rsimms
Well-known member
rsimms, Nickajack (Pic Heavy), Cats, Mixed Bag & Heartache, 5-8 and 5-9-2010, Griffiths & Arenders
It was a very busy weekend for Scenic City Fishing Charters. Back-to-back full day trips... both days including, shall we say, "energetic" youngsters. <grin>
This old man is whipped... we had some great fun, some great catches and some great heartache. Reporting from the beginning, fished Saturday with Dan Griffith and his son Josh. We hammered the cats pretty darn hard... the big fish of the day was Dan's very first fish... a 38 lb. beast. Josh broke off another big one, but managed to whip a 22 lber. that almost whipped him. To keep Josh's interest, we rotated back-and-forth between catfishing and bluegill fishing. All their big cats were released, but they carried a cooler full of eater cats and bull bream home to eat.
Dan and Josh fished with me last August, and we did well. But I told them May is my favorite month so he booked early. I have a feeling I'll be hearing from Dan soon to book another date for next May.emoThumbsup
On Sunday Joey Arender and his son Brock came down. Joey is a taxidermist from Murfreesboro and fished with me before. His older son, Blake, son caught 48 lb. beast. But on that trip we were fishing big tackle, not the wimpy spinning rods in shallow water. Joey and Brock got a whole new experience catfishing this time around. Although we actually started out fishing shiners because Joey wanted a couple of respectable spotted bass to take home to mount for displays. We managed two spots right at the 17-inch mark that will wind up on a wall somewhere. But we also caught great numbers of big, "boat paddle" white bass, several small stripers and a couple of average smallies. Joey was fishing with very light tackle and got broke off a couple of times by who knows what.
Later in the morning we started concentrating on cats. With the passing cold front it was slow, but as the day wore on, the catting picked up. Not big numbers but great quality... channels and blues. Joey broke one cat we know was a monster when he couldn't get his anti-reverse clicked off quick enough. He was heartbroke on that one.emoBang
But not very long afterwards, he hooked up again and the BIG battle was on.
I'm guessing it took 30 or 40 minutes and that we drifted about a mile downriver. Finally Joey got the beast boatside. I put my Team Catfish Grabbers on his lower jaw, the big boy rolled and "Snap!" ... by grabbers broke in half. emoEek Amazingly the fish stayed hooked up, but with a big dose of adrenalin, the battle raged on for another ten minutes. Remember... this time of year I'm fishing standard spinning rods and ten-pound test line. I worried the entire time because he was WAY too big for the net on-board. My only set of grabbers were broke... and as many of you know, I'm crippled. After shoulder surgery, my right arm is still fairly useless. I knew if I grabbed this fish with my right-hand, I would end up back in surgery.
The fish came boat side, I locked my lefthand on his lower jaw, he rolled and my wimpy left hand just couldn't stop him. I think I may have screamed when the line snapped. Joey and I both wrapped arms on the beast against the side of the boat. Of course those who have been there know, that's useless. The beastly blue kicked once and was gone.
It was the absolute worst experience of guiding career.emoBawl
Joey was a trooper and talked about nothing other than "the great fight" and "I got to lay hands on him." However Joey did asked me, "What happened to your metal grabbers." (They're lost).
How big was it? I don't know... I suspect 50 lbs. at least, maybe a little less... but maybe much more. emoSorry
I have resolved that as long as I'm crippled, I really am going to have to get a bigger net.
(FYI, first five pics are Griffiths, last ones are Arenders)
It was a very busy weekend for Scenic City Fishing Charters. Back-to-back full day trips... both days including, shall we say, "energetic" youngsters. <grin>
This old man is whipped... we had some great fun, some great catches and some great heartache. Reporting from the beginning, fished Saturday with Dan Griffith and his son Josh. We hammered the cats pretty darn hard... the big fish of the day was Dan's very first fish... a 38 lb. beast. Josh broke off another big one, but managed to whip a 22 lber. that almost whipped him. To keep Josh's interest, we rotated back-and-forth between catfishing and bluegill fishing. All their big cats were released, but they carried a cooler full of eater cats and bull bream home to eat.
Dan and Josh fished with me last August, and we did well. But I told them May is my favorite month so he booked early. I have a feeling I'll be hearing from Dan soon to book another date for next May.emoThumbsup
On Sunday Joey Arender and his son Brock came down. Joey is a taxidermist from Murfreesboro and fished with me before. His older son, Blake, son caught 48 lb. beast. But on that trip we were fishing big tackle, not the wimpy spinning rods in shallow water. Joey and Brock got a whole new experience catfishing this time around. Although we actually started out fishing shiners because Joey wanted a couple of respectable spotted bass to take home to mount for displays. We managed two spots right at the 17-inch mark that will wind up on a wall somewhere. But we also caught great numbers of big, "boat paddle" white bass, several small stripers and a couple of average smallies. Joey was fishing with very light tackle and got broke off a couple of times by who knows what.
Later in the morning we started concentrating on cats. With the passing cold front it was slow, but as the day wore on, the catting picked up. Not big numbers but great quality... channels and blues. Joey broke one cat we know was a monster when he couldn't get his anti-reverse clicked off quick enough. He was heartbroke on that one.emoBang
But not very long afterwards, he hooked up again and the BIG battle was on.
I'm guessing it took 30 or 40 minutes and that we drifted about a mile downriver. Finally Joey got the beast boatside. I put my Team Catfish Grabbers on his lower jaw, the big boy rolled and "Snap!" ... by grabbers broke in half. emoEek Amazingly the fish stayed hooked up, but with a big dose of adrenalin, the battle raged on for another ten minutes. Remember... this time of year I'm fishing standard spinning rods and ten-pound test line. I worried the entire time because he was WAY too big for the net on-board. My only set of grabbers were broke... and as many of you know, I'm crippled. After shoulder surgery, my right arm is still fairly useless. I knew if I grabbed this fish with my right-hand, I would end up back in surgery.
The fish came boat side, I locked my lefthand on his lower jaw, he rolled and my wimpy left hand just couldn't stop him. I think I may have screamed when the line snapped. Joey and I both wrapped arms on the beast against the side of the boat. Of course those who have been there know, that's useless. The beastly blue kicked once and was gone.
It was the absolute worst experience of guiding career.emoBawl
Joey was a trooper and talked about nothing other than "the great fight" and "I got to lay hands on him." However Joey did asked me, "What happened to your metal grabbers." (They're lost).
How big was it? I don't know... I suspect 50 lbs. at least, maybe a little less... but maybe much more. emoSorry
I have resolved that as long as I'm crippled, I really am going to have to get a bigger net.
(FYI, first five pics are Griffiths, last ones are Arenders)
