BackOnTheWater

Welcome !

Welcome ! Got any water soft enough to fish up there? haha

I gotsta get a pond like THAT for MY back yard ! NICE fish !

Strange but beautiful...caught this week on Lake Chickamauga by a friend.

Here's a pic of our first keeper of the day... How do you guys get more than one pic in a post, anyway...I've been trying to figure THAT out for a while, now.

My buddy Steve called around noon..."I'm puttin' the boat in!". Well, it took me about 30 minutes to decide that I had had enough of the office, so I bolted. We hit our first spot (one of our favorites) about 2, and did not leave there until after dark, around 7. The weather was pleasant...mid 50's, mostly sunny, and light winds. Water temp was 52. Eat your hearts out, my yankee bretheren! We boated 26 LMB, most of them slicks between 14-15", but managed 4 keepers. They were all fat and fought like fish twice their size, so it was a good time. All fish (except 2 little white bass I caught on a crankbait) were caught on spinning rigs, 8# test, 1/4 oz shakey-head w/ cotton candy and smoke finesse worms, in 4-6 FOW. The bass were chasing baitfish, and we were just letting the worms sit under the schools and wiggling the slack line. PAINFULLY slow...I'm a t-rig kind of guy so I KNOW slow fishing, but I had a hard time not moving my lure. But we were getting hit. In addition to the 26 boated, we lost 4 or 5 at or on the way to the boat, and had numerous hit-and-miss's. Attached is Steve's big fish of the day, a nice healthy 3.5 #'er. Another good day NOT at the office!

Simple...I kiss them...the males hit a lot harder, but only once...the females don't slap quite as hard, but they smack me over and over again!

Before my partner arrived, I worked the marina slough (at the Harrison Bay State Park boat ramp). Then he and I went over to a slough between Waconda Bay and the old Loret Marina. I spend most of my time in the Harrison Bay area, between the dam and the Nuke plant/ Skull Isl. area. So much water, so little time! There was almost no wind most of the day. It started kicking up around 1, but we were fairly well sheltered most of the time. Do you know the Chick, Sam? Ever get down here to fish?

I snapped a pic of this little guy (13") just 'cause he was so darn pretty.

I got out Saturday morning, hoping to get in a few hours of fishing before the rain hit. My buddy Steve and I were going to fish a dogfight 8-3, but the forecast on FRI night had the rain rolling in mid-morning, so we decided against the Tx. The SAT AM forecast looked better, like the rain might hold off until noon, so I went ahead and put the boat in at 8 AM...it was cloudy with air temps in the low 40's and water temps in the mid 50's. Air temps rose to the mid 50's as the day wore on. I fished around the bay in which I launched, waiting for Steve. He finally called about 11 and arrived at noon, so I spent 4 hours working the edges of the bay between the shore and 15 FOW. There are quite a few points and coves, all just covered up with rocks and stumps. This was just my 3rd outing learning the shakey-head technique on my new 7' M spinning outfit, so I got in a lot of practice waiting on Steve. I caught 5 LM in the 4 hours, the biggest (2-8) pictured below came on the finesse worm in 10 FOW. 2 others came on the worm, and 2 more on a CB. Steve arrived, and we went a few miles down-river to a slough where he had caught a 19-lb bag (5 biggest- one 6, two 4's, and couple of 2.5-3's) and several other nice fish the day before. They were not there on SAT, but we did manage 8 slicks working points and banks near drops in 2-15 FOW. I got 2 on the worm and 2 more on the CB. Steve's 4 came on a finesse worm rig similar to the one that I was throwing. The schooling bass have been hard to catch, for some reason, with all the normal lures, so we've been throwing the shakey-head under the schools and pulling them out. The rain held off until about 2:30, and we finally left about 3:30. Not a bad day considering the barometer was high and stable until the rain hit...about the time the bass stopped hitting. I ended up with 9 and Steve had 4 on a tough-bite kind of day.

Yes, hire a local guide, wherever you go. It just does not make sense to try to figure out a strange body of water on your own. Hire someone for the first day, at least. You'll learn about the hot patterns that you can then use on your own, if you like, for the rest of the trip. Where you go depends upon what you want to catch. For LMB Lake Fork, Tx, Clear Lake, CA, or Lake Okechobee, FL. For SMB Lake Erie, NY. Those are MY dream destinations. If you're on a tighter budget, think about Lake Guntersville, AL for LMB or Lake Wheeler, AL for SMB (and those two are consecutive in the TN River chain, so you could do both!). I can't speak to any other species you might rather go after. Just my personal $.02...

WOW! Very nice Swiss Bass! And the biggest perch I've ever seen!

I agree with Munkin. Back off. Give it a rest for about a half an hour. Creep up quietly (but keep your distance), use light line and some kind of natural looking soft plastic. Cast beyond the spot you last saw the fish, and work it slowly towards him/her. And if you catch it, reward it by letting it go. p.s. I hope I used this quote feature correctly. Here's the right answer, IMHO...

A keeper LM here is 15"...anything smaller is a "dink" or "slick"...something that gets your lure before the big ones do and a pain in the @$$!

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes, yes, and always. Did I answer them all or too many? From what I've learned: Bass generallly move along the same contours, structures, and sanctuarys. They are creatures of habit. They will find spots along these routes that meet the most comfortable depths and that's generally the same depths at which the food likes it, too. Find structure or cover at these depths and you'll find baitfish and sometimes the bass. There are times when they might not be actively feeding, but they MUST eat every 36 hours or so, depending upon water temps and activity level. Sometimes you can get reactionary strikes, but you REALLY have to tick off a sluggish bass to get one of those hits. More often than not I've found that a SLOOOOW presentation during these periods works best. With BIIIIIG lures. The problem with cold-water fish is that the strike zone is very small, as they don't want to expend any more energy than they have to since food is scarce. A big ol' high-protein crawfish is just the entree that they're looking for, and the bigger the food, the bigger the strike zone. If a bass EVER gets full after feeding in the shallows in warmer water, he will ease deeper to get out of the sun and heat, and to digest his meal. He'll use his regular paths untill he gets more comfy. You can most always find bass somewhere along his favorite routes at one time or another. That's the essence of the hunt.

But there were some good-sized LMB and stripers busting shad everywhere! We ended up catching a couple of nicer bass after it got dark. I think the crappie was a fluke...I guess he was lost, thought he was a white bass, or just got in with the wrong crowd...he was in 3 FOW!

Here's the crappie...

I got out on Saturday with my buddy Rick and we went down to Nickajack Lake. A front had rolled in on Friday, and it was cloudy with air and water temps in the mid-50's. Since we put in on the river instead of the lake, I went after smallmouth right off the bat with hair jigs and tubes. We threw quite a few different things at 'em, but I worked the jigs and tubes 90% of the time. We fished everywhere from 2-40 FOW, points and flats next to the channel, and several islands on the river's edge. We did not get a bite all day. There was a Tx that launched out of the ramp where we put in, and the winner only had 12#, so it was a tough bite even for the "experts". The best part of the afternoon was when Rick was clearing a backlash and our lines got tangled. He was too busy to notice until he got his reel cleared up and started reeling in the miles of line that he had let out. As his line tightened up and he started pulling his spinnerbait in, I gave my rod and few nice pulls...the look on his face when he thought that he had a fish on was priceless! On Sunday, I went out with another buddy Steve, a local "pro", and we hit Lake Chickamauga after the rain and fog cleared. What an afternoon! Partly sunny and 70+ degrees! An absolutely gorgeous December day! We started down a bank near the river and picked up a dink each, then headed to a slough where we have regularly found schooling bass and stripers busting shad. Every time we get into this slough we can't seem to get out until it's too dark to cast. I was throwing crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, and a t-rig and managed only 1 bass. It was funny, though...just like the day before Steve was clearing a backlash when our lines got crossed. I saw it coming, and my crankbait crossed his line he started reeling in his swimbait...I felt the tug and said "do that again, that felt good!" As I began telling his the story of what I had done to Rick the day before, I saw him lift his lure into the boat. But my line was still wriggling...FISH ON! Haha...the joke was on me! Steve was throwing a finesse worm at these schoolers, and had pulled in 6 or 8 to my 2. I finally tied on a similar setup, but with a different size and color worm, but could not get hit. After he yanked in a couple more, I made him give me one of his heads and worms. I hooked up first cast, and we proceeded to wear 'em out. We ended up with 20-25 bass, and missed that many more in about 2 hours. I also accidentally caught the biggest crappie that I had personally ever seen...13.5 inches, 1.5 lbs. He was angry and gave me a handful on my 6-6 M rod. We only caught 3 keeper bass...the first pictured below, but the other 2 came after it was too dark to take pics. It was a great day on the water, fish or no fish!

$20 for the shirt ! Nice fish! The 24" is definately the heavier fish. Don't worry about weighing them! It takes only a few seconds...no longer than getting length and girth...but if you only get the tape measure out, be sure to get BOTH measurements for weight calculation! Fine, fine, fish!

Good to know that THIS is out there! What a toad!

Welcome, Gidget! Go get 'um! Gotta LOVE a woman that wants to out-fish her man! Or that wants to fish, period!

Welcome! And good luck w/ the Tx fishing thing!

Three of us headed to the big G after Thanksgiving for the first time. We stayed in a nice little cabin w/ a boat house right on the water. The weather was rough as a serious front passed through on Thursday. Air temps were in the low 40's with a 15-20 mph wind. Brrrr. Water temps were in the low 50's. My friend Rick and I were in Rick's boat, and Chris was in his boat. Chris' partner had to back out at the last minute. We bundled up and hit the water around 10:30 Friday morning. I have never seen so much milfoil in my life! We tried to find the edges of the grass, but there just were no edges! We threw just about everything...SB, JB, traps, spooks, worms and more...to no avail. Rick managed to nab one 13" LM, but that was it for our boat for the day. I didn't get a bite. When we met up w/ Chris, he had boated 3 slicks and 2 "little" drum, about 5 and 6 pounds. SAT was a little cooler, but there was less wind. We started in the creek we started in on FRI, as it was the only place that we had seen baitfish the day before. After about 1/2 hour of skirting around this good-sized school of baitfish in 10-12 FOW, Rick pulled out a 3-pounder (his new PB), but he slipped it back into the water before I could get a pic. Within the next 20 minutes, he had caught a couple in the 1.75 to 2-pound range. All 3 were on a black SB w/ purple worm trailer. I still had not gotten bit. It was 4 PM and we were working the edges of the creek channel when I FINALLY got a hit...a 14"er on a crankbait. At least I wasn't going oh-for-Guntersville! Chris had landed a few more LM and a 10-pound cat...bass on a trap and the cat on a spoon. Rick and I decided to get back out SUN morning and delay our return home. Chris saw the rain and stayed in. We went to a new spot and in the 1st hour I had boated 3 13-14" LM on a big jerkbait, catching Rick at 4 LM each. Of course, I was nowhere close in weight. But Rick would have nothing of it, and landed 2 more slicks for good measure. SUN was drizzling, but a bit warmer. I think that we had a pattern working, but it was time to get home. We learned quite a bit about the lake, and will be ready to slay 'em this Spring! Final tally: Chris 10 LM (no keepers), 2 drum, 1 cat...Rick 6 LM (3 keepers)...me 4 LM (also no keepers).

Here's the pic of my little 'un...

I was able to sneak out of the office on Wednesday and got to the water around 2:30. Thanks to a local Chattanooga fishing forum, I was able to meet a local "pro" (he fishes several local Tx trails as well as a couple of BFL divisions) just over a week ago, and have been fortunate that we have gotten along pretty well and have been out together twice before yesterday. I've learned A LOT in the few hours I've been able to spend with him, but the biggest thing that I've learned is that I have a lot to learn! I hit the water with about an hour to spare before Steve was to arrive, so I headed to the nearest slough that had wind blowing into it, and sat the boat down on the northeastern windblown bank. Within 10 minutes I saw some fish blasting shad around a few laydowns just ahead. I eased up to the area and managed to pull out 3 little 13"-ish LM, and had another come off at the boat, all on a big jerkbait. There were a couple of keeper-sized (15" or better) LM in the mix, but Steve called for pick-up before I could nab one. I picked Steve up (he was looking for fish for a Tx SAT), but we found only one slick at the first stop. There was very little surface activity there, so we moved to spot 2. We saw boils as soon as we got into the small slough. They were busting shad everywhere. We spent the next 1-1/2 hours working up and back a 30-yard stretch of bank, chasing the nearest school until they went down then headed toward the next boil. Steve was dragging the bottom (we were in 4-6 FOW throwing into 1-2 FOW) and I was working with shallow lures (jerkbait and trap). I caught a slick, then he landed the 4-pounder (pics below). I got the little 2-pounder shortly thereafter. There were at least 3 other large bass slamming the water in other areas of the slough, by our estimation 4 to 5-pounders. Steve was giggling like a schoolgirl seeing these good fish all over this slough, and we decided NOT to go after them...he knew they were there, and that gave him good hopes for the Tx on SAT. As it got dark and we were stowing gear for the ride back to the ramp, we saw one that looked to be 6 pounds do a belly-flop off a point 20 yards away. Looked like a dang great white hitting a seal! All-in-all, a good couple of hours' fishing. I ended up with 5 LM (one keeper) and 2 "almosts". Steve caught a pretty perch around 10", 2 slicks, and the big one. All of mine came on the jerkbait, and the big one was gaught on a small pig & jig. It was sunny with air temps in the high 50's-low 60's and light southerly winds. Water temps were in the mid-50's. A beautiful afternoon!