Stones River March 15, 2013

Stones River March 15, 2013

Friday was crisp and cold at 6 am but the day promised sunshine and warmth. Picked Jack Neal at 6:30 am and stopped at Hardee's for sustenance in the form of a pork chop biscuit. We headed for anew spot for us, the Mona ramp on the East Fork of the Stones River. This is a couple miles south of 840.

The river here is 60 to 100 yards across with depth up to 15-16 feet deep. There are many lay downs usually on one side of the river and rock bluffs on the channel side. The water was quite clear considering rain during the night.

I caught a sardine size bass on a jerk bait early on. A little later I picked up a 12 incher on a black finesse jig. We then fished hard for several hours without a fish. Jack lost one on a jig. I caught one on a speed worm. We fished all the way to the 840 bridge. We then motored back to the ramp and fished back south. Jack and I finally each caught a 13" spot and that wrapped it up for today.

Fishing the river is a unique fishing environment. It looks like a fish should be by every stump. The water temp was 47-48 early and was 50 at 3 pm.

Toledo Bend, March 2013

Toledo Bend - March 3-9, 2013

Toledo Bend time again and I couldn’t wait after the long winter. I left Franklin on Saturday heading to Memphis to spend the night at the home of my fishing partner, Doyal Brown. Met the group driving down to the Bend at 6:30 am in a local parking lot. Calvin Hillin and Mike Wooten, Bill Caldwell and Gary Mercer and Roger Knight and Rick Dennington. Actually met Rick, who lives in Bull Shoals, AR, in Little Rock. Arrived at the Bridge Bay Resort on the lake at about 3:00 pm. We are staying on the Louisiana side at the east end of Pendleton Bridge.

Doyal and I headed out to a favorite spot for a couple or three hours. The spot is in Clear Creek about 3-4 miles north of Pendleton Bridge and often is great place when the bass are moving up. It requires idling a mile or more over stump fields to fishable areas. We found the grass extremely thick here and difficult to fish. I lost one fish about 2 lbs at the boat. That was all of our action. On the way back to the ramp with about 2-3 miles to go, our motor sputtered and quit. Did I mention a strong south wind against us. The motor started a couple of times and still sputtered. The sun was almost down and not another boat anywhere near I was getting quite concerned and considering calling one of our friends to come tow us. Finally Doyal checked and turned on his alternate gas tank and the motor cranked up and brought us home. He thought for sure he had gas in his first tank but alas, it was dry.

Monday morning came in with a 20-30 mph wind from the SE. We trailered to Indian Mounds area, one of our favorite places to fish at T-Bend. It is hard to describe this area except to say it has multiple creeks, sloughs, with acres of straw grass over the whole area. There is deep and shallow areas with excellent spawning flats. We chose what we call the South bay and bank to get protection from the howling wind. We caught nothing until 10:30 am and then off and on the rest of the day, pitching at the straw grass edges over hydrilla. We wound up with a total of 13 bass from 1.5 to 3 lbs. Almost all were caught on Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worms in Candy Bug color, rigged in mojo style. I was the lucky one with 11 while Doyal fought the wind with the trolling motor. We were ahead of the other boats on Monday. Fishermen’s Galley for dinner tonight. There always a lot of coots on this lake, but this year was unbelievable. I personally counted 17, 317,465 and that was in one creek. 

Tuesday offered a difficult challenge. The wind had switched to North West at 20-30 mph. That eliminated our South Bay option. We motored north to Hogpen Branch, another of our favorite places. It was not so kind today as we only caught 7 fish today but still better than our other fellow travelers. Hogpen is thick with timber just under the surface with some very shallow spawning areas. We also saw 4 different alligators in various sizes with the biggest about 11-12 feet long and also a very tiny baby alligator. Hemphill BBQ for Doyal and I tonight. Great place.

Wednesday dawned quite chilly, down to 34 degrees. Still had the NW wind but not quite as fierce as Tuesday. Headed back to Hogpen which still offered wind protection. The cold weather certainly cooled the surface temps so it made for a later bite. Our catch for the day was again 13 fish in the same weight range. I had 9 and we both lost several fish. We continued to be ahead our fellow anglers. Our baits were Rattletrap, Speed Worms, lizards and I dusted off a past lure, a baby Rattlesnake in Burnt Cactus. Saw another couple of alligators that were a different size than the ones we saw Tuesday so that makes 6 different alligators in this creek. Another great benefit of fishing in this area is there are a number of eagles that nest here. We saw 3 that hunted together and at one point they were diving repeatedly on a school of bait fish. Fascinating! Fishermen’s Galley again our choice for dinner. It is right across the highway from our cabins.

Thursday was another cool, 34 degree morning but the winds were reduced to 6-10 mph much more manageable. We headed north again but fished out front of the creeks around straw grass flats and sloughs. We had a decent morning bite this morning, boating 12 fish by lunch time. We met the other 3 boats for lunch pulling up on the straw grass. As we were finishing our lunch, Calvin stood up and pitched a fluke into a pot hole surrounded by the straw grass and caught a fish. We went back to our area and also into Hogpen again. We wound up with a total of 20 fish. I had 12. Doyal continued to do an excellent job with boat control. Again, Speed Worms and the Baby Rattlesnake were the ticket to bites. Lost a number of fish. Went to Lanes Grill and Pizza for dinner in Hemphill, TX.

We had high hopes for Friday. The morning was cool but higher than the previous days and the wind was markedly less. But the morning bite was extremely slow. We continued to fish in the morning in the same area as Thursday. We did fish a new place for us, a creek we know as Grassy Branch. Couldn’t buy a bite with previously successful baby Rattlesnake but Doyal found the Speed Worm was the bait of the day. One change, he rigged it in a Carolina rig. We caught 15 bass. I had 6 and Doyal had 9. I believe Calvin and Mike matched that total. The size stayed consistent with most fish about 2 lbs with an occasional 2.75-3 lbs. We came in an hour earlier that the past days, ending our time on the water for the week.

Next came an annual highlight of our trip, a boiled crawfish feast. Clem, a local man, boils crawfish on Friday and Saturday nights. We posted our orders with Calvin, who called it in and picked them up. Spicy, hot, especially on our scraped thumbs from holding fish, the crawfish, corn on the cob and potatoes were especially good. 

Checked out on Saturday morning and made our usual stop for breakfast at Bill and Sissy’s in Zwolle, La. After stoking up on breakfast food we started the long trek home. Arrived in Memphis about 5:30 pm. I loaded up my vehicle and started for Franklin. TN. I made a couple of stops and arrived home at 10:30 pm and of course set my clocks forward.

I reluctantly missed my bass club’s first tournament at Percy Priest on Saturday. The cold water made for a tough bite with the big fish 2.2 lbs caught by Omar. I believe Noah had the best weight with only 2-3 fish.