Percy Priest 8-28-2013

Percy Priest 8-28-2013

It only took four and half years for Clay, my next door neighbor, to finally head to the lake together. Now let me set the scene, Clay is the finest next door neighbor that a person can have. I am glad that person is me. Clay loves to fish but has mostly fished for crappie and is pretty good at it usually fishing with his Dad. He recently treated his son and a friend to a guide trip to PP. They had a terrific day catching bass and white bass. They were hooked. So, Clay and I headed out with the obligatory stop at Hardee's for a biscuit sandwich. We were heading for Stewarts Creek ramp. 

We were on the lake before light and headed up lake to the three river intersection. I wanted to fish a long saddle between a point and an island. I had caught and missed a few fish the week before. We each missed a few buzz bait blowups here. Next we eased into big flat just up the Stones river. The back of the flat was covered with lots stickups and tiny cypress saplings, perfect cover for tossing a buzz bait. Clay hooked up with a nice 2.5 bass after a smashing strike. I began one of the most

frustrating strings of missed strikes and lost fish I have ever had. Several missed explosions on the buzz bait led me to try something different. I pulled out a wake bait that runs right on the surface with a wild wiggle with a feathered rear hook. I promptly got 3-4 excellent strikes but my missed fish string continued. When the strikes slowed down, we headed up river to the pumping station where bass often congregate foraging on shad but no shad here, thus no fish.

Although Clay has fished Percy Priest over the years but mostly mid lake to down near the dam. He had never been up in the river. So we went up to the junction of the East and West fork of the Stones river. We finally each caught a fish, Clay on a shakey head and me on a worm, my first fish in the boat at 10:30 am. We made a couple of more spots along the river. We retraced our route and tried the saddle again hoping the fish had moved in. They hadn't. 

Next stop is what I call the Big flat. I caught a couple of fish here on a Red Eye Shad, a lipless crank bait. This will be a hot spot in 2-3 weeks. We stopped at the Weakley Bridge and flipped a small(really small) jig around the bridge pilings. Picked up a small bream, not really what we were looking for. Then in keeping with my exploration mode, we went to Stewarts Creek to a a pocket that usually holds shad...and bass. I caught one and yes, lost another. I was surprised not to see any schooling fish. By now the temperature was 140 or least felt like it, so we put the boat on the trailer. This was not a great day for catching but it was really satisfying to fish and explore with Clay. I see more trips in future.