Tim's Ford February 6, 2014

Tim's Ford February 6, 2014

Words cannot describe how cold it was on Tim's on Thursday. The temp never got above 28 degrees. I had been watching forecasts for Winchester for several days and most had the temp 37-41. The forecasts lied.

This trip had been planned for several months. My friend, Doyal Brown, drove up from Memphis to fish and then go to the Nashville Fishing and Boating Show. The last three years we have gone to Dale Hollow so this year we decided to fish Tim's Ford, one day with a guide and the next in my boat. So I booked a cabin at Tim's Ford Marina and Mid-South Bass Guides, Jake Davis on Thursday. Jake has an excellent reputation at Guntersville and Tim's Ford. We got to Tim's Wednesday afternoon, checked in and drove to Winchester to the Oasis Steak House for dinner. 

Thursday morning, 28 degrees, we layered up for the cold. We figured Jake would get a laugh at our outfits, me in my Santa suit, Doyal in a green frog suit. We were so layered we looked pregnant.  The water temp on the main lake was 38 so Jake moved back in one of the small creeks to find warmer water, 43-44 degrees. His side imaging electronic unit showed several big clouds of shad. He had us using a small smoke colored grub on a Spot Remover shaky head jig. Jake used a T-rig D-Bomb. 7 hours later none had a single bite. The problem...shad dying all over lake, thousands of gulls feasting while the bass had easy, natural bait drifting down. We were very pleased with our guide. It was simply circumstances, the shad kill, that hurt our day and of course the cold. We had planned to fish on Friday but with 24 degrees forecast and the lack of bites we decided...nawwww! We made our way back to Franklin. 

Saturday we picked up Jack Neal and went to Hardee's for breakfast. What, you expected someplace else? On to the Fishing show. It was great, many tackle vendors offering great deals, every body excited about the coming fishing season. I bought a spool of Vicious Pro Elite marked $15.99. They charged me $15 then told me to go pick up another spool free! Picked up a few more items, met a few friends and counted the day a success. Jack, Doyal and I chose the Cajun Steamer for a Cajun lunch. What a way to end this weekend. Doyal headed back to Memphis and I headed for the sofa. 

It was really disappointing not to catch some of those Tim's smallmouth but it was still a great trip. I can certainly recommend Jack Davis as a guide. He did a lot of the little things that make you appreciate him. He said the next two weeks will be tough at Tim's but then watch out. I hope to be on the lake then.