polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathead C

[polo-dog]

polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathead C

I had the great privilege of taking a good friend and her kindergartner fishing yesterday. We started off in Wolftever creek where the shad have really been moving. We fished for bass where the fish have been stacked up for about a week. Initially and we had a couple on crankbaits but it was slow so we went to a favorite dock and caught quite a few crappie, around 10, at a 12 count. Decided to go for bigger game out on the main lake so got my cast net out and caught some shad and headed for the catfish. Caught around 10 blue cats in the 4-8lb range on the Threadfins along with a good LM and a small spotted bass. Had a great time and the live baits got Pierce some big eyes as he pulled them in. He kept calling the catfish "Ginormous!" What a fun day fishing! Here are a few pics of Pierce with his fish.

 

[polo-dog]

RE: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Funny how it recorded 4 times. Don't know what happened. Sorry about the repeat posts guys.

 

[EricM]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Great outing and a happy youngster!!!

 

[polo-dog]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

EricM - 10/18/2016 9:11 PM

Great outing and a happy youngster!!!

Very happy! You would not have believed how much fun he had. We let him reel in all of the fish!

 

[porthos33]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

I'm glad you mentioned that cast net. I always just get shiners for something like that, but the cast net would be perfect right now. Might just go try it tomorrow. I'm not great with it but with as much bait is on the surface I don't see how I could miss. My cast net is a small one. Hey Polo what size net do you use, and are you just targeting the surface bait?

 

[Jmax]

RE: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Looks like fun, it shows in that young'uns face. emoBigsmile Thanks for sharing with us. Jmax

 

[BassERT]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Thanks for the report
That looks like some fun fishin'! emoThumbsup

emoCool

 

[Hook1]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Good for you Polo!

 

[Strato-G]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Wonder what sorta dreams he had that nite....great times & memories....u have done ur duty this week.. emoThumbsup ....................... emoGeezer emoUSA

 

[polo-dog]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

porthos33 - 10/18/2016 11:56 PM

I'm glad you mentioned that cast net. I always just get shiners for something like that, but the cast net would be perfect right now. Might just go try it tomorrow. I'm not great with it but with as much bait is on the surface I don't see how I could miss. My cast net is a small one. Hey Polo what size net do you use, and are you just targeting the surface bait?

You don't need a large diameter net. I think that the one I was using was a 3/8 and has an 6 or 8 ft diameter. I am just targeting the bait on the surface even though with a larger diameter net one can target deeper bait. This morning I went for a few hours and there was bait on the surface when we went out but none at the surface when I went to get some bait and what was on the surface was very spooky. I live here at the lake and looking out there right now there is lots of bait activity but no big schools at the surface but just under the surface and look like black circles in the water. I would expect that it would be hard to catch them right now. At dusk they will be back near the surface. In my experience if I throw randomly or target deeper bait I rarely get any and I think that I scare most of the bait away. In the winter the bait moves slower and I think that targeting deeper bait is more of an option. I did throw right on top of some bait today and I am almost certain that it was too small to be caught in the 3/8 inch mesh. There is a mixture of baits in WT creek right now, some was at least last year's spawn and is in the 3 or 4 inch range and some of it is in the 2 inch range, probably this year's spawn. I do have a 1/4 inch net that I have used in the early summer when the bait is really small but right now most of the baits are big enough to be caught in a 3/8. In other words, most of the baits have bodies that are deeper than 3/4 inches and will be caught in a 3/8 inch net. If there is some that is a tiny bit smaller than that they will not be caught in a 3/8.

 

[porthos33]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Hey thanks Polo, that should steer me in the right direction. In the areas I've been bass fishing there are some huge schools of bait right now and the bass and white bass are absolutely going nuts. I've caught at least 40 bass on a spook in the last two days so I'd love to try some live bait. It's by far one of my favorite things to do below the dam! For some reason I've just never tried it anywhere else but below the dams. I'd like to get some of those 3-4 inchers. Last two times I got shiners, the guy gave me a really big tadpole and that thing caught the biggest bass of the day both times. haha Might have to target those for bait too!

 

[rsimms]

RE: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

emoThumbsup

 

[Catfish 1]

Re: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Good stuff thanks...

 

[Labman]

RE: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

great report Mark, I am sure you hooked a lifetime fisherman with this trip. Love to see the kids catch some fish.

Regards, Norman

 

[ChooChooSnakeMan]

RE: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

Great post and for sure a very happy youngster emoParty .

 

[stratos12]

RE: polo-dog, Chickamauga, LM, Spotted Bass, Threadfin shad, Bluegill, Crappie, Blue Catfish, Flathe

emoThumbsup