Nickajack Angler
Well-known member
Nickajack Angler, CFF Classic Day 1 & 2 & winner's Pics/Trophy's, LM, Oct 8 & 9th, Carl Guffey
What a tough two days of fishing. Carl had the opportunity to fish a few hours for prefishing the week previous and called me with glowing reports of spots, LM and limits OH MY! Day 1 -
we started in the back of a creek where he was on fish. Bait was EVERYWHERE in the grass and they were busting like crazy. We started with poppers and frogs... took an hour to get our first fish in the boat after a few half hearted blowups... a short 14.5 in. Aren't all shorts 14.5? We knew the fish were there and I switched to a small white buzz bait and had a few bites, Carl quickly switched and we both missed a few fish before we landed our first keeper of the day a 2lb'er. Little did we know it would be our largest fish of the wknd. We fished around hitting the grass with vengance... missing fish after fish. Small ones. Then saw a big one explode in a cut in the grass. Carl got jammed up in the grass and I gladly took the first pass... BAM! A huge explosion. At least a 3-5lb'rt. Didn't even pull back.... just show. emoBang We worked down a bit and I threw back to the same spot again on a long cast and had the same fish blow up HUGE again... swing and a miss... We went away and came back 15 or so minutes later to that same spot, and four times that dang fish attacked and not one time did he tug on my line. Just a show. It was killing me... we fished that area until 9am and threw the sink at them. Notta...
We ran down river to where Carl had caught the "limit" he had shared... no bait. Nothing... we looked at each other and decided to go back to finding the bait. We pulled into Chester and bait was as thick as you can imagine. You could see black masses of huge schools of bait moving through there. Seeing fish bust all over just made us grin... we worked it for over two hours. Watching fish swirl right beside the boat - small ones, nice ones, a few big explosions... and we didn't have more than two swipes at the 10 different baits we tried ea... wasted the day in there trying in vain to get a hook up and what we though would be a decent limit for day one. Not one fish. We blasted back up river to another spot in at the intake in front of Sequoia. Notta. Went up into Grassy Creek. Saw Rookie of the year for the Bassmaster Elite - Otto, who I met in Decatur on Father's day. Felt like "Hey, if he's here... there are fish here." First cast, I swung a jig and pig under a dock and caught a short spot. Next cast, on same dock, one picked it up and swam off... set the hook and stole my beaver. Carl was tossin' the shakey... next dock he threw into the slip... though he was hung up on a wire or cross bar under the water. He went to lift it over and it started out under the boat. Hookset! Nothing.... felt heavy he said, but didn't hook up. Hit docks and isolated grass with jigs, worms and s/b's. NOTHING!
We ran all the way back to Chester with 1/2 hr to go. We quickly pulled in by the same dock we caught our 2nd keeper at the night tourney off a dock in Chester. Flailed at that dock... notta... I called last cast and tossed a spinnerbait next to an isolated grass mat. One picked it up and Carl netted our 2nd keeper of the day. We smiled and said, well there is tomorrow. 3.3lbs the first day. We were sick about it until we started hearing at the dock that most didn't have a fish to weigh! Hey, things are looking up! We at least have a small chance to show up tomorrow.
Day 2- Had a good game plan. Had talked to some fella's who cashed in on two dog fight events the previous week. Felt like a game plan was hatched that would put us in the mix. Dropped the trolling motor right off of Sullivans while most other headed down river. We smiled as we were all alone... and bait was everywhere. Fish were busting along the grass, in the grass, behind us on the ledge... fished all the way to the poles until Carl said "Get the net..." I grabbed it to only pull up another 14.5 inch fish off a 1/2 oz Chart/white s/b. We both started throwing the same color. Me on the 3/8 oz and he on the big on with painted blades... Ran down to Sullivan's. Wasted about an hour there with no bait. No bites and dying grass. Ran down to running water flats bridge. Pulled up and bank fishermen were everywhere... bait was thick and we hit it hard with jigs. Notta. A girl on the bank hauled one up on a spinnerbait in front of us. Her boyfriend pulls up his basket with a 3lb'er and a smaller keeper... he gloated in good taste of course, "We caught these this morning. Yesterday I caught a four and a couple of two's here! This is an awesome spot!" We switched to s/b and then two dang race boats, low and loud came roaring over to the bridge as we sat under throwing to both sides... they came through. I just shook my head. This is a tight and small area and bait all went down... Guy goes into that shallow bay and circles back. Pulls up to us. He had GA license on the boats... "Hey, where is that bridge you go under where the cave is?" I told him if he wanted to piss off every tx angler on the lake who are probably in there, it's down river. "Watch out for the railroad tressle down the middle of the lake!" Carl mutters "Nice try, but those things can go in two inches of water at 80mph..." And they came back through our fishing area... We can't go into MC park, but they can run all over us.... emoEnforce We blew down to cave lake to where I thought we'd catch fish. Found Pointer and Dropshot in there. They pulled up and Jerry saw us and they moved to another spot, came by us and said "Ah... fishing the road bed, huh? How are you guys doing? We caught over 20 in here, but they are all 14.5 inch fish!" I was like "MAN! 20? What in the Hell are they doing?" Jerry said trap, I thought he said rat... We felt like we had arrived... and started fishing the road bed where the isolated grass was... Carl had one steal his pig on a jig. I had one pull off my pig... then one pulled my pig off and my skirt all the way down! Feeling the day slide away and we couldn't buy a break... We then moved to grass and tossed a frog and s/b and top water. I even swam a naked worm... A swimbait... We moved to Shellmound and worked the weedline where bait was prolific... I snagged a short on a s/b... we ran back up to where we started and fished hard the last 20 minutes all the way to the last minute to the ramp. I even cast to the dock at the ramp as guys pulled out. TOUGH two days... There is no sicker feeling than fishing your butt off and not catching ONE KEEPER!
I think Fat Albert summed it up on Sat. He's kinda a good fisherman. emoPoke And smart enough not to be out on a full moon in Oct evidently. "You know, the toughest time of year to fish is the full moon in Oct... The bait are stacked up in grass and in known locations in creeks. These fish are STUFFED! It's gonna be tough!" Truer words were never spoken. Thanks to the Fat man, as he came to fix anyones rod tip who asked. Thanks FA, you are a true class act and a great friend to us all.
Took some pics of the winners. Congrats to Gary and partner for the win on a very tough day. And to Jmax and Whiskers for putting up a very decent number on Sat. Thanks to Damon and TowBoat USA for showing up to support us as they have all year by supporting us. Thanks to Churly for providing oil to our events as door prizes all year long. Make sure you thank our sponsors by buying from them over other outlets. They support us, let's support them. I enjoyed fishing with all of you guys this year again. And those of you kind enough to allow me to use your backseat. There is always next year... and I'll be ready.
What a tough two days of fishing. Carl had the opportunity to fish a few hours for prefishing the week previous and called me with glowing reports of spots, LM and limits OH MY! Day 1 -
we started in the back of a creek where he was on fish. Bait was EVERYWHERE in the grass and they were busting like crazy. We started with poppers and frogs... took an hour to get our first fish in the boat after a few half hearted blowups... a short 14.5 in. Aren't all shorts 14.5? We knew the fish were there and I switched to a small white buzz bait and had a few bites, Carl quickly switched and we both missed a few fish before we landed our first keeper of the day a 2lb'er. Little did we know it would be our largest fish of the wknd. We fished around hitting the grass with vengance... missing fish after fish. Small ones. Then saw a big one explode in a cut in the grass. Carl got jammed up in the grass and I gladly took the first pass... BAM! A huge explosion. At least a 3-5lb'rt. Didn't even pull back.... just show. emoBang We worked down a bit and I threw back to the same spot again on a long cast and had the same fish blow up HUGE again... swing and a miss... We went away and came back 15 or so minutes later to that same spot, and four times that dang fish attacked and not one time did he tug on my line. Just a show. It was killing me... we fished that area until 9am and threw the sink at them. Notta...
We ran down river to where Carl had caught the "limit" he had shared... no bait. Nothing... we looked at each other and decided to go back to finding the bait. We pulled into Chester and bait was as thick as you can imagine. You could see black masses of huge schools of bait moving through there. Seeing fish bust all over just made us grin... we worked it for over two hours. Watching fish swirl right beside the boat - small ones, nice ones, a few big explosions... and we didn't have more than two swipes at the 10 different baits we tried ea... wasted the day in there trying in vain to get a hook up and what we though would be a decent limit for day one. Not one fish. We blasted back up river to another spot in at the intake in front of Sequoia. Notta. Went up into Grassy Creek. Saw Rookie of the year for the Bassmaster Elite - Otto, who I met in Decatur on Father's day. Felt like "Hey, if he's here... there are fish here." First cast, I swung a jig and pig under a dock and caught a short spot. Next cast, on same dock, one picked it up and swam off... set the hook and stole my beaver. Carl was tossin' the shakey... next dock he threw into the slip... though he was hung up on a wire or cross bar under the water. He went to lift it over and it started out under the boat. Hookset! Nothing.... felt heavy he said, but didn't hook up. Hit docks and isolated grass with jigs, worms and s/b's. NOTHING!
We ran all the way back to Chester with 1/2 hr to go. We quickly pulled in by the same dock we caught our 2nd keeper at the night tourney off a dock in Chester. Flailed at that dock... notta... I called last cast and tossed a spinnerbait next to an isolated grass mat. One picked it up and Carl netted our 2nd keeper of the day. We smiled and said, well there is tomorrow. 3.3lbs the first day. We were sick about it until we started hearing at the dock that most didn't have a fish to weigh! Hey, things are looking up! We at least have a small chance to show up tomorrow.
Day 2- Had a good game plan. Had talked to some fella's who cashed in on two dog fight events the previous week. Felt like a game plan was hatched that would put us in the mix. Dropped the trolling motor right off of Sullivans while most other headed down river. We smiled as we were all alone... and bait was everywhere. Fish were busting along the grass, in the grass, behind us on the ledge... fished all the way to the poles until Carl said "Get the net..." I grabbed it to only pull up another 14.5 inch fish off a 1/2 oz Chart/white s/b. We both started throwing the same color. Me on the 3/8 oz and he on the big on with painted blades... Ran down to Sullivan's. Wasted about an hour there with no bait. No bites and dying grass. Ran down to running water flats bridge. Pulled up and bank fishermen were everywhere... bait was thick and we hit it hard with jigs. Notta. A girl on the bank hauled one up on a spinnerbait in front of us. Her boyfriend pulls up his basket with a 3lb'er and a smaller keeper... he gloated in good taste of course, "We caught these this morning. Yesterday I caught a four and a couple of two's here! This is an awesome spot!" We switched to s/b and then two dang race boats, low and loud came roaring over to the bridge as we sat under throwing to both sides... they came through. I just shook my head. This is a tight and small area and bait all went down... Guy goes into that shallow bay and circles back. Pulls up to us. He had GA license on the boats... "Hey, where is that bridge you go under where the cave is?" I told him if he wanted to piss off every tx angler on the lake who are probably in there, it's down river. "Watch out for the railroad tressle down the middle of the lake!" Carl mutters "Nice try, but those things can go in two inches of water at 80mph..." And they came back through our fishing area... We can't go into MC park, but they can run all over us.... emoEnforce We blew down to cave lake to where I thought we'd catch fish. Found Pointer and Dropshot in there. They pulled up and Jerry saw us and they moved to another spot, came by us and said "Ah... fishing the road bed, huh? How are you guys doing? We caught over 20 in here, but they are all 14.5 inch fish!" I was like "MAN! 20? What in the Hell are they doing?" Jerry said trap, I thought he said rat... We felt like we had arrived... and started fishing the road bed where the isolated grass was... Carl had one steal his pig on a jig. I had one pull off my pig... then one pulled my pig off and my skirt all the way down! Feeling the day slide away and we couldn't buy a break... We then moved to grass and tossed a frog and s/b and top water. I even swam a naked worm... A swimbait... We moved to Shellmound and worked the weedline where bait was prolific... I snagged a short on a s/b... we ran back up to where we started and fished hard the last 20 minutes all the way to the last minute to the ramp. I even cast to the dock at the ramp as guys pulled out. TOUGH two days... There is no sicker feeling than fishing your butt off and not catching ONE KEEPER!
I think Fat Albert summed it up on Sat. He's kinda a good fisherman. emoPoke And smart enough not to be out on a full moon in Oct evidently. "You know, the toughest time of year to fish is the full moon in Oct... The bait are stacked up in grass and in known locations in creeks. These fish are STUFFED! It's gonna be tough!" Truer words were never spoken. Thanks to the Fat man, as he came to fix anyones rod tip who asked. Thanks FA, you are a true class act and a great friend to us all.
Took some pics of the winners. Congrats to Gary and partner for the win on a very tough day. And to Jmax and Whiskers for putting up a very decent number on Sat. Thanks to Damon and TowBoat USA for showing up to support us as they have all year by supporting us. Thanks to Churly for providing oil to our events as door prizes all year long. Make sure you thank our sponsors by buying from them over other outlets. They support us, let's support them. I enjoyed fishing with all of you guys this year again. And those of you kind enough to allow me to use your backseat. There is always next year... and I'll be ready.
Thanks for posting all the info. emoToast
