Tims Ford 8-23-12

Tims Ford 8-24-12

I know many of you await my reports with baited breath. Yeah, I know it should be bated but hey...it’s a fishing blog. My last 2 reports have been pretty disappointing, more to me  than to you. Fishing in August is just tough. 

Jack and I resolved to fish somewhere besides Percy Priest this week. We debated going to New Johnsonville or Tims Ford. We decided on Tims for certain reasons. Shoulda’ gone to New J. Actually, Tims is such a beautiful lake it is always a pleasure to fish there. 

We left Franklin at 4 am and headed toward Tims. Stopped in Shelbyville at Hardee’s for a biscuit (if you haven’t tried their Bacon, Bacon biscuit, egg with bacon and Canadian Bacon, you should...unless you are on cholesterol light diet). We did not see any Tennessee Walking horses in Shelbyville but this is the week of their big show. Put the boat in the water at the State Park ramp at daylight, full of hope and anticipation.

Began fishing on the back side of the island out from the ramp. Jack caught a nice snub-nose 4+ largemouth this spring on this bank. We picked up a dink and 14.5” lm on a Pop Rs, I the former, Jack the latter. We then moved to an interesting bank recommended by a friend of Jack’s. It was on a huge field of Kudzu. Now we didn’t catch anything here but wouldn’t it have a great story to be on a Kudzu pattern. Kinda’ like the yellow flower pattern in the Spring on Kentucky Lake. 

We moved to an area we call 5 fingers and fished in 2-3 of the fingers. Jack caught a nice keeper on a jig. Saw some excellent bait in the finger we call white fence. No real wolfpack blowups but we did see individual fish blowing up. I got one blowup on a Pop R but missed the fish. 

We motored over to Ray Branch and fished in one small arm here. I caught a nice smallie on a Rapala DT6. The fish was about a 1.5 lbs and unfortunately had a hook in its gullet with a short length of red line attached. The fish seemed to be healthy but I fear it may have a hard time feeding. 

Next stop was the bank beside the golf course. We missed a few putts here but Jack caught a nice little largemouth on a 200 Bandit In Spatterback pattern. I followed up with about a 2 lb catfish on a Little John crankbait in Cellmate pattern. I was fishing for thugs. By now the heat was coming up about noon. Jack got a call from his wife that she had received tickets to the Titans game for that evening if he wanted to go. He replied yes so we headed for the ramp. We got a sandwich at the concession at the State Park ramp. The best Butter Pecan icecream is here, better than Chocolate, Chocolate Blizzards.

Learned that guide Rick McFerrin had fished that day and caught several on topwaters. Checked Rick’s site today and saw that he indeed had a pretty good day. 

Rick’s site is: http://www.tennesseebassguides.com

We also saw a couple of guys come in that had caught 16 Walleyes but only 5 were long enough to keep. Not sure what the size is. 

We only had 6 fish in the boat but it was a pleasant day. Tims Ford is really a beautiful lake. We just don’t know enough places to be effective. We learned what to look for at the concession by a young man who works there but alas, we were on the way home. Me for a nap and Jack to get ready to go Titans. 

Man, I love fishing, even with its disappointments. Until the next time.

Percy Priest 8-15 and 8-18-12

Percy Priest 8-15-12 and 8-18-12

This will be two reports in one, such as they are.

Wednesday Jack and I headed out 4:30 am, stopped at Hardee's for a biscuit, launched at Stewarts Creek ramp and headed up the river. We were in Jack's boat today. Stopped at the end of a rock bluff where the shore curved into a bay and began throwing the frog. No frog fish about this morning but finally got a bass on the speed worm. Lots of grass on this bank in a flat. We continued to pick up one here and there. I think we both caught one on a jig but it was very slow. We finished the day around noon with a total of 6 fish, 4 of which were club keepers. Jig and speed worm were the baits. This was not a very auspicious practice for our tournament on Saturday. By the end of the tournament we were wishing for Wednesday's catch.

Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day...unless you were in a bass tournament. We launched at 5:20 and prepared for our blast off. Jack and I fished our same plan as Wednesday. We did catch a couple of frog fish today. Mine was 1/4 inch under keeper size but Jack caught a nice 15.25 inch keeper. We fished basically the same spots with little success... er, uhh no success. Finally tried a new spot that I had fished last year and I eeked out a keeper on a C-rig with a fluke. Weigh in was at 1:00 but we were so frustrated we took out at 12:20. We each had one keeper. The winning bag was 6+ lbs. Jack's fish, a 1.93 lbs, was big fish for the day. We all met at Buffalo Wild Wings and commiserated with each other about the fishing in August.

Percy Priest 8-10-12

Percy Priest 8-10-12

I was expecting rain to greet me at 4 am today but it was only cloudy. A front will be coming in later in the morning. As most of you know, I am the eternal optimist. When I go out I always think today is the day I find 'em stacked up. Today, tho, my expectations were low and my expectations were fulfilled. I did do better than last Thursday when I had 3 since I had 5 today.

I launched at Stewart's Creek at 5:45 am. I had a distinct game plan today and I followed it explicitly...except for the catching. I began on a bank at the beginning of a bluff. The bank led into a bay. The bank had lots of interspersed grass scattered from the bank out about 40 feet. It was perfect for frogging except I couldn't get the bass to bite the frog. So I picked up my old dependable ultra vibe Speed worm. I had decided there were no bass up the shallows but found 3 with the speed worm. I think there were a lot more but they seemed reluctant to bite. Couldn't be me could it? I then picked up a fourth on a KVD 1.0 Squarebill.

I decide to move to the forks. Threw a number of baits but the only thIng that worked was the Bitsy Bug jig and only on one bass, a 1.5. I did hook another but he hung me up in a bush. Surely it was biggie. Tried a couple of more spots then headed back to a big flat that has been pretty good but not this week ( or last ). Continuing on my plan I went back up to Stewarts Creek but no success here. Seemed like a hundred noodles scattered I the creek. The catfisherman kept tending the noodles, running up and down the creek creating lite of turbulence. I finally decided it was time to go.

I had a total of 5 bass, 2 dinks, 3 club fish with 2 about 1.5, pretty slow day. I am still mystified why the bite is so poor. It was cloudy most of the morning, the water temp down to 83-84.5. The front rolled around 10:30-11:00 which should have prompted an aggressive bite but the bass in Percy Priest haven't read that book. Our tournament is next Saturday and I have a plan.

Percy Priest 8-2-12

Percy Priest 8-2-12

Haven't been on the water for nearly 2 weeks so I was ready to go. Expectations were not too high and they were fulfilled. Maybe It was the front that blew through Wednesday evening leaving a high, blue sky Thursday. Or maybe it was the water temp at 89+ that caused the bite to be so slow. When a guy can't catch fish he will use any excuse.

I got on the water about 5:30 am at Stewart Creek ramp and headed up river to a big flat at the curve of the river. I usually catch something here but not today. Headed on up to the end of a bluff that bent around to another flat. A rarity for Priest is this shore has patches of grass. I caught a dink on a Pop-R. Fished topwater, jigs, and finesse worm. Finally caught 11.75" bass on a Smoking Blue Finesse Worm.

Continued up the river to the East Fork/West Fork junction. Fished Squarebill cranks, Red Eye Shad, jigs, finesse worms, and Carolina rig Fluke. No bites. Fished around the island, up at the pumping station and back on the main river banks. Finally reversed direction and refished the previous spots with no bites. Really scrambling for excuses now so I headed back to Stewart Creek. Went up the creek to a small flat that typically holds a lot of shad. I often see Striper fishermen throwing cast nets on this flat for shad to use as bait. Finally caught a bass about 1.25 lbs on a Squarebill. After another fruitless 300 casts and the temp nearing 94-95 I decided to pack it in. Total 3 bass. Pretty disappointing, typical Priest.

I hustled back home for a quick nap, shower and trip to Chuy's for our 54 th anniversary.