TnRiver46

There were gar, largemouth, and spots all chowing on a Shad spawn where I was last week

Awesome trip! Campground raccoons are a tricky bunch. We had one open a cooler and take a pound of bacon in the blink of an eye at the beach.

Yeah I’m not a hunter but it seems way more difficult than fishing. But I do have some buddies that let the small bucks walk everytime

I feel like harvesting older ones can be better than harvesting young ones (except in ponds). Old ones have already spawned several times, they aren’t the future. Old fish are close to dying, might as well eat em. If you think about it, almost every state has length minimums, meaning you keep big fish. If keeping only small fish was better for the ecosystem, you would think biologists would make length maximums instead of minimums. I’ve seen a few length maximums across the country but not many. I think we as fishermen let big fish go because we love them and don’t want to kill them, not because it’s good for the ecosystem. Also in hunting, most harvest mature animals

But the big ones have more meat!

Wow! I’ll take those two bites over a thousand others

D%#*+n it you beat me to it!!! i can throw a pigskin a quarter mile

Nice one! There was a lady living near lake Toho when I went there that required we bring her 2 of those for dinner when we went fishing!

Regardless of where I’m at, I would have a heart attack if I caught a 10 lb walleye. Congrats to the OP

Yes people are stupid but the guy that got the world record smallmouth had literally nothing to gain, his life was ruined by the fish. People lie and people are also jealous. Tennessee and Arkansas are about as far south as you will find a walleye, makes sense that a fish at the warmest edge of its habitat range would be biggest. We have a whole lot of massive musky in TN also but I could care less where the records come from

They had accurate scales and measuring tapes in the 60s, it wasn’t the 1860s I’m not a fisheries biologist by trade but I am by education. And I stayed in a Kelty tent last night as opposed to a holiday inn express. Just look at lake fork, built in mid 80s. Then 17 lb bass started showing up! Tellico was built in 1976 and I have personally talked to folks that fished it days after it flooded. They caught huge bass easily compared to how it is today. Then you look at Norris lake, built in 1929. Infertile clear water and not much black bass over 7 lb

The guy that broke the smallmouth record wishes he never turned it in because of all the hate he got. When you first construct a dam, fish size booms big time, before everything eventually levels off. As reservoirs age they become less fertile, that why I believe most record were set in newish reservoirs. I have no doubt there’s some records currently swimming the Great Lakes but I’m also sure catching them is not easy

Just give me a purple worm and a month off work to fish all those cypress. Actually several purple worms

The river smallies follow them around like wolves among sheep. One of the bigger ones I ever caught I was trying to snag a carp with a fat Albert and the bass grabbed it out of nowhere

Bass Almost always jump more thaN once in rapid succession when schooling on Shad. If it only jumps once, typically not a bass

The deal with carp? They suck. See what I did there?

If a boat comes toward me, I assume it’s the game warden and start frantically trying to pull up my license on my phone

Will do buddy, we’ve got the rest of today and about 2 hours tomorrow morning before heading back. I haven’t caught many but there have been some nice ones. It’s only once every few years that I catch a 5 lb bass, needless to say I was hooting and hollering in a creek arm all alone hahaha

https://www.freshwater-fishing.org/the-facts-supporting-the-harper-walleye-reinstatement/

What about the 22 lb 11 oz from Arkansas? Is that also fake? I have a hard time calling things a lie when I wasn’t there

Looks thick in there! I bet you’ve got skeeters......

Obviously you weren’t in East TN! Coffee is more than a dollar and if you buy a cup, you best be ready to talk to the cashier about “how’s ya mom ‘n’ them?” and “all this rain”