Percy Priest March 20 & 22

March 20 and March 22

Well, this will be a two for one report. I launched at Percy Priest at 9 am on Thursday to check out my boat and do some pre fishing before our club tournament on Saturday. I fished square bill crankbaits, DT 6, lipless cranks and a chatterbait with no bites. I hit several spots fishing shallow to mid depths. I also fished a finesse jig with a smoke colored grub on the bluffs. The water temp was 48-53. Finally around 1:30 pm I figured out a little deal, catching a keeper on a mojo rig with a centipede. Quickly caught another and then lost one. Mmmmm. Pulled out about 3:00 pm. 

Saturday...tournament time for the Cumberland Bassmasters. My boatmate for our tourney is Omar De Jesus, an excellent fisherman. We expected a crowded lake and got one. A BFL tournament out of Fate Sanders sent out 70+ boats. There were at least 30-40 boats out of our ramp, Long Hunter but Priest is a big lake and we found places to fish. We hit a small island down lake with cranks and spinnerbaits. Omar finally picked up a nice 16 1/4" bass on a spinnerbait. Headed over to a pocket near sailboat cove where Omar picked up a couple of more keepers on a Shad Rap. I am feeling a bit neglected by now and can't buy a bite. Went to couple of more spots near Smith Springs but no dice. We then headed for my ace in the hole, the cove to the left just past the Hobson Bridge going north. I finally caught a 16 1/2" keeper on the mojo rig with a centipede. Lost a couple of more. Next spot was an island near Four Corners Marina where we found a small group of fish. I caught 3 more and Omar got another. He kept the Shad Rap working while I continued with the Centipede. We migrated to a bank of shallow rocks again near Four Corners. With only 6 minutes left and a 4 minute ride to the ramp I made one last cast and hooked my final fish to make a limit.

Tyler had asked that each of us bring in a fish or two for a group picture to cheer his grandmother who is quite ill. Tyler was in first place with 13+ pounds and also had the big fish with a 4 1/2+ bass. I finished second with 8+ pounds and Omar was first in the non-boater category. It was really a nice day on the lake.

Toledo Bend March 4-9

Toledo Bend March 4-9

Not sure I want to write this one up. We were delayed starting for a couple of days. Instead of leaving for Memphis on Saturday, I left on Monday. And yes there was snow and ice on Monday. I waited until about 11:00 am to leave. Dodged a few icy spots but made it to Memphis OK and spent the night at my partner's home, Doyal Brown. As we prepared to leave Tuesday morning, there were reports of cars and trucks being stranded for 12 hours on I40 between West Memphis and Forest City, Arkansas. Since that was our route we had to change plans and go South down I55 to Jackson, MS the turn West. That worked great until a few miles East of Monroe, LA when we hit a two hour delay. Never knew why. Finally made it to Bridge Bay Cabins on Toledo Bend lake just in time for another cold front to arrive.

Phil and Maurice

Our cabin mates, Phil Robinson and Maurice Ladd, had arrived 2 days earlier. On Sunday afternoon they caught 9 bass in only 2 1/2 hours. Monday they caught 6 in about 2 hours when the cold drove them in. Doyal and and I laid on many layers of clothing on Wednesday and fished hard and caught 1 bass. Thursday more of the same, cold but at least the wind was not too bad. Doubled our catch, 2 bass. Friday's weather was a little bit better with some sunshine warming the water. We caught 7 and lost a few more. All were in the 2 1/2 - 3 lb range. Saturday's weather reverted back to heavy cloud cover and dozens of boats fishing in our area. We caught 4 bass today. Phil and Maurice had similar results to us if not worse, one day getting skunked. This was our worst week of fishing in years on this trip. We marked lots of fish but suspended and mostly unwilling to bite.

Doyal with a funky spinnerbait

But the disappointment was not over. One of the highlights of this trip is having boiled crawfish one night but the cold has limited supply so we missed. It will take Doyal weeks to recover. But we thought at least we could get some great Texas brisket at a BBQ joint that we like. Yep, it was temporarily closed for repairs. 

Headed back home on Saturday but at least no drama other than riding nearly 700 miles.

Me with one of the few