This morning was a morning for nuts and ducks and I certainly qualify for the nut job. My partner is as bad as I am. Terry Rogers aka Fishing Machine met me at my home and we put in the lake and fished for a little less than 3 hours, but the fish were happy to play with us today. emoBigsmile
We had intended to go to the Riverpark and see if there were any active Stripers, but TVA was running something like 45,000 CFS and with those RR trestle bridge down there, I don't like to fish with that much current. Below Watts Bar is ok, but not the Chick. So, we chose option 2 and it turned out really good.
We fished vertical structure briefly, then a rocky river point and found the fish there and wanting to play. We were throwing Glacier and Monkey Milk BG plastics on 1/16 oz jig heads. The bite, although good, was very subtle this morning while the rain was pouring down. Some bites were so light that most people would never have set the hook. Line watching pays off in those cases, unless you use fluorocarbon or braided line and just fish by feel. I don't do that. After a couple of hours, the current suddenly slacked and seemed almost to have stopped. I haven't checked the flow rate yet to see what happened. But, when that happened, the fish stopped biting, so we decided to scout for just a little bit and then come home and get a hot cup of coffee.
I always make it a point to scout during every fishing trip, no matter what. That is the only way that you will ever expand your fishing knowledge. It doesn't have to be for a long period of time, but have a plan in your mind to check a certain spot out or just follow a contour line and watch for dropoffs. Many times you will find a big stump on a dropoff that is loaded with fish that you never would have dreamed of. Throw a marker, put a waypoint on your graph and keep it for later if you don't have time to fish at that particular time. I'm writing some of these thoughts down as a teaching tool if any of you are so inclined to try them. It works.
Terry and I caught 24 keepers, 12 shorts, and 1 little Smallmouth Bass. I kept 16 for the freezer. I thought that I only had 15 as I was keeping count with my counter, but Terry must have slipped one in on me that I didn't know about. Grin. Terry, you are a trouper, that's all I can say about that. To go on a short fishing foray with little notice, and change plans after you got over here is a compliment to you as a fisherman. If we don't get together again before the holidays, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
emoBigsmile emoGeezer
We had intended to go to the Riverpark and see if there were any active Stripers, but TVA was running something like 45,000 CFS and with those RR trestle bridge down there, I don't like to fish with that much current. Below Watts Bar is ok, but not the Chick. So, we chose option 2 and it turned out really good.
We fished vertical structure briefly, then a rocky river point and found the fish there and wanting to play. We were throwing Glacier and Monkey Milk BG plastics on 1/16 oz jig heads. The bite, although good, was very subtle this morning while the rain was pouring down. Some bites were so light that most people would never have set the hook. Line watching pays off in those cases, unless you use fluorocarbon or braided line and just fish by feel. I don't do that. After a couple of hours, the current suddenly slacked and seemed almost to have stopped. I haven't checked the flow rate yet to see what happened. But, when that happened, the fish stopped biting, so we decided to scout for just a little bit and then come home and get a hot cup of coffee.
I always make it a point to scout during every fishing trip, no matter what. That is the only way that you will ever expand your fishing knowledge. It doesn't have to be for a long period of time, but have a plan in your mind to check a certain spot out or just follow a contour line and watch for dropoffs. Many times you will find a big stump on a dropoff that is loaded with fish that you never would have dreamed of. Throw a marker, put a waypoint on your graph and keep it for later if you don't have time to fish at that particular time. I'm writing some of these thoughts down as a teaching tool if any of you are so inclined to try them. It works.
Terry and I caught 24 keepers, 12 shorts, and 1 little Smallmouth Bass. I kept 16 for the freezer. I thought that I only had 15 as I was keeping count with my counter, but Terry must have slipped one in on me that I didn't know about. Grin. Terry, you are a trouper, that's all I can say about that. To go on a short fishing foray with little notice, and change plans after you got over here is a compliment to you as a fisherman. If we don't get together again before the holidays, I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
emoBigsmile emoGeezer
