29 April 2018
Let me start off by explaining last weekend’s lack of literature. My daughter is progressing very well with her recovery from her ankle surgery, this means she would have been driving soon. Her brakes on her vehicle needed changing and she likes to help with that. So Friday (bout 10 days ago), we dug into this. Sure it should have taken someone that knows what they are doing about an hour to do all 4, however, we were able to knock this out in about 3-4 hours. We test drove the vehicle, it stopped and now she is driving along.
Well, not to sound to whiny or complaining about anything, but I have issues. If I do something like change brakes on a car, the next day is shot, there is not much chance of me getting out on the water, therefore, no fishing last week.
Friday rolls around and I have 4 rod orders, with one of them being very time consuming, so Friday I got back to the rod building. This weave has 90 pieces of thread laying on the rod with around 160 turns, moving thread each turn. Setting up takes a while and Saturday I am well into it. After a while though, I decided that I needed to step out of the house a bit. The yard was mowed so I headed to the river for just an hour. I took two fly rods, one for streamers and one for flies. I used both of them and I did not even get a bite. I enjoyed the river, but really wanted to catch a few so that I could use my smoker on them…………
So Sunday afternoon rolls around and I had a few rods that I had built using different blanks and wanted to give them a test run. Not able to get the boat out and just wanting to test and not fish with them, I headed to Davis (Boonies). I took a light saltwater blank, medium heavy, and thought it would make a good crank bait/swimbait rod. I also brought my spinning rod to throw a roadrunner, thinking I may convince something to bite.
I throw the swim bait and the rod does well, moderate fast action and low and behold I got bit. I attempt to set the hook, see the little feller come out from the rocks, then take off. It was a little small mouth that I missed, but I go from test casting to full blown excitement. I was not expecting a bite. They are running 1200 CFS at South Holston Dam and that means river water at Davis. So I cast for a while with no other bites.
I realized I am pleased with the performance of this rod and decide to put the roadrunner to use. I make a few cast and I get bit. I knew it was a bluegill, but began trying to convince myself that it was possibly a crappie, then I started to get hungry. I continued casting and getting bites about every other cast. Finally, I was able to hook one, fought it like it weighed 40 lbs, making a huge spectacle of myself. Brought it to the dock, took the photo, then released. After a few more misses, I called it a day.
This weekend I will be attending the Irwin Food City Bass Tournament at the Tellico Boat Ramp on Saturday. I have donated a rod for the event which is raising money for the boys and girls club in Knoxville, it’s a Vols edition fishing rod. That means I am going to miss another weekend of fishing in the boat, however, I think I am going to try some bank fishing while I am down there. Funny, I get excited in the winter and this should be a great time to be on the water, but I can’t seem to get out there. I hope everyone has had a great week, good luck and God bless.
Friday the 13th
 Thursday I participated in a show in Abingdon VA. It was Taste of the Outdoors, with a few vendors, free food, lots of giveaways, a speaker, and duck calling contest. It was a good time and I went ahead and took Friday off. Got up, did some chores, mowed the lawn and the girl and I got the boat out for a spell.
I was ready to go, a friend from work had been texted about the fish he had been catching, and I had my new blank that I wanted to test, set up with my new Okuma reel, just like my other one. So we are off and head to find a few shad, our theory is that if you are bank fishing, why not pull some live bait behind you. Anyway, we catch bait, I load up the new rod, make what I thought would be an outstanding cast only to find that I did not set up my reel properly out of the box. Dang the excitement had gotten the better of me yet again and I had the largest mess on my reel that I have ever seen, it would’ve been meme worthy (I apologize for the meme reference, I am attempting to reach out to a younger audience as well as the silver hairs like myself).
I start working on my mess and after about 15 minutes, I just give up and switch rods. We go down the bank and I miss one on a swim bait, well, miss might be a strong word, I felt a bump, then another and another and figured I had just pulled it through a school of shad, but hey, it felt good and I called it a bite.
We switched spots up a few times and I took the daughter to a spot I was pretty sure she would at least get a bite. Sure enough, we stroll through there, I had put on a fly just in case a crappie was near. She missed about 4-5 hits in this little area. Now we were bass fishing and I am guessing they were probably more bluegillish in there bite than bass, but hey the bit feels good no matter the species. I missed a couple with the fly, not really sure how cause it is mostly hook and don’t know how they could get feather without the hook.
Anyway, we head back to the ramp, wore out from the heat, but mercy it was a beautiful day to be on the water. We did get skunked but I think we are getting used to that and it will make up appreciate more when (if) we have one of them good days. Sorry I didn’t have too many pics, but I hope you got a chance to enjoy the two spring days on the water, prior to winter making another appearance. I hope y’all have a great week and God bless.
