, initially Stump was going to be the backseat in my boat, but since it is currently out of commission he graciously offered his boat. He even "let" me run the trolling motor all day. Right at blast off we motored a whopping 50 yards and started fishing. Within 10 minutes I had a nice 2lb + LM in the boat on a RR Chart/ white clacker buzzbait. We continued to fish around the cove without another bite. We did have tons of bait all around us and once or twice had large schools of good sized bass busting them within casting range, we just couldn't hook up. We motored up river after a couple of hours and fished a shoreline where I got a couple more dinks. One was really neat in that I cast a T-rigged worm and it went over a branch, while it was dangling the bass busted it. We then decided to look for some structure, seems like the lake is eat up with road beds. Well, we failed at that and just killed some time on a flat point. We decided to head towards the ramp around 12:30 and just fish. What was really funny was that I said how nice it would be to at least catch another fish, preferrably a 5 pounder. I tied on a 1/4 oz Stanley Wedge (white/chart with chart trailer) and shortly after caught a pig smallie in about 3 feet of water near a mud line at 1pm. She literally crushed the spinnerbait and went airborne a couple of times before Stump Jumper got her in the net. We continued to fish around the island w/o another bite. We were just getting ready to head to the weigh-in when I saw a swirl just ahead of us. We were making a couple more casts when there was some activity out behind us. A large bass was chasing the heck out of a shad, it looked like a shark. We chunked spinnerbaits at it with no luck. I pulled out a rod with a Pop-R on it and threw it to her. She immediately smashed it and shortly after we netted our 3rd keeper, a nice 4.5lb smallie. I had a great time, got to fish with a great guy (whom I front ended all day apparently), got to meet several members I had not met before and got beat for big fish by a girl (man, Saltwatts is never gonna live this down, his wife showed everyone how to catch the big one with a 5.3lb smallie.) All in all, great trip and I will definitely be going back to the Bar soon.

 

[DHaun]

Thanks for the report and congrats on the win!

 

[stump jumper]

It was a great day to be on the water and I couldn't have asked for a better partner today. I didn't mind allowing Davo to run the trolling motor at all especially given the circumstances with his boat and our original plans for me to backseat with him. The BB, SB, and TR just weren't on my side today, but the company of Davo, the opportunity to learn, and just being out in mother nature made it a great day. There was that nice stick that I almost boated...it was a good 6 footer, maybe more, and would have been my personal best but it got off about 30 feet from the boat to much disappointment. It was also great to meet many of you from the forum that I had not met yet. emoThumbsup

 

[Jmax]

Congrats guys!!!!!emoParty Good job on finding a couple acorns being the blind hogs that you were. SJ I am very glad you got the win on your first CFF however Davo has been Mr. Consistent lately and I am more happy for you than him.emoPoke SJ keep in mind when you win one and you did not do all that hot just say "WE" won the Tx. It sounds much better and leave it at that.emoLaugh

I thought it was funny that Mrs. Saltwatts put it on us for big bass. It really sunk home when we tried to get her pic and she didn't want to touch it!emoLaugh All us so called die hard bass men got it put on us by a gal that didn't even want to touch them.emoLaugh emoLaugh Jmax

 

[jon the fisherman]

No kidding Jmax, she caught an awesome fish and I didn't catch squat.


Great day Davo and SJ, you guys done good...but don't get to spoiled cause that lake will kick your butt one day. It really kicked mine todayemoBang

 

[Guest]

Congrats Davo and Stumpjumper I know it was extra fun to catch that big brown fish on a topwater bait. Sounds like the bar was living up to it's old reputation of being a pretty fair smallmouth lake. Good report.

Cheez

 

[SNUFFY]

SORRY FOR THE LATE REPORT BUT JUST GOT IN FROM THE NICEST WEDDING I`VE EVER BEEN TO FOR A NIECE OF MINE...HAD TO RUSH HOME ,CLEAN UP AND DRIVE BACK ALMOST TO WATTS BAR FOR THE WEDDING ON A NICE RIDGETOP COMPLETE WITH HORSEDRAWN CARRIAGE. REALLY BEAUTIFUL !!

FLIP MUST BE OUT OF POCKET SO I`LL GIVE OUR VERSION OF WHAT WAS REALLY A PRETTY GOOD DAY OF FISHING...JUST COULDN`T FIND THE KEEPERS.....GUESSING WE HAD BETWEEN 8-10 FISH WITH THE MAJORITY BEING SMALLMOUTH...MOST WERE FAIRLY GOOD SIZED FISH ,FAT AND HEALTHY...A COUPLE OF 16" SMALLIES NICE AND FAT...ONLY HAD ONE THAT WOULD REALLY CLASSIFY AS A DINK...BEST I CAN REMEMBER.....WE WAS HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME SHOOTING THE BREEZE IT WAS KINDA HARD TO PAY REAL CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE SHAKY HEADS AND JIGS THAT WE CAUGHT MOST OF THEM ON.... COUPLE CAME ON LIZARDS AND WORMS...FLIP CAUGHT ONE ON A TOPWATER EARLY ...COLOR DIDN`T SEEM TO BE A BIG FACTOR....ROCKS AND FAIRLY DEEP WATER CLOSE BY WAS...

ANY WAY HAD A GREAT TIME WITH FLIP AND ENJOYED FINALLY MEETING EVERYBODY ... A GREAT BUNCH OF GUYS !!

CONGRATS TO DAVO AND SJ....REALLY NICE FISH AND CAN`T WAIT TO TELL THE GUYS IN OUR CLUB HOW SALTWATTS WIFE PUT THE WHOOPIN` ON HIM !!!

 

[fisherpal2k]

Good job Davo and stump jumper! Congrats to Mrs. saltwatts too! Sounds like a really nice trip! Thanks for the reports and the info.emoThumbsup

 

[polo-dog]

Great report. Thanks for the info. Were most of the fish near the main flow or were they in sloughs/creeks?

 

[stump jumper]

Polo,

Our fish were in sloughs/coves and off points of islands not far from the river channel. There was a mud line around the islands in some places.

Jmax,

I will at least take the credit for doing an awesome job netting the fish! emoLaugh I fished my heart out trying to connect and it just was one of those days. It was great regardless and I will definitely fish more CFF's in the future.emoThumbsup

 

[RangerRob]

OK ... here's mine and Tr19's report...

**CRICKETS**

We happily showed up and donated to Davo, SJ, and Mrs. Saltwatts. Great fish gang! Basically, Tr19 and I stuck to our plan to fish deep and we were either going to live by it or die by it. The entire day was spent on deep points, humps, stump flats, and one ledge, dragging C-rigs, DJW football jigs, and deep cranks ... including Tr19's new deep balsa crank .... purdy. We caught a few dinks, but just never could get the deep bite going. I can't help but feel that this was at least the third T this year that spanked me due to the lack of current. I don't know for sure, but hell, I gotta blame it on something.

The company was great, the field was great, the weather was great ... dang ... were we supposed to fish?

Looking forward to the next one jtf!

 

[carolf29]

Congrats guys and gal!!!!! Sounds like you all had a lot of fun.