Feeling good about our 19 bass and best five going 19 plus lbs on Tuesday we hit the lake on Weds. Headed for the rock flats where we had the best luck the day before and could not buy a bite. emoAngry Where did those dang bass go! Wind blowing 100 mph, cold as crap, waves crashing into the boat, I was thinking is this January? This can't be the Chick in April. emoRolleyes It was like we had to start all over. Went into search mode and went out deep, back in shallow, mid range, you name it we hit it. I think we had two bass about noon and I was feeling really down about how poor we were doing. Not to mention I was just about ready to call it quits after fighting the wind all morning. We moved to an area where the water was like 2 and a half feet. I actually did it to just try and get out of the stinking wind. Next thing I know a really nice 3 lber loaded up on my shakey. 
It was hard to tell due to the wind when you had a hit but they were there in that shallow as sh....ah....crap water. I was stirring up mud with the trolling motor but every now & then one of us would connect. Not my most favorite type of fishing but it salvaged our day. Put 7 more in the boat. emoThumbsup Ended that day with 9 bass and 7 of those would keep. Best five would have been around 14 to 15 pounds. None of the bass showed any signs of spawning yet. emoScratch Those bass there are way behind years past on the Chick, I would guess at least a month.
Headed out Thursday morning to another day of wind and waves. emoBang Looking at the water you could tell it was up. It did not take long for me to realize the lake was up about 2 more feet since we had got there Monday and it was high to start with. We headed for water in years past was not even fishable on the Chick in April, it was normally dirt that time of year. emoAngel It seemed strange to be flipping flooded bushes on the Chick in April but that is what we ended up doing. If someone had told me we would be doing that, I would have told them they were nuts. emoTongue Pitching and flipping flooded lay downs and buck brush we had our best day of the whole trip. Put 24 bass in the boat and missed or lost at least that many more. Had several hook ups where we got the brush and stuff messed up with our line and lost them. Still had a blast. Nothing huge again, best were two fours, we both caught a four. They were also eating it better this day. Best five would have only been 18 and some change but this day made our whole trip worth it. I was using 15 lb fluorocarbon with a 3/16th shakey. Felt like we were in FL flipping reeds. Martin was usning braid with the same bait. emoDance
Excited about our last day we could not wait. Got up again for the fifth day straight to cold winds and waves. This time I was not deterred knowing we were going to be flipping flooded stuff. Head to our best spot from Thursday first it took only one look to realized our gang at the TVA had dropped the water back down. emoBawl Some of the stuff that was in about three foot now was in only one foot of water. emoBang GEEZ!!!! The only thing consistent was the inconsistency of each day. emoHoppingmad Hard to pattern the bass with temp changing each day, wind blowing from 10 to 30 mph, cold as crap and with water levels going up and down changing every day. Had to work the edges of what we had flipped the day before. Only caught three bass doing this but all were good ones. Two right at three lbs and one right at four. The sun broke out and we stopped getting any hits along the stuff we had wacked them on the day before. Makes you wonder where they go. emoScratch Moved back to flooded flats with rock in the 3 to 4 foot range. Martin had to leave on Friday due to a funeral he had to go to so we only fished until noon. Managed 8 more bass on this pattern. Gave us 11 bass in the boat for Friday with the best five going 16 and some change. I think only three of those were short. Really a high percentage of keeper bass this trip.
I saw several CFFers but not sure they knew who I was. We were in Martin's boat, it is a blue Bass Cat with a 150 murc. Since he only had a 6 hour trip and me a 10 hour trip we took his. It may sound like we only threw a shakey but we tried a lot of other baits. None worked. The shakey was our bread and butter go to bait and the only bait we boated any bass on. Not a bad trip, emoThumbsup We put 68 bass in the boat in three full days and two half days. No real big ones but some really nice quality bass. Hope you all have a great year. emoToast Jmax
As usual, here are a couple more pictures....
It was hard to tell due to the wind when you had a hit but they were there in that shallow as sh....ah....crap water. I was stirring up mud with the trolling motor but every now & then one of us would connect. Not my most favorite type of fishing but it salvaged our day. Put 7 more in the boat. emoThumbsup Ended that day with 9 bass and 7 of those would keep. Best five would have been around 14 to 15 pounds. None of the bass showed any signs of spawning yet. emoScratch Those bass there are way behind years past on the Chick, I would guess at least a month.Headed out Thursday morning to another day of wind and waves. emoBang Looking at the water you could tell it was up. It did not take long for me to realize the lake was up about 2 more feet since we had got there Monday and it was high to start with. We headed for water in years past was not even fishable on the Chick in April, it was normally dirt that time of year. emoAngel It seemed strange to be flipping flooded bushes on the Chick in April but that is what we ended up doing. If someone had told me we would be doing that, I would have told them they were nuts. emoTongue Pitching and flipping flooded lay downs and buck brush we had our best day of the whole trip. Put 24 bass in the boat and missed or lost at least that many more. Had several hook ups where we got the brush and stuff messed up with our line and lost them. Still had a blast. Nothing huge again, best were two fours, we both caught a four. They were also eating it better this day. Best five would have only been 18 and some change but this day made our whole trip worth it. I was using 15 lb fluorocarbon with a 3/16th shakey. Felt like we were in FL flipping reeds. Martin was usning braid with the same bait. emoDance
Excited about our last day we could not wait. Got up again for the fifth day straight to cold winds and waves. This time I was not deterred knowing we were going to be flipping flooded stuff. Head to our best spot from Thursday first it took only one look to realized our gang at the TVA had dropped the water back down. emoBawl Some of the stuff that was in about three foot now was in only one foot of water. emoBang GEEZ!!!! The only thing consistent was the inconsistency of each day. emoHoppingmad Hard to pattern the bass with temp changing each day, wind blowing from 10 to 30 mph, cold as crap and with water levels going up and down changing every day. Had to work the edges of what we had flipped the day before. Only caught three bass doing this but all were good ones. Two right at three lbs and one right at four. The sun broke out and we stopped getting any hits along the stuff we had wacked them on the day before. Makes you wonder where they go. emoScratch Moved back to flooded flats with rock in the 3 to 4 foot range. Martin had to leave on Friday due to a funeral he had to go to so we only fished until noon. Managed 8 more bass on this pattern. Gave us 11 bass in the boat for Friday with the best five going 16 and some change. I think only three of those were short. Really a high percentage of keeper bass this trip.
I saw several CFFers but not sure they knew who I was. We were in Martin's boat, it is a blue Bass Cat with a 150 murc. Since he only had a 6 hour trip and me a 10 hour trip we took his. It may sound like we only threw a shakey but we tried a lot of other baits. None worked. The shakey was our bread and butter go to bait and the only bait we boated any bass on. Not a bad trip, emoThumbsup We put 68 bass in the boat in three full days and two half days. No real big ones but some really nice quality bass. Hope you all have a great year. emoToast Jmax
As usual, here are a couple more pictures....
