May 2-7

May 2-7

Saturday, May 2, Cumberland Bassmasters tournament launched at 5:40 out of Long Hunter ramp on Percy Priest. My partner for the day was Carl Appelt. We started out near Hong Kong Island with top water baits and buzzbaits. Got  2-3 blowups on the buzzbait but no hookups. Fished Mousetail, Raccoon and Bear Islands. Carl spanked me good with a T-rig lizard. I stubbornly stayed with a Centipede. We both had club limits but he caught several more than me. Stubbornness is not an attribute.

Left the next morning with Jack Neal for Guntersville. Fished the afternoon in an area called Murphy Hill in grass patches. Jack caught 4 and I had 2, a portent for what was coming. Monday, after a great tenderloin biscuit at Waterfront store, we started where we left off but found the fishing slow. Motored over to the area called Mountain Islands. As we moved into the back of a pocket we discovered a pattern that worked well for next few days. We fished emerging, small lily pads in shallow 1-3 feet deep water. Jack was using a T-rig Missile Baits D Bomb while used the Centipede. The D Bomb worked better. We then went back to the Murphy Hill area that had 5 different pockets each with pads fields. Jack caught 14 while I had 5. Most of the fish were 2-3.5 with at least a couple at 4 pounds. On Tuesday I finally woke up to a better bait for the pattern we found and switched to a Zoom Speed Worm and improved my catch. I caught 7 and Jack had 6 until 2:00 pm. That's when I hit a stump with my engine. We could idle only. Took one solid hour to idle to the ramp. I am certain we would have caught at least 10 more. However the boat has us grounded. 

There were 4 other guys with us on the trip (2 boats). They invited us fish with them 3 in a boat. Otherwise Jack and I would have had to leave. I fished with Roger and Mike while Jack fished with Doyal and Bill. I shared the pattern Jack and I discovered the days before. We totaled 40 bass 2-4 lbs with the best one caught by Roger at 5.5. Jack and I headed back to Franklin on Thursday having enjoyed an excellent fishing trip (other than the engine problem, a bent prop shaft).