Old Hickory 5-30-2012

It’s nice to have a Hardee’s that opens at 4:30 am. Picked up a sausage and egg biscuit and headed for Old Hickory. There was patch fog most of the way but just before I got to Hwy 109 off of I40 the fog got really thick. Difficult to see signs, traffic lights and other vehicles. Went slow and found the turn off to Davis Corners Ramp and thought it may be a while before this fog lifts. Little did I know. Launched the boat about 5:45 am and motored (slowly) about 200 yards and began to fish. Threw topwaters when I could almost see the bank. Continued to fish the contours of the bank with topwaters, cranks, plastic and jigs with no participation from the fish. It was such an erie fog and the feeling was fish just had to feed, but they didn’t. I fished nearly the whole eastern shoreline of the back half of Spencer Creek waiting for the fog to lift. Finally, around 9:45 I began to see the western shoreline dimly. All of this time, not one single bite. Finally caught a 1 lb bass on a Smoking Blue Finesse worm. As I was fishing, a boat idled up close by and the fisherman asked if I knew where in the heck he was. He was looking for the Davis Corner Ramp and was totally lost. He did not have GPS but said that he would have one tomorrow. I pointed the direction and told him to go straight that way but I knew he couldn’t. It is almost impossible to drive a straight line in total fog without a compass or GPS. I knew he would get close and find his way if he didn’t circle.

With the fog finally lifted by 10 am I began to work my original plan. The water was up pretty good in the caney pond grass but the bass did not seem to be in there. Moved down the lake to a couple of my favorite spots but only picked up one more small bass. A friend suggested a spot to ledge fish and I resolved to try it. I have never been further down lake than Cedar Creek. This spot was out in front of Saunders Ferry ramp. Fished it quite a while with a 10 inch worm but no bites. Headed back up lake to Station Camp Creek to explore some more. Caught 1 1.25 lb bass on a squarebill off the duck blind. No more bites. Moved back into Spencer Creek and caught 1 more 1.5 bass on the SBFW on a dock that finished my catch for the day. Worked a few more spots and put it on the  trailer. A total of 4 bass, 3 of them club keepers but a pretty poor showing. 

I have no idea why I couldn’t catch bass. Conditions seemed ideal except for the fog delay but should have caught fish before it lifted. The wind got up pretty good around 12 pm but it was not a real problem. 

Anybody comment. Is heavy fog a deterrent to bass feeding?