Personal Best Smallmouth

[MidTNKayakAngler]

I've been working 6 days a week for months now, and only have Friday's off, and also been working a few 7 day weeks. I was exhausted from the work week and just wanted one morning where I didn't have to wake up at 4:15am to go to work. We'll Friday morning the alarm goes off at 4:00am for my wife and I just lay there, she got ready and left for work around 4:45, and immediately I sprung from the bed, made my coffee, lunch, and fixed some breakfast sandwiches. I played on the phone trying to decide where I would fish "Williamsport, Natchez Trace, Guntersville, or the Cumberland River. We'll Thursday I received a call from Michael King of Paddle Adventures Unlimited wanting me to paddle with them on Sycamore Creek at 2pm on Friday, so I decided I'd fish the Cumberland until 1pm, and then go hang with the Paddle Adventure Unlimited Crew. The boat and gear was already loaded, and by 7am I was on the road. So much for sleeping in.

It started out slow, and then I started seeing a lot of surface activity, small fish so I downsized. I picked up the Shimano Aldebaran BFX XG Limited spooled with 4# mono matched with a Majorcraft Volkey BFS 6'9" UL rod. I tied on a 1/16 oz Keitech Super Round jig head with a Zoom Super Fluke Jr. It was game on from the 1st cast. The first fish was an 18.75" Drum, and boy that was fun. Then came the White Bass. I stayed on them for a good hour with loosing them once and then picking them up again. Most of the White Bass were in the 12-14" range. Then I swapped sides and got into a few more schools of white bass. Then I picked up The Daiwa TW 1016, with 7'11" All Pro Crankin' Blaster and Strike King 2.5 in Sexy Shad. BAM 1st cast after about 4 cranks it gets slammed. It's digging deep and then I get it close to the surface 2' and see the flash and I think Striper, so I think I have a 20-25" Striper and it's still digging hard, the entire time Chris Bryant txnative is on the phone with me, he's getting good commentary. I'm working it up slowly as it's right below me, and I finally see it again, and immediately I know this is my personal best Smallmouth. I'm finally able to get it boatside and get the Lucid Grips around the bottom lip and bring it into the kayak. It measures between 21" and 20.75", and guessing the weight was close to 4lbs, as I didn't look at the sales and just slipped her back into the murky water of the Cumberland. I had about another hour and a have to fish, so I made my way back to the ramp and picked up 2 more 14" smallmouth, and 3 more 14" Spotted Bass.

I got back to the truck and headed to meet the Paddle Adventures Crew on Sycamore Creek. I was the 1st one there, so I went ahead and unloaded, and made a few casts from the bank until everyone else started showing up. I helped everyone get their boats and gear to the water, and the Tennessee Wildside Crew shows up to film us. There were about 12 of us doing a 2+ mile float on Sycamore Creek. We had a good float on some beautiful water, and Tennessee Wildside wanted to do a creek side interview with me. We finished up the float around 5pm, and hung out chatting and catching up for another hour and a half.

It was almost 8:30 by time I got home, and it was a great day.

River water Temps 62/63, clarity 18" - 20"
Creek Water Temps 59, clarity 4'

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

Congrats on the new PB.

[Darren.]

Nice! And looks like a great area for yak-fishing.

[00 mod]

Congrats on the new PB!

 

Jeff

[A-Jay]

Nice Smallie ~

 

PB's are Always a Blast !

 

Congrats

 

A-Jay

[bowhunter63]

Congrats Awesome Smallie

[rivafishn]

Congrats on the PB!  Sounds like a great day of fishing!

[Drew03cmc]

Gorgeous fish!