SpurHunter
Well-known member
SpurHunter, Old Hickory and Cordell Hull Dam's, Skipjack, LM, white bass, 9-22-10, EricM
I had an appointment just above Nashville yesterday so I conned Ol Maurer into riding up there with me on a skipjack quest. </p>
We left my house just a shade after 5 AM and made a stop at Old Hickory Dam. Good grief what a climb down to the water! emoEek emoEek The flood they had there on the Cumberland river was VERY evident as there are tons of trees/logs perched 40+ feet over the current water levels, its mind-boggling how much water that town had. With the flood came lots of washout of the sidewalk, although its way up at the top, so your still having to climb down some hellacious rip-rap to get to the waters edge. </p>
Right when we got started, having caught a couple skips, I noticed a guy down from us catching some and tossing them back into the river. emoBang I eased down and asked if he would keep them for us and he was more than willing. I ended up fishing right next to him the whole time and having a great conversation about that fishery and all the waters we have both fished. </p>
The bait of choice was a white Foley spoon with a 2oz egg sinker Carolina style. I wish I had the sabiki set-up I normaly use since they were fairly active on the top, but I had to work with what I had. Maurer BARELY contributed to the haul....hes out of practice, but by the time I had to get to my apponitment we had a full five gallon bucket of stanking skippys. emoThumbsup What a climb out of there with it too! Eric also played around catching a white bass or two and also a "green carp" as our new friend called it, (a LM bass for you that don't get the humor emoBigsmile ), and I also caught 5-6 nice whites as well.
When I was done for the day we decided to head for stop number two for the evening bite, Cordell Hull Dam. Great, we though as we pulled up, another loooong hike down to the water, but at least this dam has stairs that go all the way to the water. emoThumbsup emoThumbsup
Reports said they were running on the small side, but plentiful. Small is an understatement. Spoon's were out of the question, as the skips were about the size of large threadfin shad. We caught 70 or more of them, which was about 3.5lbs worth of bait....LOL I am not kidding. All these came on sabiki rigs using a bank sinker and then screaming it along the top of the water. Trying to use a popping cork with it was fruitless because you had to hit the current seam to get bit, and needed distance to get there. We never did see any good skips break surface so I dont think they were there. I tried the spoons and also tried running both bait deep and mid-depth looking for that pocket that didn't materialize. While I was hauling a fish or two back in, something hit my baby skippy and was on my line for a brief moment, I assume a SM, LM or even a rockfish. It was exciting anyways! emoToast
There was a beautiful mature Bald Eagle that was fishing the tail-waters and was perched right by us for a while then moved down to the trees right above the boat ramp. It made a couple of close fly-by's that showed off the stunning white on its tail and head. emoUSA emoUSA emoUSA </p>
Finally got home at 11pm, it was a long day for sure, but have some skips in the freezer so I am happy for now!
</p>
Here is a pic of the smallest fish caught, (of course Maurer caught it!)</p>
</p>
I had an appointment just above Nashville yesterday so I conned Ol Maurer into riding up there with me on a skipjack quest. </p>
We left my house just a shade after 5 AM and made a stop at Old Hickory Dam. Good grief what a climb down to the water! emoEek emoEek The flood they had there on the Cumberland river was VERY evident as there are tons of trees/logs perched 40+ feet over the current water levels, its mind-boggling how much water that town had. With the flood came lots of washout of the sidewalk, although its way up at the top, so your still having to climb down some hellacious rip-rap to get to the waters edge. </p>
Right when we got started, having caught a couple skips, I noticed a guy down from us catching some and tossing them back into the river. emoBang I eased down and asked if he would keep them for us and he was more than willing. I ended up fishing right next to him the whole time and having a great conversation about that fishery and all the waters we have both fished. </p>
The bait of choice was a white Foley spoon with a 2oz egg sinker Carolina style. I wish I had the sabiki set-up I normaly use since they were fairly active on the top, but I had to work with what I had. Maurer BARELY contributed to the haul....hes out of practice, but by the time I had to get to my apponitment we had a full five gallon bucket of stanking skippys. emoThumbsup What a climb out of there with it too! Eric also played around catching a white bass or two and also a "green carp" as our new friend called it, (a LM bass for you that don't get the humor emoBigsmile ), and I also caught 5-6 nice whites as well.
When I was done for the day we decided to head for stop number two for the evening bite, Cordell Hull Dam. Great, we though as we pulled up, another loooong hike down to the water, but at least this dam has stairs that go all the way to the water. emoThumbsup emoThumbsup
Reports said they were running on the small side, but plentiful. Small is an understatement. Spoon's were out of the question, as the skips were about the size of large threadfin shad. We caught 70 or more of them, which was about 3.5lbs worth of bait....LOL I am not kidding. All these came on sabiki rigs using a bank sinker and then screaming it along the top of the water. Trying to use a popping cork with it was fruitless because you had to hit the current seam to get bit, and needed distance to get there. We never did see any good skips break surface so I dont think they were there. I tried the spoons and also tried running both bait deep and mid-depth looking for that pocket that didn't materialize. While I was hauling a fish or two back in, something hit my baby skippy and was on my line for a brief moment, I assume a SM, LM or even a rockfish. It was exciting anyways! emoToast
There was a beautiful mature Bald Eagle that was fishing the tail-waters and was perched right by us for a while then moved down to the trees right above the boat ramp. It made a couple of close fly-by's that showed off the stunning white on its tail and head. emoUSA emoUSA emoUSA </p>
Finally got home at 11pm, it was a long day for sure, but have some skips in the freezer so I am happy for now!
</p>
Here is a pic of the smallest fish caught, (of course Maurer caught it!)</p>
</p>
</p>
