Percy Priest 7-29-2011

You might wonder how I got up at 4:00 am Friday but didn't get on the lake until 2:30 pm. Well, there is a story here, probably not interesting to you but pretty emotional to me.

It really started on Tuesday. We went with a church group to Demo's Restaurant in Murphreesboro.  Wanted to go to the lake Wednesday but the 100 degree forecast discouraged me. Stayed home all day Wednesday. We planned on baby sitting with our grandson on Thursday evening. I was heading out Thursday morning when I realized my billfold was missing. Tore the house up looking, retracing my steps but no luck. Finally decided to call Demo's to see if I lost there. Then I discovered it. This is going to kill you. It nearly killed me. I was wearing cargo shorts. The billfold was in the side pocket instead of my hip pocket where it ALWAYS is. You would think I would have known but I didn't. I really makes you sick when you can't find your wallet. 

To continue this sad tale, my wife and I went to an early dinner at the Daily Dish in the Grassland area. Continued on to my daughter's Green Hills home to baby sit with Chase. Stayed until about 9:15 pm. Got home about 9:45 pm. I pulled the boat out of the garage and hooked it up. Prepared everything for a quick exit Friday morning. Got up at 4:00 am, ate a quick bite, poured a cup of coffee for the trip, got the ice and drinks out and headed for the boat. It was about that time that I discovered for the second straight day that my billfold was missing. And no, it was not in the side pocket. I checked the house, both cars, even the boat but no billfold. I finally concluded it was on the sofa at my daughter's house. I considered calling her for a millisecond. Thankfully, I did not. I went back to bed, got up at 7:00 am and texted my daughter to check for my billfold. She didn't get back to me until about 9:15 am  and it wasn't there. A really sick feeling hit me again. I finally decided to call the Daily Dish but before I did, I saw a voice mail message on my phone. it was the Dish calling me late Thursday afternoon telling me they found my billfold and were holding it until I could come and pick it up. Whew!!!

I picked it up around 10:45, came back home and ate a quick lunch. Kept vacillating about whether to put the boat back into the garage, keep it hooked up to go Saturday morning or go out Friday afternoon. Finally settled by heading to Percy Priest for a little afternoon fishing or at least boat riding to settle my flustered nerves. And that, dear friends, is how I got up at 4 and got to the lake at 2:30. 

Fishing report, oh. Well it's not much to report. I caught a fluke size bass on…..a fluke. Caught a bluegill on a red eye shad and then caught a 2 lb catfish on the same thing. And that was the sum total of fish caught. Did a lot of boat riding and exploring. Wanted to look for some humps in deep water but was frustrated by my GPS. When I zoomed in on the lake it would appear for about 3 seconds and then revert back to a zoomed out position, really zoomed way out. Came in about 7 pm. Still good daylight left but the wind did not lay and fishing difficult. Had hoped to see some schooling fish but he water was not still enough to spot them. Always great to be on the water. And, yep, still have my elusive wallet. 

Kentucky Lake - July 20, 2011

The heat index at Camden, TN was 111 degrees. I met my fishing friend Doyal from Memphis at 5:30 am at the New Johnsonville ramp. We launched quickly and prepared to bass fish in the forthcoming heat.  By the time we pulled out about 3:45 we were boiled, baked, sauteed, fricasseed and crispy fried. But…. we did catch fish.

As we motored out the canal to the river, we turned left and went down to the point of the island, maybe 200 yards. We then fished the back side of the island and then moved to the river side of the island back to the point then turning back and fished to the canal again. By 10 am we had caught about 26 bass including a number of 2- 2.5 fish. I also caught a 5.25 bass. All of these fish were caught in 2-4 feet of water. Doyal and I started out with buzzbaits. We had several blowups or swirls but no fish. I finally switched to my old favorite, a mojo rigged speed worm in candy bug color. I started catching fish. Doyal stayed with buzzer a little longer finally picking up one but I was beginning to pile up numbers. He soon switched. I stayed with the speed worm a while including the big fish. I then switched to mojo rigged fluke in green pumpkin magic. I caught all of my bass on these two baits. Doyal, on the other hand caught them on a buzzbait, crankbait, spinnerbait, speed worm and lizard. Whatever it takes. We figured we had used less than a pint of gas so far. We then made a run north. Doyal picked up a couple of fish around some moored barges. We went on up to Little Dry Creek catching another couple of fish. By 3 pm we both hit the wall and decided to head out. We had a total of 30 bass, 16 for me and 14 for Doyal. Most were keepers. we had maybe 4-5 squeakers, a very nice day. My best 5 would have been 14+.

We saw a raccoon that followed us along the bank for a while. Saw at least 6 ospreys (fish eagles) and one bald eagle. I saw a deer on the way home.

We stopped at the little cafe next to the Anchor Inn and had a bite of lunch and a gallon of tea. All in all a very nice day even with the heat.

F-3 Tournament Old Hickory 7-16-2011

Tournament day last Saturday. 5 boats launched at safe light (kinda dark) on Old Hickory. Carl and I stopped at the big grass bed in Spencer Creek. Only got a couple of bites here and decided the grass didn't hold many bass. Moved out to the main lake and fished the point at Spencer Creek with no success. Next moved to a 2 arm cove Carl and I call 2 fingers. Has grass on both sides going in. Caught 1 here but again the grass was disappointing. We then moved out to the river ledge and cranked. I picked up a 2.5 and another keeper. Caught on Rapala DT10. Carl picked up a keeper on a C-Rig with a fluke. We then fished a main lake bank with lots of laydowns, logs and stickups beside the Boy Scout camp with a non keeper or two and 1 keeper. From there to the Steam Plant outlet canal. Carl picked up 2 quick keepers on the gravel bar and lost another nice keeper all on the Speed Worm. Time to head back to Spencer Creek. Fished the grass for a few minutes and then back to the ramp and load up.

I had 4 keepers for 5.7 and Carl had 3 keepers for 5.1.

Actually although Carl and I didn't do really well, several club members did. Tim had over 10 lbs to win and Sam had a 3.75 for big bass. There were 3 others that had 9+ pounds.

Always great to be on the water.

Old Hickory 7-6-11

Redemption! After zeroing last week at Percy Priest it was nice to catch a few bass today at Old Hickory. On the lake at 5:15 am and off at 2:00 p. Moved around quite a bit trying some new places. Wound up with 11 bass, most between 12 and 15 inches and a couple of dinks (some call 12 inchers dinks but they count as a keeper in our Bass Club using paper weigh). Also caught 2.5 catfish on a swim bait.

If you are wondering, there was no pattern. Caught fish on Speed Worm (Candy Bug), Big Hammer Swim Bait, Rapala DT 10 Crankbait (Shad) and a Zoom Fluke (Wat Magic Red). I fished in Spencer, Cedar, Station Camp creeks, river ledge, main lake laydowns and cane grass beds.

I did lose a nice 4-4.5 pound bass on a crankbait on a river ledge. She jumped twice and on the third, returned my crankbait back to me. Hated to lose that one. Also lost 4-5 more but most were modest sizes.