Old Hickory 7-14-12 Tournament

Tournament day. Picked up Jack at 3:30 am. These middle of the night starts are killing me. Our club, Cumberland Bass Club, is joining with the Franklin Bass Club for our Old Hickory tournament. Actually we are not competing for the tourney but are all putting in $5 each for a big fish pot, winner take all. We blasted off at 5 am. My fishing partner canceled at the last minute so I fished alone. Jack just rode with me and was fishing with Steve.

I elected to fish what I call 2 coves. I learned that Tyler calls it Cow cove, 'cause it used to have cows. What it does have is an abundance of cane grass on the edges. When conditions are right, bass congregate in the grass and feed. Evidently conditions are not quite right except for a 1 lb bass that blew up on frog. Club keeper but I need a lot more. If you read my last trip you would know that it rained the whole time we were on the lake. That merely conditioned, at least Jack and I, for today because it also rained the entire day, at times really hard.

I started fishing a new place for me, the back side of an island with lots of cane grass. I was continuing to throw a frog twitching it gently in the grass. I swam the frog slowly out of the grass and paused. As I began to resume swimming, she exploded on the defenseless frog. Well not quite defenseless. The frog had a couple of fangs in the form of fish hooks. This was a nice bass who was not happy being hooked. She proceeded to jump and twist and shake her head, gills flaring but to no avail. Actually I did everything wrong when I tried to land her. Didn't get the net, big mistake. Reached down to lip her and dropped the rod. She is still jumping. Finally lipped her with my left hand...and she slipped out...and began jumping again. Finally lipped her again and triumph. She jumped at least six times. I measured her at 21". On our charts she should weigh 5.38. Got my live well going and placed her in it. For our big fish pot we have to bring the fish in to be weighed and it must be alive.

I continued to fish and hung a couple of fish but they were early released. And then the lightning and thunder began as a storm cell settled right over me. I hugged the bank and waited. Spotted a boat house about 1000 yards away but I would have go over open water not a pleasant thought with lightning crashing. Finally a slight lull and I headed for the boathouse. As I approached I realized another hapless angler had taken refuge. It wasn't large enough for my boat but I tied up alongside and stepped out on the walkway. Had a nice visit with my boathouse friend while I waited out the storm cell for an hour.

Finally made a run back to Spencer Creek to finish out the day. Lost another fish and broke one off in the incessant rain. Finally headed to the ramp 30 minutes early.

I only had 2 fish for our tourney but my big fish won the pot for $125. The fish actually weighed 4 lb 10 oz. The fish although big was somewhat skinny for a fish that size accounting for the discrepancy with the length chart. Either way, a nice fish and a great memory. Our two clubs met at Wendy's to share the day's events. Even though I had a big fish, I have seen enough of Old Hickory for awhile.