The Champs Report. 9/30/2006

[Corynichols_1]

Blake and I started off the day by running up around The Nuke Plant, the topwater bite wasn't there. Blake started the day off with a 20in Gar on a spook bait, there were some fish shallow but not the right size. Around nine We went deep, Started off around the Islands catching fish on Drop shots and Jigs. We just dragged them down the drops in about 23 foot of water. Got the limit fish after about an hour, and culled once all day, what could have been... We could have weighted in around 18#'s after losing 3 fish in the 4# range, and one nice 3#er. What also could have been... As I was cranking up to go down river the boat wouldn't get up on plane, I looked in the back of the boat and we were full of water, FULL. We gunned it back across the river to HB and beached it next to the dock, The bilge pump was going for a good 10 min before we could put the boat on Fishing Fires trailer. Water was coming out of the Aerator, but it was a slow leek so after about an hour I seed lets go sink out there. Left HB Ran back around the Island, and caught a nice fish that culled one out, On a drop shot. Blake was a great partner and was a good sport about almost sinking, I finally got him using a spinning rod. Also Thanks To all the great CFF members and BBass for have the great tourney for a great cause.

 

[Fishin Fool]

Good job Cory. Those were nice fish!

 

[DHaun]

Congrats on the win Cory and thanks for the great report! I wondered if they might be deep but it did not work out for me that way - both of our keepers came on topwater shallow and my spoon jig only found big bluegill in 23ft, however I have always wanted to learn more about targeting bass deep like that...pretty cool pattern to win on!

 

[Corynichols_1]

Thats my fav way to fish.

 

[sdfd504]

I had a great time today fishing the T even though we almost sank. emoLaugh I had found some good fish up shallow at the start of the week but they were not there today so we had to go out and fish some of Cory's fish. It was good meeting everybody and I can't wait to fish another one.

 

[rsimms]

Congratulations! Good job to all for supporting BBass.

 

[fisherpal2k]

Congrats to the champs. Did you ever find out why you was sinking? I may have missed something here?emoScratch From what you said I take it that was a leak in the aireator hose or pump? Hope you got it fixed. anyway, it sounds like a winning team.. Good job guys!emoThumbsup

 

[polo-dog]

Great job guys, with the post front conditions I would have expected either a bite that was deep and less affected by the cooling water temps or the fish to be close to wood or grass in the mid depth range or on the channel. I'm glad that the deep bite was still working for you. Has your pattern changed much from your summer pattern?

 

[Fat Albert]

Cory and Blake, YOU ALL DONE GOOOOOOD. sorry Blake that Cory almost got you drown....

 

[MadBomber]

A similar thing happened to me one cold morning below Watts Bar. Back then, it was my habit to flip on the bilge pump to clear any water that was left after the ice melted out of my built-in cooler. That morning, the bilge pump just kept pumping. I looked in the back and a geyser was spraying from the hose that fills the live well. A rat had been chewing on it. The pump seemed to be keeping up so we went ahead and fished. Caught a couple of small stripers in the 5-6 lb range.

After a while, the bilge pump quit. Apparently it got hot and tripped the breaker. I got the breaker to reset and the pump started back up, but I decided enough was enough so we headed for the ramp. That's when I discovered there were 3 rock piles below Watts Bar. Before I only knew of 2. Trust me, there's a third one! Of course I tore up my 4-blade shooter pretty bad. I dropped it off at performance prop in Daisy on the way home.

It cost $100 bucks to repair, but I believe that hit was the root cause of the catastrophic failure of my lower unit last year. The upper pinion bearing race shattered and destroyed everything. $3000!!

Anyhow, I'm glad the Champs got out with maybe just a pump replacement. Oh, BTW, not too long after I got my boat, the plastic nipple that the hose connected to cracked and started leaking, so that might be the problem.

Man, those Boys sure can fish!!

 

[sdfd504]

Yeah it looks like it is a leak in either the hose or the Aerator pump. We had been fishing about 2 or 3 hours deep before we decided to move and that is when we noticed that we were sinking. emoEek I think it has to do with my bad luck coming out of HB. The last time I came out of there the guy I was fishing with blew a power head on his motor and then Cory's boat almost sank.

Oh and I got a new nickname at the tourney from MadBomber...He decided to call me 400 Bandits. emoLaugh He said it sounds like a good Indian name.

 

[jon the fisherman]

Congats guys! I wish I could have made the tourny, looks like everyone had a good time.

 

[cutthroat]

GOOD BAG ON A TOUGH WINDY DAY!

 

[ranman]

I would have never thought the fish would still be that deep!I guess that shows how much I know!Good job.

 

[saltwatts]

Great job, and congrats on the win! emoThumbsup emoToast

 

[Corynichols_1]

My pattern hasn't changed since the mid of May, same baits and depths.

 

[Buoy-Master]

Cory / Blake...good show guys! It was good meeting you both and having you as a part of what we did that day. Those trophies sure look sweet!

</p>

Thanks for the report

</p>

 

[polo-dog]

That's what I figured, still a summer time pattern. I would expect that some fish will stay on that until winter but there will be in the next few weeks a move shallower for a great many fish. The water temp continues to drop and the water should drop to close to winter pool by the end of the next two weeks which will disrupt things for a while.