Scenic City Cat Report 8-27-06

[rsimms]

As I expected, the morning was tough! Of course due to no water flow. In fact I tried calling Chris Brady and girlfriend Chessie from Kennesaw, I wanted to delay today's catfishing extravanganza to the PM. They didn't answer cell phone so we met at daylight as planned and just decided to fish ALL Day! Ooh! It was a tough one, but it paid off.
We managed one decent fish in the AM.... a 12 lber. right off the bat. A nice sunrise shot if I do say so myself. Of course Chris was all excited to tag his "personal best" blue almost immediately and figured he had nowhere to go but up. I told him I'm ask him about that in 2 or 3 hours. Once again, I hate it when I'm right. emoBang We missed a few bites but we didn't stick another fish all morning.
We ate a leisurely lunch at Island Cove to give the afternoon generators time to get cranking and headed back to the Dam for "quantity." The later it got, the better it got. We roasted 'em good this afternoon... of course we got roasted too. Not trophies, but LOTS of fish in the 5 - 10 lb. class. And FYI, Chessie kicked our butts. She was a machine. Her shoulders will pay the price tomorrow... sun and sore muscles. Only thing I wish is that we could have timed it all out to try a couple of big fish holes with water flowing. Oh well. Moral of the story.... fish when you can and hope you tag that big hungry brute... but expect to catch fish when they fire up generators. Enjoy the pics:

 

[Hair Jig]

Thanks for the pics Richard. Looks like a couple of happy clients.

 

[polo-dog]

With the cats, the way I look at it is, no flow, no go. I'm glad that TVA cooperated in the afternoon for you all.

 

[Guest]

I need to get an electronic rubber stamp that says "great job Richard, the smiles say it all"

What did ya'll use for bait?

Cheez

 

[drumking]

I don't like to catfish when there is no flow. But, you did manage to put them on fish when TVA cranked up the turbines. Way to go, my friend.emoThumbsup emoGeezer

 

[Fishing machine]

Nice fish Richard, I see you've moved to the lake side. How do you like the lake compared to the river?

 

[rsimms]

Fishing machine - 8/28/2006 7:13 AM
Nice fish Richard, I see you've moved to the lake side. How do you like the lake compared to the river?

The lake is a lot easier fishing... obviously not having to deal with the current. I actually usually fish with clients in the lake. In the river I often won't fish to concentrate on positioning, boat control, etc. I usually hand off the rod to clients if I hook up. Downside on the lake is the run distances from one good spot to the next are long. And unless they're running water, they can be long, wasted runs. But bottomline... you got to go where the fish are active. From what I've seen here, and checked out myself, tailwater cats have lockjaw. I know the channel cats will get hot again late September and October however. I should be spending more time with you at Sequoyah... truth is, I'm not crazy about fishing in a crowd. But I need to get over it.

 

[rsimms]

cheez - 8/28/2006 5:48 AM
I need to get an electronic rubber stamp that says "great job Richard, the smiles say it all"
What did ya'll use for bait?
Cheez

You get three guesses... emoBigsmile I stocked up on CB on sale a while back, but my next trip to Bi-Lo, I will be checking out the thighs. Oh yea... just in case anybody else's wife ever does their bait shopping for you.... my wife thought she was doing me a favor buying some chicken tenderloins. Thin strips, pre-cut... they looked handy. Man, those thing come off a hook easier than liver, literally! I fed $8 worth of tenderloins to little fish without a hookup. Avoid chicken tenderloins! But once again yesterday, folks are amazed by how will the CB works, and a fish cannot take it off the hook. Expensive, but a very high efficiency rating. emoThumbsup