drumking, Chickamauga, Striper, Bass, White bass, yellow bass, catfish, crappie, December 12, 2011,
I was supposed to go fishing today with Gator. He called yesterday and asked if I wanted to go and I jumped at the chance to go with him. But, he called me this morning and told me that his hot water heater had gone out and he would probably be all day getting it repaired. I knew that Bassert was going fishing today and was probably going to be alone, so I called him and begged a ride. He was glad to take me up on the suggestion that I had. About 15 or 20 minutes after Pat and I had made arrangements, Gator called me back and said that his hot water problem was just a reset button and that he was good to go. I felt so bad having to tell him that in the short interval that he first called, I had bummed another ride. Today was the only day this week that Gator and I could have gotten together. Sorry, Gator. We will get after those fish asap.
Pat picked me up on Tyner Lane, and off to the lake we went. We had stripers on our mind. We chased gulls around this morning and Pat really had a good day. He showed me just how good a bass fisherman that he is. He caught every largemouth bass that came into the boat today. I think that was 5 or 6 bass with the smallest being about 2.5 lbs and the biggest one weighed 4.0 even and was fat as a butter ball.
Pat kept catching fish and I kept chunking and winding to no avail. I finally did catch a nice sized yellow bass and shortly after that caught one even bigger. Then Pat hooked and landed a nice 7 lb 15 oz hybrid rockfish. He was so happy. I did a great job of getting it in the net. Then the big white bass showed up and I finally began to catch some fish. We landed several boat paddle sized whites. We didn't weigh them, but probably should have. The two largest had to be pushing 3 lbs apiece. Monster whites.
Then we took some time out to crappie fish for 30 minutes or so. We met a couple of guys from Kingston who were down here sampling our crappie fishing and they were having a blast. They did really good. We talked to them for a few minutes and pointed out a spot for them to try. They were super guys. Kel makes his own crappie jigs and gave us a good sampling of them. They are now our new secret crappie lures and we're not telling size, color, or nothing. They caught all their fish today on Kel's jigs.
Then we went back to rockfishing again and I managed to land a 9 lb 10 oz beauty. Pat caught another largemouth bass and we each caught a slimer. Blue cats and small at that. The afternoon was winding down, and I was getting tired and my shoulders were beginning to hurt, so we headed to Tyner ramp and put the boat on the trailer. Thanks for taking me today on short notice, Pat. I promised not to gig you very much and wasn't I good about it today? You weren't really front ending me at all. I don't care what Yellburt says. It is hard to front end someone when you are sitting in the middle of the lake and bait, gulls, and fish all around you. emoBigsmile emoGeezer
We caught the crappie (16) including Pat's 40th TARP on Bobby Garland slab slayers and baby shads. I used blue ice with a chartreuse tail light and Pat used a outlaw special I think. It was a chartreuse lure anyway. Bass came on spoons and tail weighted lures. Water temp was in the low 50's I think. I actually forgot to look. Maybe Pat knows.
PS. I landed my rockfish in about 3 minutes. Pat had one on that was on for about 5 minutes. It headed out toward the main river and I was telling Pat to follow it with the trolling motor, loosen up his drag, (he said that he did) and without ever turning that fish, it finally broke him off. Boy, I sure would have liked to have seen that fish. Big ones always get away, don't they? emoBigsmile
I was supposed to go fishing today with Gator. He called yesterday and asked if I wanted to go and I jumped at the chance to go with him. But, he called me this morning and told me that his hot water heater had gone out and he would probably be all day getting it repaired. I knew that Bassert was going fishing today and was probably going to be alone, so I called him and begged a ride. He was glad to take me up on the suggestion that I had. About 15 or 20 minutes after Pat and I had made arrangements, Gator called me back and said that his hot water problem was just a reset button and that he was good to go. I felt so bad having to tell him that in the short interval that he first called, I had bummed another ride. Today was the only day this week that Gator and I could have gotten together. Sorry, Gator. We will get after those fish asap.
Pat picked me up on Tyner Lane, and off to the lake we went. We had stripers on our mind. We chased gulls around this morning and Pat really had a good day. He showed me just how good a bass fisherman that he is. He caught every largemouth bass that came into the boat today. I think that was 5 or 6 bass with the smallest being about 2.5 lbs and the biggest one weighed 4.0 even and was fat as a butter ball.
Pat kept catching fish and I kept chunking and winding to no avail. I finally did catch a nice sized yellow bass and shortly after that caught one even bigger. Then Pat hooked and landed a nice 7 lb 15 oz hybrid rockfish. He was so happy. I did a great job of getting it in the net. Then the big white bass showed up and I finally began to catch some fish. We landed several boat paddle sized whites. We didn't weigh them, but probably should have. The two largest had to be pushing 3 lbs apiece. Monster whites.
Then we took some time out to crappie fish for 30 minutes or so. We met a couple of guys from Kingston who were down here sampling our crappie fishing and they were having a blast. They did really good. We talked to them for a few minutes and pointed out a spot for them to try. They were super guys. Kel makes his own crappie jigs and gave us a good sampling of them. They are now our new secret crappie lures and we're not telling size, color, or nothing. They caught all their fish today on Kel's jigs.
Then we went back to rockfishing again and I managed to land a 9 lb 10 oz beauty. Pat caught another largemouth bass and we each caught a slimer. Blue cats and small at that. The afternoon was winding down, and I was getting tired and my shoulders were beginning to hurt, so we headed to Tyner ramp and put the boat on the trailer. Thanks for taking me today on short notice, Pat. I promised not to gig you very much and wasn't I good about it today? You weren't really front ending me at all. I don't care what Yellburt says. It is hard to front end someone when you are sitting in the middle of the lake and bait, gulls, and fish all around you. emoBigsmile emoGeezer
We caught the crappie (16) including Pat's 40th TARP on Bobby Garland slab slayers and baby shads. I used blue ice with a chartreuse tail light and Pat used a outlaw special I think. It was a chartreuse lure anyway. Bass came on spoons and tail weighted lures. Water temp was in the low 50's I think. I actually forgot to look. Maybe Pat knows.
PS. I landed my rockfish in about 3 minutes. Pat had one on that was on for about 5 minutes. It headed out toward the main river and I was telling Pat to follow it with the trolling motor, loosen up his drag, (he said that he did) and without ever turning that fish, it finally broke him off. Boy, I sure would have liked to have seen that fish. Big ones always get away, don't they? emoBigsmile
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