Riverpark 7/27 Spots and Smallies

[WS6Clint]

Me and a buddy put in at the Riverpark at 0630hrs, shot straight across to the riprap and started working downstream. Started catching spots, but kept my hopes up for a good brown fish. Partner caught a little smallie about 1000hrs to remind us that there were brown fish among all the spots. About 1115hrs he sticks a pig, it jumps, good smallie. Get it in the boat and it tapes 17.5in. It looked funny, had a big humpback (see pics)?!?!? Few more spots (mean little things they are) later, I finally hook a 13.5in smallie. Shortly there after, Chris had another 17-18in smallie break him off at the boat. Caught a few more spots then called it a day about 1300hrs. Lost count on the number of spots, and landed 3 smallmouth. Oh yeah, had a Redeye or two thrown in there as well. Caught spots on T-rigged worms and Sweet Beavers, and fly-n-rinds. Smallies on T-rigged worms.

On a side note, I can't recall seeing spots colored this way. They had the tongue patch, but had the facial markings of a smallmouth. Meanmouth, or just a color I have not seen?

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Excuse me WS6 .. are you in the military???

Nice pictures by the way ... I don't know what they are except they do have scales and look like fish!!! Yep that's it .. fish! I'm certain they are fish.

emoLaugh

TT

 

[Pup]

Those are nice "brown" fish. The spot is a nice one, too, and I don't think it's a meanmouth (no side barring).

Just curious. What color and length of T-rigged worms did you use? Green pumpkin, watermelon seed, or pumpkinseed color? Four-inch length? I'm a smallie chaser from Indiana who has family in Hixon.

Also, I'm a tube and Wooly Hawgtail guy, myself. Green pumpkin and pumpkinseed are my favorite colors. Though, large (actually HUGE) roostertails and brown/red crankbaits rate pretty high on my list.

Thanks in advance for your response.

 

[WS6Clint]

Pup, Zoom Junebug Ol' Monsters, and Watermelon Seed Trick Worms. I prolly woulda thrown a tube but I just haven't found one I like, or the hook size to match. I almost always t-rig them cause I hate breaking them off of snags in 20' of water. That, and I can change from a tube, to a worm, to a lizard, etc. Any suggestions???

 

[Fat Albert]

Hey boys and girls.... now that's a smile on a fisherman's face... good pictures and good report.... now, about the rip/rap you were catching alot of Madbomber's pets... he is going to be mademoLaugh emoGeezer

 

[WS6Clint]

I'll go ahead a apologize for catching MB's pet fish. Let it be known that all were released with little more than sore lips.

 

[Pup]

WS6Clint - 7/27/2006 5:22 PM

Pup, Zoom Junebug Ol' Monsters, and Watermelon Seed Trick Worms. I prolly woulda thrown a tube but I just haven't found one I like, or the hook size to match. I almost always t-rig them cause I hate breaking them off of snags in 20' of water. That, and I can change from a tube, to a worm, to a lizard, etc. Any suggestions???

WS6Clint,
I'm not really loyal to any brand of tube. They all seem to work about the same for me. Tender tubes or thick-walled ones. Most of mine are Zoom, Strike King KVD, Garland Gitzits, Berkley Powerbait, and Hooked Up Bait Co. brands. Green pumpkin and pumpkinseed are my favorite colors, although mustard, roadkill camo, and black neon also work well in my area. Sizes range from 2.75 to 4.0 inch lengths.

The best way that I know of to rig a tube is T-rigged with an insert-head jig like the one in the tube at the bottom of attachment 1. This is a "low-loss" rig. By this, I mean that the bottom doesn't get to keep too many of these.

Another way is to buy special internal tube weights like the ones shown in the attachments 2 & 3. The rigging is shown in the third attachment. The weights are available through BPS and a few other on-line shops. A dipsey (bell or bass casting) sinker in 1/16 and 1/8 oz. sizes also works for me. I like EWG hooks for fishing these in sizes from 2/0 to 5/0 depending on the length of the tube. Plus, I like for the barb to be "Texposed", with the hookpoint driven back through the skin of the tube. This is another "low-loss" rig.

Then there is the conventional Texas-Rig. The problem with this rig is that the tube will lose the tantalizing spiral on the fall that it carries when rigged with an insert-head jig or the internal weight and EWG hook.

To me, any insert-head jig rigged with the barb totally exposed is a snag waiting to happen. Hope this little bit of information gets you to fish them a little more. They're great for smallmouth.

 

[WS6Clint]

Thanks Pup. I tried the internal weight thing and didn't like it, just me. I'll give the insert-head t-rigged a try if I can get ahold of some EWG jig heads.

 

[MadBomber]

Don't you be sore-mouthin' my babies, now!!!

I know you guys are fanatical about using big hooks, but today I caught fish on a 4" Berkely Power Tube with a 1/8oz egg in the head, a small bead behind that and a #2 light wire hook that fit inside the tube with the tip just barely wanting to pop out of the tube.

It's totally weedless and difficult to hang up. Works like a charm. See my previous post on " New Craw Tube Rig" under Tips & Tricks.

Great morning of fishing though!!

 

[fisherpal2k]

nice fish and great report WS6CLINT! Thanks for the info and the statagies. Good job!

 

[Pup]

MadBomber - 7/27/2006 10:38 PM

Don't you be sore-mouthin' my babies, now!!!

I know you guys are fanatical about using big hooks, but today I caught fish on a 4" Berkely Power Tube with a 1/8oz egg in the head, a small bead behind that and a #2 light wire hook that fit inside the tube with the tip just barely wanting to pop out of the tube.

It's totally weedless and difficult to hang up. Works like a charm. See my previous post on " New Craw Tube Rig" under Tips & Tricks.

Great morning of fishing though!!

I like your idea. I may just give it a try on the river this weekend.

Sometimes, I have difficulty with insert weights and offset EWG hooks, resulting in a low percentage of hookups. Typically, a dipsey sinker can get in the way of the space that allows the hook shank to move freely inside the tube even with an EWG hook. The idea of a straight-shank hook (maybe an Aberdeen (?), if I read you right) with a bead and egg sinker ahead of it will not be restricted.

Your idea makes sense, particularly with tender tubes. Pretty cool!

 

[JerDog]

Hey guys, good report. Was there much water moving yesterday morning? I think the smallies were turned off a bit because of the lack of water movement. I was out last night and struck out on them. TVA was moving water, but only a small amount.

 

[Guest]

Not sure if anyone has explained this, as I haven't read the posts yet, but a meanmouth is a cross between a largemouth and a smallmouth, not a smallmouth and a spotted bass like many have believed.

And from what one spotted bass, it looks like all the other ones that I have caught. If you want some bigger spots, hit Weiss.

 

[jon the fisherman]

you are correct, they are a cross between Lm/SM but the two rarely make offspring because they spawn in different temps and locations. Spotted bass however inhabit the same areas as a smallmouth and the chance of hybrids goes way up. Watauga lake in north east Tennessee never had spots in it till a few years ago. Now there is a problem with hybrids up there.

 

[G-MAN]

Great report. I realy like post like this that descibe and show how to rig a bait up. Keep those post coming. I'm going fishing late this evening and into the night at what my buddy calls the twin bridges in Soddy Daisy. Never fished there. He said two streams from the mountain feed it and it is very shallow with a few deeper spots. Neither of us has fished it and is why we are going to try and get into it before dark to manuver thru the shallows.

If anyone has ever fished there and has any suggestions on baits to use, I'm all ears. Well, in this case I suppose I'm all eyes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
G-man

 

[WS6Clint]

JerDog - 7/28/2006 9:42 AM

Hey guys, good report. Was there much water moving yesterday morning? I think the smallies were turned off a bit because of the lack of water movement. I was out last night and struck out on them. TVA was moving water, but only a small amount.

Not much water at all, just enough to keep the boat drifting at a slow pace. I called TVA and the recording was saying ~13,000cfs.

 

[Pup]

I think that I remember reading a Bassmaster article during the early 80s about the original "meanmouth" bass, indeed, being the result of a laboratory cross between largemouth and smallmouth bass. However, more recently, the state of Missouri recognizes a meanmouth to be a naturally-occurring cross between smallmouth and spotted bass.

Check out this lunker. This is the Missouri state record fish.

That was the state record fish. Looks like a bigger one's been caught since then and another's been caught in OK. Here is the link. I think they refer to these nowadays as hybrid black bass or black bass hybrid. Clear as mud?

 

[JerDog]

I didn't think they were moving much water yesterday. Looks like the same pattern for the weekend with just a small amount trickling through.

 

[MadBomber]

G-MAN - 7/28/2006 1:40 PM

Great report. I realy like post like this that descibe and show how to rig a bait up. Keep those post coming. I'm going fishing late this evening and into the night at what my buddy calls the twin bridges in Soddy Daisy. Never fished there. He said two streams from the mountain feed it and it is very shallow with a few deeper spots. Neither of us has fished it and is why we are going to try and get into it before dark to manuver thru the shallows.

If anyone has ever fished there and has any suggestions on baits to use, I'm all ears. Well, in this case I suppose I'm all eyes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
G-man

Listen very carefully, There are NO FISH in that area... This is NOT the place you need to be fishing... You will probably run aground and ruin your prop.... Stay far away..... May the force be with you...emoEvil

 

[WS6Clint]

MadBomber - 7/30/2006 5:13 AM


Listen very carefully, There are NO FISH in that area... This is NOT the place you need to be fishing... You will probably run aground and ruin your prop.... Stay far away..... May the force be with you...emoEvil

MB, you crack me up!!!emoLaugh