TnRiver46

Minnows have always been my best smallmouth live bait. Live craws get me some but not much. Minnows are magic (I like stone rollers and shad even better than shiners) . However I can always catch shiners off my dock in a minnow trap in about 5-10 minutes of soaking so I use them a lot and they work well

The root joke got me good!

Update! got all those $)@%#£ things out of the transom. A hammer and flathead screwdriver did most of the damage, the carbide tip bit was key in getting started but it wouldn’t really drill them out neatly, made some boo boos. Slicing and punching/prying made the cleanest exit for most of them.

Looks great! I built a fence in my yard with a shovel and hammer/nails. Luckily my buddy let me borrow a wheelbarrow for the concrete and my fiancé would come home from work mad and hammer in nails for hours haha. Fencing is one heck of an undertaking!!!! I still have nightmares about a few roots

Yeah it’s crazy. There’s herons, osprey, eagles, cormorants, gulls, loons, all chowing down

Say what now? im making no claims except there’s shad everywhere on TN river. Literally everywhere.

Said it many times, the entire river is a blanket of baitfish in East TN. “Find the bait” is as easy as picking out the blue water on a map.

Main course walleye with rock bass appetizers

Go vols!

Those are some big fish!

We have some 700+ bears but they slowly saunter out of a dumpster

People always think every animal is the biggest one they’ve ever seen. I’ve heard probably hundreds of stories about a 50 lb raccoon yet I’ve never seen a 50 lb raccoon haha

Jack it up and if there’s no play, you’re good. If there’s some wiggle you’re too loose. I’ve always been told to tighten the bearing nut very tight and then back off a quarter turn and put the cotter pin in I’ve done it! Haha

Ewwww

That's the way I do but I don't start until it's under 70 degrees in the morning haha. Which was just recently, I'm all jacked up on caffeine!!!!!

Yep!

Oh *%#* yeah!

You need some zoom worms in your life. Maybe that will bring your yearly bass totals from 25 million to eleventy billion!

Looks like golden fried nuggets to me

I don’t hunt so it’s an easy choice for me !

Sounds like everyday all the time on the TN river. I try to fish where I don’t see any shad. You can’t even catch me on a cupcake if I’ve already eaten 25 cupcakes

I get to trap year round but not for fur, just nuisance animals. I do know a guy that sells the nuisance fur during winter but as you know it’s not so valuable anymore. But it a good tradition to keep alive and can be very useful. I’m usually trapping around backyards and roofs, I don’t get to use the 450s and 550s often, haha

Nice one! Love the back reel. The sound of drag is like fingernails on a chalk board to me

I feel like John Cox can beat anyone almost anywhere without pre fishing

Glad you had some success. They are having a big bass master open on Hartwell right now.