Percy Priest 9-14-2013

Percy Priest 9-14-2013 Cumberland Bassmasters Tourney

I am a non-boater today. A great opportunity to fish with good friend, Noah. Jack and I rode together after a quick stop at...well you know...Hardee's at 4:30 am. Arrived at Stewarts Creek at dark and looked for hookups, Jack with Ron, me with Noah.  We were ready to launch at 6 am. We were last to start but not for long. Noah's boat is a 21 ft Phoenix with a 250 hp Mercury Optimax. Trust me, it is fast. Better sit on your hat 'cause it ain't gonna stay on. Not sure what the speed was but it was well in the high 60s if not higher. I just grinned and hung on.

We went to the spot where we had been catching bass on buzz baits, a place I call twin flats just off the Stones river. Noah struck first with a blowup on his first couple of casts for a small keeper. He proceeded to catch several more on buzz baits while I looked on helplessly.  I finally picked up a small keeper on a new wake bait, an Amp jr. By now Noah had 4 keepers toward his limit of 5. Finally I had a spectacular blowup as the bass turned a somersault after he hooked up. After a few surges, he came to the net, a nice 17 3/4 (3.14 lbs). While we were in this slough we heard shooting (a shotgun) from the back of this area. We still aren't sure what they were shooting but fortunately no pellets fell around us.

After that we began to explore several spots up the East fork. Noah continued to pick up a few more bass on a Bitsy bug, an electric purple Creature bait and a truly ugly tube worm, black with a yellow tail. Amazing a self respecting bass would bite that. Must be the skill of the fisherman. I did catch one more bass but not a keeper. I think Noah had 7 keepers (as well as several more). He won our tournament with 9+ pounds.  I edged out Gary by a sliver for big fish, 3.1 lbs.
While we were settling up, I climbed into Noah's boat and then fell out on the ground. I wasn't hurt except for my bruised pride. It was a wonderful day on the lake, quite cool in the morning but warming up nicely. Man, I really love to fish.