Dogfight 8/15

[ranman]

Well I broke the dry spell last night and wieghed a fish in!A whopping 1lb8oz
largmouth that was 15 and 1/8 inches.I had to measure him twice since it's been so long since I've caught a keeper on Monday night.Anyway 6lbs and some change won 3lb something was big fish and after all was said and done only
four teams caught fish and I finally beat the guys that fish the TN river!
It was a tough night for everyone with no current on the river and the sudden change in temp the fish were really not willing to bite.All of us that caught fish were fishing shallow water and the guy that won started in Rogers creek(I'm not sure if he stayed there) but thats where he fishes most of the time.I caught my keeper on the old trusty spinnerbait after pitching or throwing everything that I own for 2 1/2 hours in about 4 feet of water around laydowns in Price creek.
Even though I didn't win any money it still feels like a small victory because I beat alot of other very good fisherman that usually beat the stew out of me!
Just to let you guys know Saturday morning out of 58 marina there is a benefit tournament for a guy named Billy Freeman I don't know him but they said he got hurt on the job and may miss like a year of work.
$30 per boat with $5 big fish pot and guaranteed $400 first place. Plus it will also pay 1st -5th Time is 7:00am till 1:00pm

 

[jason]

That's great! I'll bet it's a real confidence booster for you to beat the guys that normally win. What size spinnerbait were you using? We had to drop down to 1/4oz on Saturday to make the spots bite. Was the temp down from all the rain?

 

[polo-dog]

Great job ranman, I knew that you would break into the tournaments one of these days. It sounds like you've been putting together some good patterns and spots that are putting you on the fish on a fairly consistent basis. That's the most fun thing to see in my book. Keep thinking and you'll keep catching more and better fish, I would bet on that. Keep up the good work. What size of blades were you using? Single or double bladed? Were you casting to laydowns or was he on a flat? Was the water up or down or was it where it normally is? Were the fish you caught deep into the cover or on the outside branches. About what time did you catch most of the fish. From what I remember there were some storm cells that were moving through the area in the evening. Here's the Weather Channel's synopsis of the temps and barometric readings for Monday: http://www.weather.com/weather/pastweather/hourly/37341?stn=0&when=081505
It looks like the barometer and temps were dropping during the dogfight. Fun to think about what shut most of the fish down and if it's reproduceable.

 

[ranman]

I only use terminator TI or stainless spinnerbaits in chart. and white.Most of the time in 1/4 oz with #4 gold willowleaf and whatever size Colorado blade those come with in chrome.
I've read all about different colors and blades and what not but for the Hiwassee
under most of the conditions this seems to be the best combination.
The water on that river has not had a normall level all year which has been a big problem for me at least,but it was high monday night and a little more stained then it has been this year.
We caught most of our fish away from any cover and if I remember right none of the bites came while flipping deep into the cover everything was either out from the trees or on a flat.I had several fish hit just a few feet from the boat.
We everything in shallow(4-8 feet) water but close to deeper water.Main river banks and major creek channel.We didn't see any of those schools of smaller baitfish but alot of the larger 6-7in shad on the surface.
Also we didn't get rained on but a large limb fell right in front of the boat as we were flipping the main channel nearly giving me a heart attack! The temp dropped 15 or 20 deg. from blast off to about 6:30.water temp stayed about the same.
About 8:00 we went to the place where we had caught several fish on a buzzbait late last week on a couple of laydowns on a piont.Last time we were there we got several bites and one keeper,not a single fish there Monday night!
So we just decided to work down the bank and just enjoy the rest of the afternoon when we finally got the bite.I believe that more than one fish was there we just really didn't have enough time at that point to have a shot at them.

 

[jason]

For consistency, you can't go wrong with 1/4oz Booyah spinnerbaits in white/blood with twin silver willows. When the water is real murky, a chartreuse 3/8oz seems to pick up larger bass, especially over weeds.

 

[DHaun]

Congrats on breakin that dry spell ranman. I bet next week you'll do even better!