TnRiver46

@Way2slow, just curious, why are those merc 135 so darn powerful? This ole boy that comes on our camping/fishing trip has one on a big heavy boat and the thing will fly. He leaves people with 200 hp in the dust. I asked him about and he said “I don’t know, I think the guy I bought it from set it up for speed”

Oh........ my......... goodness!!!! I have a spare bedroom for any fellow smallmouth junkies that need to run away from that! 25’ waves????? I would be running

I’ve seen some docks use them, I think it works on occasion but not for too long unless you keep moving it around. There are other solutions that work far better depending on situation. The best? 12 gauge and goose pastrami (waterfowl is open all across the US as of right now). I’ve also seen trained dogs chase them away on a regular basis. We’ve had pretty good luck with pyrotechnics, they sell little plastic toy guns and rounds called bangers and screamers that scare the heck out of them and can be quite fun. You have to be diligent though. My buddy that works for Uncle Sam does big round ups in June when the birds are molting and can’t fly. They just run around and grab hundreds at large dams and other govt facilities. The best thing I have seen for ponds is to let the vegetation (like willows) grow up around the edges. Geese won’t sit on a pond with trees/bushes impeding their runway for takeoff and landing. Behavior modification approaches to wildlife management are typically not the best solution but they have their place. There’s a company in Knoxville that manufacturers fake owls that people hang up everywhere. These things are beyond useless, but guess what. They sell like hotcakes. I swear 90% of our customers purchased one and tried it (Failure) before they ever called us. They use them for anything (Like mothballs) yet I don’t think it has ever helped or worked one single time that I have personally witnessed. Everyone will spend a small amount on anything, whether it actually works or not. A lot of wildlife problems can be solved very simply: got a problem with a squirrel in your attic? Get rid of the squirrel. It’s funny because that’s usually the last thing anyone will think of. They usually start squirting peppermint oil into the attic and walls, then moth balls, then a super sonic electronic sound machine to scare them away, then a fake owl......... then they call me. And when I say I’m going to trap the squirrel and patch the hole it completely blows their mind......

Good work a-jay! I slept on my moms couch and forgot my overnight bag in my girlfriends car.......... so the best I can do today is go for a walk in flip flops........ haha. Hopefully it’s warm out there.....

You mean you didn’t have a battery powered scale in your pocket while swimming? Nice fish!!!

@Bluebasser86, total absolution! Hahaha

Congrats!!! Nice work

Ordering the blanks is something you (and I) should do. They are cheap and work great, I bought a bunch of homemade ones off a guy for $2/ apiece years ago and they were the best ones I ever had. Just plain Jane and effective. I can’t stand those cotton codell blades but they do work. I’ve had some that wouldn’t vibrate and the line always grabs the hooks. They do catch fish tho

Feel free to post GPS coordinates of anywhere y’all have left a MB 110 hanging high up in a tree....... preferably within $24.99 of my driveway

We are glad you can still tell that story! I couldn’t drive that heavy boat in the rain on the curvy hills around here!

Some guy got charged with wreckless endangerment in Gatlinburg recently for shooting a bear 6 times. Also ironically at a motel 6 haha. I don’t know the exact details but I feel like when it comes to bears, you should be allowed to use your own judgement. The bear just ran away

Hey whoa now........ when you actually remember things like that, the weatherman hype can’t convince everyone it’s the worst thing ever every single year!!!!! We had 2 feet of snow in East TN in late March 1993 and crazy flooding in 1994. Yet, everyone soon forgets and every year we have a 500 year flood..... haha

There’s a river that flows out of Virginia into Tennessee that has stocked trout and there are rumors of monster smallmouth (and largemouth) in it.......... heard tale of smallmouth at 8 or better and I think there was a documented largemouth not far shy of 15 a few years back

Oh yeah my bad I forgot you left New York. If you have open water year round I strongly suggest bass fishing, once I learned it was possible in winter it didn’t take long for that to become my preferred season. I find it way easier to catch big bass for whatever reason, and they are usually more predictable. My first winter catching bass was with spoons and silver buddies, although now I catch them with about anything, a 2.5 inch gulp minnow in an 1/8 oz jig head is definitely a favorite. Throw it out and kind of feather it back as it pendulums under the boat. Threadfin Shad are a lot of times half dead and twitching as they sink to the bottom when water temps get below 50, the bass suspend and gorge on them here’s an explanation from a real expert https://youtu.be/KmMUvW2GZ_Q

I like to stretch it. Tie it to a tree and walk away then pull it very tight. It will take it back to limp at least for a bit

I used to fish for trout all winter until I learned to catch bass in cold water. If you are limited to only trout, the stocked ones bite way better in the cold than the wild ones

No but I was guessing not much over 4 lbs as snakey as it was (it hit a buzzbait in rapids!) I think the one my buddy had that same day pictured above was a good bit heavier. The fish in my avatar was also very close to 23” but again no weight. I would guess 5

I just remembered two more river monsters from the same day about 10 years ago. In a $60 inflatable kayak on a 10 mile float ....... The bottom fish was tied for my longest smallmouth ever at 23" (skinny though) and my buddy got a replica mount of the top fish

I agree, and saying there’s a definite line where one ends and the other starts is impossible. This is the upper end of lake Cumberland, I’d call it a river ...... this is also very similar to what the upper end of fort Loudoun lake, Norris lake, Douglas lake, Cherokee lake, watauga lake, south Holston lake, Boone lake, and several others all look like. There’s even some portions of water that flow into the famous chickamauga lake that are class 5 whitewater

The upper end of Several TVA impoundments are miles of shoals and rapids. You would just have to see it all to fully understand. I’ve caught hundreds of smallies all throughout dozens of rivers in Tennessee but if you go downstream far enough there’s always a dam. I would also consider fishing a tail water right below a dam a river but if that’s crazy oh well. The water is super fast and its a narrow meandering channel so I think it fits.

I’m too scared/cheap to buy x raps! And even if I do buy them, I’m afraid to throw them. Then they just swell up and explode in my tackle box......... but I bought a couple husky jerk the other day and man do they have good action and suspend perfectly. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pull the trigger on a Megabass but I may find one in a tree one of these days.......

Bass are always hungry, even when they arent! I’ve caught them when they were barfing and pooping Shad everywhere. I caught one with a plastic worm that barfed up a bullfrog on the way in. But, they have to rest just like anything else. You can catch a resting fish but it’s not easy, actively feeding bass are gluttons. If you are seeing osprey this time of year, then you must be down pretty far south or close to the ocean. Our ospreys have already left for winter, now we just have eagles and ring billed gulls. Have you tried a plastic worm with no sinker? Also I firmly believe bass can be line shy, there’s a reason every single pro uses 4-6 lb test during winter tournaments around here on the smallmouth water. The way a smallie fights, they would all be using 50 lb braid if they could

Prayers sent.

Well i guess i have never caught a river smallie according to this thread so my new answer is 0 lbs 0 ozs. In a state without natural lakes nonetheless.... Every drop of water in the whole state is behind a dam, some just further upstream than others

Do tailwaters count? So you are referring free stone streams only ? The dam also alters the river below