I'm coming off a 4-day stretch. I'm too old to be doing 4-day stretches. :bore: But 3 out of 4 trips were great! :tu:
On Friday I fished with Chattanooga attorney Chris Clem and his son, David. We had a stellar day with several quality smallmouth (a couple trophy class) and catfish, including a huge "kicker" cat. David battled the beast like a pro on light tackle (standard spinning rod, 10# test line & 20 lb. shock leader). Video speaks louder than words. Here it is:
[youtube]13UuNyIIJgA[/youtube]
Saturday I rolled the dice and decided to run a guide trip up at Watts Bar Dam. I've never done that, but had a feeling. It turned out well.
arty: I was fishing with long time friend/client Randy Johnson. He was solo so he was fine with me fishing. We started out (with the Saturday crowd) trying for stripers or stripe. We did poorly, EXCEPT while casting a Foley spoon for stripe, I stuck a monster smallmouth. (See new Avatar) At 5 lbs. 12 ozs., I felt bad catching a fish like that with a client. But like I said, Randy and I have fished together a lot and he was happy for me.
Later in the morning we started drifting for cats. It was slow, but the fish we caught were quality... including a 40 lb. BEAST Randy tagged. It was an amazing battle. Randy has caught big cats with me before (biggest 48 lbs.), but he'd never caught a monster on light tackle. It was an awesome fight with a great finish. Sort of made up for me catching a trophy smallmouth out from under him.
On Sunday I headed out with John Bryant and his son, Will. I wanted to try the Chickamauga crappie, even though I knew my longline trolling bite was slowing down. Bad call by the guide. With 40 degree temps and a hefty wind, we struggled hard to put a handful of keepers in the boat. I felt bad for the Bryants, but overall I can't complain. This March has been the most successful Spring crappie season I've ever experienced on Chickamauga Lake... in my life. Between March 3 and April 3 I conducted 16 guide trips for crappie. In those 16 trips we boated 525 legal crappie. But now it's time for folks to start fishing those post-spawn spots where crappie go to rest after making baby crappie (docks & offshore structure).
On Monday I hit the water with Tom Rowland and his grandsons, Hayden & Rains. We had a good morning, and if not for two lost fish, it could have been a GREAT morning. We spent most our time drifting live shiners. We caught six different species... striper, white bass, smallmouth, spotted bass, drum, channel cats and blue cats.
Sadly, Hayden stuck two BIG fish that both came unbuttoned. The first was a large bass that came up, wallowed his head and threw the hook. I honestly couldn't tell if it was a big largemouth or a smallmouth, but it was big! Later he stuck a huge catfish on light tackle. I started the "catch clock" and eleven minutes into the fight, the big bruiser just came unbuttoned.
But overall, I cannot complain about the last four days fishing. Bruiser cats, trophy smallmouth and a wide assortment of other fish... and mostly happy clients. That means life is good and gettin' better every day!
On Friday I fished with Chattanooga attorney Chris Clem and his son, David. We had a stellar day with several quality smallmouth (a couple trophy class) and catfish, including a huge "kicker" cat. David battled the beast like a pro on light tackle (standard spinning rod, 10# test line & 20 lb. shock leader). Video speaks louder than words. Here it is:
[youtube]13UuNyIIJgA[/youtube]
Saturday I rolled the dice and decided to run a guide trip up at Watts Bar Dam. I've never done that, but had a feeling. It turned out well.
arty: I was fishing with long time friend/client Randy Johnson. He was solo so he was fine with me fishing. We started out (with the Saturday crowd) trying for stripers or stripe. We did poorly, EXCEPT while casting a Foley spoon for stripe, I stuck a monster smallmouth. (See new Avatar) At 5 lbs. 12 ozs., I felt bad catching a fish like that with a client. But like I said, Randy and I have fished together a lot and he was happy for me. Later in the morning we started drifting for cats. It was slow, but the fish we caught were quality... including a 40 lb. BEAST Randy tagged. It was an amazing battle. Randy has caught big cats with me before (biggest 48 lbs.), but he'd never caught a monster on light tackle. It was an awesome fight with a great finish. Sort of made up for me catching a trophy smallmouth out from under him.
On Sunday I headed out with John Bryant and his son, Will. I wanted to try the Chickamauga crappie, even though I knew my longline trolling bite was slowing down. Bad call by the guide. With 40 degree temps and a hefty wind, we struggled hard to put a handful of keepers in the boat. I felt bad for the Bryants, but overall I can't complain. This March has been the most successful Spring crappie season I've ever experienced on Chickamauga Lake... in my life. Between March 3 and April 3 I conducted 16 guide trips for crappie. In those 16 trips we boated 525 legal crappie. But now it's time for folks to start fishing those post-spawn spots where crappie go to rest after making baby crappie (docks & offshore structure).
On Monday I hit the water with Tom Rowland and his grandsons, Hayden & Rains. We had a good morning, and if not for two lost fish, it could have been a GREAT morning. We spent most our time drifting live shiners. We caught six different species... striper, white bass, smallmouth, spotted bass, drum, channel cats and blue cats.
Sadly, Hayden stuck two BIG fish that both came unbuttoned. The first was a large bass that came up, wallowed his head and threw the hook. I honestly couldn't tell if it was a big largemouth or a smallmouth, but it was big! Later he stuck a huge catfish on light tackle. I started the "catch clock" and eleven minutes into the fight, the big bruiser just came unbuttoned.
But overall, I cannot complain about the last four days fishing. Bruiser cats, trophy smallmouth and a wide assortment of other fish... and mostly happy clients. That means life is good and gettin' better every day!
