It was a beautiful morning weather wise. When we arrived at the ramp, it was around 57 degrees with a breeze coming out of the southwest at 5-15. I was happy with the cool weather, but the wind was not what I needed for my topwater pattern.
We eased out of the state park around 6:00 am and started on a main lake point just down from LHSP. I caught a nice 14" smallie on the popper, and lawrence landed a 13 1/2 " brown fish on a 1- crankbait. We missed a couple more here, but I had other places to hit before the sun killed the bite. We eased down lake to hole in the wall island, and I caught one short fish, but that was it.
We moved over to the bluff end across the lake, and one other short fish came over the gunnel rail.next we moved down to the next pocket down lake, only to find Noah had already hit the stuff I wanted to fish. I did manage a couple of small club keepers here, but it was time to move. Next, we fished a cut in bear Island that as still holding some shade. I nailed a keeper spot and a 15" largemouth on the spook here.
I now had 5 club keepers in the boat. We bounced around a lot in the lower end. On our first stop by an island near the dam, I hadn't even put the trolling motor down yet, and a huge school of fish cam up schooling over 97 ft of water! I started throwing the fluke, and LW chunked a trap. We landed 3-4 fish here, and I was able to upgrade once.
It was now around 10 am, and we fished with no success for another hour, and then Noah called. He was dead in the water, so we ran down lake and towed him back to the ramp. That ate up most of the rest of our time, and we didn't land anything else.
I ended up with 5 fish for 6.5 lbs, which was good for first place, and I closed out the AOY title.
Tough fishing, but I was happy to have 5.
RBK
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Saturday 8-20-11 J. Percy Priest....
Headed out to Priest this morning to try my luck. After being on Old Hickory since May, I was looking forward to seeing some clear water and rocky shore line.
I ran a couple of miles upriver from Long Hunter State Park to check a cove where the fish tend to school in the Summer months. I could see several balls of shad roaming and an occasional blow up here and there, but I only managed to catch one 12" spot here. Next, I ran down lake to the end of a deep main lake bank near the big bridge to try the topwater deal. I had 12-15 blow ups on the Spook on this bank and landed about 10 of those. Most of them were smaller spots and smallies, but I did have 2 really nice spots that were over 13" and I lost a keeper largemouth at the boat.
When the sun came up over the horizon, the fish went deep, and so did I. I went into Suggs Creek and fished a bluff wall with a jig. I landed three keeper spots here. I ran a few other deeper banks in the lower end, but I couldn't find any fish. The sun was high, and the wind was dead, making for tough conditions.
I decided to run the lower half of the lake to look for bait and possible schooling activity. I stopped at the big bridge to see if anything was happening there, and the fish were schooling sporadically over deep water (20-30 ft). I managed to catch one keeper largemouth on a fluke, but I got tired of waiting for them to come back up, so I moved on. I couldn't find anymore schooling fish, so at 10:00, it was time to let the pleasure boaters have the lake.
It was not a bad day, all in all for August. I caught around 15 or so fish, with a few small keepers. In hindsight, I wish I'd have run the topwater pattern earlier, instead of waiting for those elusive schooling fish on the first stop. I think I have an idea of what I will do in our September club tourney, as the areas I caught them in today should only get better if it cools off.
Until next time.
Tight lines y'all.
RBK
I ran a couple of miles upriver from Long Hunter State Park to check a cove where the fish tend to school in the Summer months. I could see several balls of shad roaming and an occasional blow up here and there, but I only managed to catch one 12" spot here. Next, I ran down lake to the end of a deep main lake bank near the big bridge to try the topwater deal. I had 12-15 blow ups on the Spook on this bank and landed about 10 of those. Most of them were smaller spots and smallies, but I did have 2 really nice spots that were over 13" and I lost a keeper largemouth at the boat.
When the sun came up over the horizon, the fish went deep, and so did I. I went into Suggs Creek and fished a bluff wall with a jig. I landed three keeper spots here. I ran a few other deeper banks in the lower end, but I couldn't find any fish. The sun was high, and the wind was dead, making for tough conditions.
I decided to run the lower half of the lake to look for bait and possible schooling activity. I stopped at the big bridge to see if anything was happening there, and the fish were schooling sporadically over deep water (20-30 ft). I managed to catch one keeper largemouth on a fluke, but I got tired of waiting for them to come back up, so I moved on. I couldn't find anymore schooling fish, so at 10:00, it was time to let the pleasure boaters have the lake.
It was not a bad day, all in all for August. I caught around 15 or so fish, with a few small keepers. In hindsight, I wish I'd have run the topwater pattern earlier, instead of waiting for those elusive schooling fish on the first stop. I think I have an idea of what I will do in our September club tourney, as the areas I caught them in today should only get better if it cools off.
Until next time.
Tight lines y'all.
RBK
Saturday, August 13, 2011
August F3 Club toruney Old Hickory - sucked!...
I scratched out 4 club keepers including 2 legit OHL keepers for a whopping 5.4 lbs. It was good for 3rd place. Only caught 4 all day. I'm hapy to say OHL is behind me for 2011!!!!!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
F3 OHL 7-16-11....tough on me...
We headed out of Davis Corner right at safe light and eased across the river into Station Camp to throw topwater early. I was not able to run down lake to where I had been catching them because my buddy Chris was fishing a money tournament, and I didn't want to get in his way.
We started on a major creek point up shallow on the grass edge. I caught a 12 1/2" fish on the second cast on a buzzbait, but that was the only fish I caught. Sam managed to land two decent club keepers behind me on a worm.
We moved back to the marina slips to try and catch a few before the sun got too high. I zeroed here, and Sam added his third of the day on the worm (hello- message to Rob- they're not chasing today!).
We moved around to a couple of other spots in the creek, but nothing doing. Since I was struggling with my plan to get five small ones early, I decided to ease out to the main river and go for a big one. We threw worms along the river channel on some deep wood just upriver from Spencer Creek. I missed on fish here, and that was all that bit. Ughhhh- really was wishing I could be down lake on my best stuff.
We made a move down lake and hit two ledges near Avondale, and I was able to catch my second small club keeper of the day, and Sam rounded out his limit, but the bite was really slow. Eventually, I threw in the towel, and we ran back up to Station Camp to finish the day on the point where we started. I worked the boat out to the sweet spot on the point that has a good bit of brush on it, and we commenced to getting bit. Sam upgraded three or four times, and I was able to scratch out a pitiful club limit of 5 1/2 lbs. I had reserved 30-45 minutes to hit the main lake wood before weigh in, and I told Sam that once I had five we were gone.
Just as soon as I caught my 5th, Sam jerked back on a solid 3 3/4 lb fish on the worm, so I decided to just stay on these fish and hope for another good bite or two. It never happened, so at 11:49 we ran back to the ramp to turn in our weights. I ended up with 5.6 lbs, which was sixth out of 9 anglers; my worst performance of the year by a long shot.
Sam had 4 real keepers and one 14" one for around 9 1/2 lbs.
Sorry day for me, but there will be another day.
RBK
We started on a major creek point up shallow on the grass edge. I caught a 12 1/2" fish on the second cast on a buzzbait, but that was the only fish I caught. Sam managed to land two decent club keepers behind me on a worm.
We moved back to the marina slips to try and catch a few before the sun got too high. I zeroed here, and Sam added his third of the day on the worm (hello- message to Rob- they're not chasing today!).
We moved around to a couple of other spots in the creek, but nothing doing. Since I was struggling with my plan to get five small ones early, I decided to ease out to the main river and go for a big one. We threw worms along the river channel on some deep wood just upriver from Spencer Creek. I missed on fish here, and that was all that bit. Ughhhh- really was wishing I could be down lake on my best stuff.
We made a move down lake and hit two ledges near Avondale, and I was able to catch my second small club keeper of the day, and Sam rounded out his limit, but the bite was really slow. Eventually, I threw in the towel, and we ran back up to Station Camp to finish the day on the point where we started. I worked the boat out to the sweet spot on the point that has a good bit of brush on it, and we commenced to getting bit. Sam upgraded three or four times, and I was able to scratch out a pitiful club limit of 5 1/2 lbs. I had reserved 30-45 minutes to hit the main lake wood before weigh in, and I told Sam that once I had five we were gone.
Just as soon as I caught my 5th, Sam jerked back on a solid 3 3/4 lb fish on the worm, so I decided to just stay on these fish and hope for another good bite or two. It never happened, so at 11:49 we ran back to the ramp to turn in our weights. I ended up with 5.6 lbs, which was sixth out of 9 anglers; my worst performance of the year by a long shot.
Sam had 4 real keepers and one 14" one for around 9 1/2 lbs.
Sorry day for me, but there will be another day.
RBK
Monday, July 11, 2011
Struggled on the big pond- TBT July event KY Lake...
After two pre-fishing trips to KY Lake I had found a grand total of 3 potential schools of fish for DD and I to work on Sunday.
We launched at Buchanon Resort near Paris, and when our number was called, we did a quick U-turn and fished the marina slips for 15 minutes. Dwayne lost a keeper on a blade, and I landed a solid keeper on a big worm.
Next, we made the long 35 mile run South to a cut near the Hwy 70 bridge where I had found some fish the day before. They never came up schooling like on Saturday, but we were able to catch 5-10 fish here on a jig and rig, but only two of them would keep.
Around 7:00 am, we headed upriver three miles or so to a big bay near Eva boat ramp and looked for a ditch running off of the creek channel that a buddy of mine had told me about. We found it without too much trouble, and we cast down the West side of the ditch, fishing it for 75 yds or so. Once we got to the Northern most end of the ledge where it started to turn to the East, we got into a nice school of fish on the rig and big worm. They were sitting just on top of the flat, and we stuck around 12 fish here in a matter of 30 minutes or so. The problem was they were all just a little too small. Most of them were 13-14 1/2" long, which is short of the 15" limit. Rather than sitting on that school and milking it dry, we opted to head out to the main channel and fish our way back North.
We hit around 15 different drops between New Johnsonville and Paris, and we never landed another fish.
It got so hot by 1 pm, that we gave up and headed back in. Since we are not in the points race, we just let the 3 keepers go, and headed back home all hot and tired.
It was a very disappointing day. I'm sure if we'd have stayed on our first two spots that we would have weighed in a limit, but we were fishing for the win, and the quality did not seem good enough in that area.
Until next time.
RBK
We launched at Buchanon Resort near Paris, and when our number was called, we did a quick U-turn and fished the marina slips for 15 minutes. Dwayne lost a keeper on a blade, and I landed a solid keeper on a big worm.
Next, we made the long 35 mile run South to a cut near the Hwy 70 bridge where I had found some fish the day before. They never came up schooling like on Saturday, but we were able to catch 5-10 fish here on a jig and rig, but only two of them would keep.
Around 7:00 am, we headed upriver three miles or so to a big bay near Eva boat ramp and looked for a ditch running off of the creek channel that a buddy of mine had told me about. We found it without too much trouble, and we cast down the West side of the ditch, fishing it for 75 yds or so. Once we got to the Northern most end of the ledge where it started to turn to the East, we got into a nice school of fish on the rig and big worm. They were sitting just on top of the flat, and we stuck around 12 fish here in a matter of 30 minutes or so. The problem was they were all just a little too small. Most of them were 13-14 1/2" long, which is short of the 15" limit. Rather than sitting on that school and milking it dry, we opted to head out to the main channel and fish our way back North.
We hit around 15 different drops between New Johnsonville and Paris, and we never landed another fish.
It got so hot by 1 pm, that we gave up and headed back in. Since we are not in the points race, we just let the 3 keepers go, and headed back home all hot and tired.
It was a very disappointing day. I'm sure if we'd have stayed on our first two spots that we would have weighed in a limit, but we were fishing for the win, and the quality did not seem good enough in that area.
Until next time.
RBK
Saturday, June 25, 2011
June 25th OHL- Realtors' Assn tourney....
I fished a tourney today with my regular team partner, Dwayne on Old Hickory. We had a solid plan to hit some marina slips early, where we felt fairly certain we could catch a limit. I had smacked em pretty well in there last weekend. The problem was that the event didn't blast of until 6 am, a full one hour past safe light, and we had a long run down lake.
We made the trip down to the creek, and we had no problem getting on the marinas. We did, however have a big problem getting a single bite. The bait was gone, and we knew it wasn't going to happen. So, around 7 am, we went into scramble mode. We fished down near Dupont and Lock 3, but we only managed a couple of short fish there.
We moved around, working our way up lake all day, and DD landed the first small keeper at the mouth of Drake's Creek around 9:00 am. At around 10:00 we stumbled on to a group of fish inside of Cedar Creek on a secondary ledge near the park. We were able to add 3 more keepers here, but they were all small. We moved over to another secondary ledge in the mouth of the creek behind small island, and we caught two more, including our limit fish. By 11:30 we had a small limit of around 8 lbs, so it was time to move and look for a couple of kicker fish. We eased into Station Camp, and we were able to cull on small keeper on a round point near the marina, but it only upgraded us by ounces.
As time started winding down, Dwayne moved us slightly further out of the creek to a bank that the creek channel ran near, and on the second cast, DD stuck a good one that weighed 4 1/2 lbs on the rig. We stayed on that bank for the remainder of the day, but that was all we could catch.
We weighed in 10.75 lbs, which was good for around 9th place (35 or so boats).
It was a decent day, but not what we had hoped for.
Until next time.
RBK
We made the trip down to the creek, and we had no problem getting on the marinas. We did, however have a big problem getting a single bite. The bait was gone, and we knew it wasn't going to happen. So, around 7 am, we went into scramble mode. We fished down near Dupont and Lock 3, but we only managed a couple of short fish there.
We moved around, working our way up lake all day, and DD landed the first small keeper at the mouth of Drake's Creek around 9:00 am. At around 10:00 we stumbled on to a group of fish inside of Cedar Creek on a secondary ledge near the park. We were able to add 3 more keepers here, but they were all small. We moved over to another secondary ledge in the mouth of the creek behind small island, and we caught two more, including our limit fish. By 11:30 we had a small limit of around 8 lbs, so it was time to move and look for a couple of kicker fish. We eased into Station Camp, and we were able to cull on small keeper on a round point near the marina, but it only upgraded us by ounces.
As time started winding down, Dwayne moved us slightly further out of the creek to a bank that the creek channel ran near, and on the second cast, DD stuck a good one that weighed 4 1/2 lbs on the rig. We stayed on that bank for the remainder of the day, but that was all we could catch.
We weighed in 10.75 lbs, which was good for around 9th place (35 or so boats).
It was a decent day, but not what we had hoped for.
Until next time.
RBK
Saturday, June 18, 2011
June F3 tourney Sat. 6-18-11...
Omar and I headed across the river to a major creek at first light and I caught the first keeper of the morning on a buzzbait. Then, we moved to the marina slips and I caught 2 more keepers on a spinnerbait. We then eased over to a round point and deeper flat adjacent to the marina, and we caught 4-5 on a crankbait, and by 7:15 I was culling fish. One of the crankin fish was the biggest of the day at 16 1/2".
We moved out to a major creek point off of a duck blind, and I caught a nice 15 3/4" largehead on the rig, but no one else was home. We bounced around in the creek for another hour or so, but we couldn't find them.
We eased down river to Cage's Bend, and I was able to upgrade a small amount flipping wood and grass, but by now the weather was turning nasty. We ran quickly down to Cedar Creek Marina and waited it out for an hour or so. We fished a awhile in Cedar, but the fish did not bite well after the thunder and lightning.
We ended our day back in the creek we started in, and Omar was able to add his third club keeper of the day off of the marina slips.
On the day, I had four legit keepers for around 8 lbs, and 5 that counted in the derby for 9.4 lbs. I ended up second to Bill, who had over 10 lbs.
It was a tough day, but not too bad all in all. If Omar and I had been in a team tourney, we'd have had around 11 lbs on our best 5.
Later
RBK
We moved out to a major creek point off of a duck blind, and I caught a nice 15 3/4" largehead on the rig, but no one else was home. We bounced around in the creek for another hour or so, but we couldn't find them.
We eased down river to Cage's Bend, and I was able to upgrade a small amount flipping wood and grass, but by now the weather was turning nasty. We ran quickly down to Cedar Creek Marina and waited it out for an hour or so. We fished a awhile in Cedar, but the fish did not bite well after the thunder and lightning.
We ended our day back in the creek we started in, and Omar was able to add his third club keeper of the day off of the marina slips.
On the day, I had four legit keepers for around 8 lbs, and 5 that counted in the derby for 9.4 lbs. I ended up second to Bill, who had over 10 lbs.
It was a tough day, but not too bad all in all. If Omar and I had been in a team tourney, we'd have had around 11 lbs on our best 5.
Later
RBK
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