rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Clint,

[rsimms]

rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Clint,

<font size="3">I had a some serious TOW (Time On the Water) this weekend.</font></p>

<font size="3">Saturday I was out with Patrick Falk and his father, David. Patrick was the recipient of a trip I donated to a church fundraiser.</font></p>

<font size="3">Weekend water generation schedules at Chickamauga Dam have been heavy lately. That makes my style of drift fishing a little more difficult... but we made it work.</font><font size="3"></font></p>

<font size="3">The Falks were catching a decent number of catfish, topped by a 16-pounder Peter boated.... that is until David hung a horse.</font></p>

<font size="3">We were right downtown so David had an audience from folks at Coolidge Park and some that were staying on the Delta Queen. On light tackle you don't horse big fish to the boat, so this was about 20-minute battle to whip the 30-pound beast. I shot video of the last couple of minutes, although I had to lay the camera down to help Patrick land the whopper. Since my net broke, and my shoulder is no longer on the "disabled list," I'm back to making people fight big fish all the way to the grabbers. I think it really makes it more fun even if it might result in the occasional heartbreak. Enjoy the video: </font><font size="3">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SPuhGBO2pk</font></p>

</p>

</p>

</p>

<font size="3">On Sunday it was a return visit (x3) from Clint Bailey. Clint lives in Lynchburg and works at the Jack Daniels Distillery. He always tips me with "product!" Woohoo!</font></p>

<font size="3">The previous two trips Clint was fishing during my best May fishing... but this year we were forced to postpone due to floodwaters in early May. I told him to expect "different" fishing in late June. We caught good numbers of catfish early but nothing really big. Then a big storm rolled through that chased us beneath a Riverpark Pavillon for a while. When we came back out we had the river to ourselves.</font></p>

<font size="3">Water flow had cranked up full blast so we tried the shiner bite a while. We caught a couple of bass and a crappie, but it was slow. Then suddenly, not long after the storm cleared, the white bass (stripe) went absolutely crazy!</font></p>

<font size="3">I've fished these waters fifty years and I believe that in an hour-and-a-half Sunday, we caught more white bass than I've ever caught at one time in my entire life. It was sheer pandemonium. At one point Clint counted and he caught a stripe on 20 consecutive casts. Chip and I were not far behind him. Most were small ones but quite a few were big "boat paddles," as Benny Hull calls them.</font></p>

<font size="3">At one point I said to Clint and Chip, "Ya'll let me know if you get tired of this and want to go back to catfishing." To which Clint responded, "Don't hold your breath!"</font></p>

<font size="3">The feeding frenzy finally slowed but it was incredible while it lasted. Here's a short little video to show you what we used to catch 'em, but I believe they would have hit a bare hook: </font><font size="3">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-oNLN2GC9Q</font></p>

<font size="3">Life is good and getting better every day!</font></p>

</p>

<font size="3">

</font></p>

</p>

<font size="3">
</font></p>

 

[drumking]

RE: rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Cl

emoThumbsup Great report and pic and video. emoBigsmile emoGeezer

 

[BassERT]

Re: rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Cl

Fishing fun with "the Man"!
Looks like a big day Congrats! emoThumbsup

emoCool

 

[angst]

Re: rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Cl

What time of day and flow was that stripe action? I am going this evening if the storms hold off. Hopefully I can get into some of that fun. I like the bobber idea. It would certainly save a lot of hanging up on the bottom particularly at lower flows. Do you think a conventional bobber would distract them? Where do you get those interesting clear ones?

 

[EricM]

Re: rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Cl

emoWorthy emoWorthy emoWorthy x2!!!

 

[rsimms]

Re: rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Cl

angst - 6/27/2011 5:20 PM

What time of day and flow was that stripe action? I am going this evening if the storms hold off. Hopefully I can get into some of that fun. I like the bobber idea. It would certainly save a lot of hanging up on the bottom particularly at lower flows. Do you think a conventional bobber would distract them? Where do you get those interesting clear ones?

App. 11 am... shortly after storms blew through. The stripe are always around right now... just a matter of how active... and who knows what prompts that?

The bobber function is two-fold... keeps jig suspended high in water column, but doesn't require that you reel it like a mad man. And the "popping" action of the clear bobber perfectly simulates the topwater activity of stripe hammering baitfish. The stripe frequently hit and slash at the bobber itself as you jerk it... but sooner or later they'll cross paths with the suspended jig.

I don't think a conventional bobber would work near as well due to color and shape... but again, if the stripe are in a true feeding frenzy you see sometimes, they'll nit darn near anything you throw in amongst them.

Just about any tackle store has the clear "casting" bobbers. I know you can get some from Jack (Jack's Bait & Tackle).

 

[angst]

Re: rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish & Stripe (on video), 6-25 & 6-26-2011, Patrick, David, Cl

I went this evening (Monday)</p>

Level was 46,800 cfs </p>

I was keen to try this technique. Instead of a "casting" bobber I rigged up a popper topwater lure and tied a length of line where the rear treble would be and put a plastic minnow with a jig on the end. Kind of like a modified version of a double topwater lure setup only the back lure is a sinking jig with a plastic minnow. The minnows were some old Gulp floating minnows (that I got from rsimms pre-yard sale actually) on about a 1/4oz jig. </p>

It worked excellent. I had a double hookup on one of my first few casts. The bite remained good from 6:30pm till about 8:20pm when it started mellowing off quite a bit. </p>

Initially the popper was the star with the majority of fish coming on the popper. As time went on it was about a 50/50 mix of catches on the popper vs. the minnow/jig. </p>

The rig was quite a pain to throw with a casting rod. It really backlashed a lot. Next time I will try with a bit shorter length between the topwater lure and the jig. I was using 4ft which was effective but quite unweildly to cast. The lack of hanging up on the bottom really made up for it though. You could pick out your backlash at your leisure as the lure hung around. </p>

This rig was out-fishing a spoon (which still caught a few) and other topwater lures by themselves. Can't wait to try it again and dial in the technique and rig. Seems like it would be really awesome for when they are jumping on the flats. </p>