26 June 2020
Early in the afternoon, I headed to South Holston River, I was trying to hone my skills for the night contest with daughter. I got most of my misses out of the way as I missed a bunch of trout. However, I was able to catch a couple. No pics as I do not have a net (yet), and really just try to get them back in the water quickly. One was small and the other was around 12”. I know you’re thinking, 12” trout is small, well, you shoulda seen the other guy.
Anyway, that evening we were planning some night fishing. I have found a new bait and since I am not getting any kind of discount I will not mention that it is a Z-man TRD Crawz with the finesse bulletz hook. That thing looked ideal in the store and a buddy of mine had showed me one, so I bit the bullet (did you get that), and grabbed a handful of stuff. The contest was on and Kayleigh was loaded with the Ned Rig and I with the new secret weapon.
We got there about 7:00ish and tried our hand at a striper. Kayleigh had one follow her swim bait, but did not take it. Wife had a shad in trail with a lot of activity and a swirl, but no takers. I did feel some shad when I pulled my swim bait through a school, that was fun. Anyway, night fell and it was time to catch bass. My thought was that the whipping was about to begin on the ‘ol girl.
I hooked one, it got right at the boat and then released, she said to count it, I thought, it depends on how close we are at the end of the night. I finally got one in the boat, small little rock bass, but hey it counts if it makes your fingers smell fishy. So we headed down a bit and the girl catches one, we are all tied up, with my tie breaker in the back of my mind. A bit later I get bit, set hook, fight for just a second and the line breaks. That rascal felt like a good one, like a real good one, and on we went.
Toward the end of the night, Kay said, I’d just like to catch one to tie it up and shortly thereafter, she lands that nice largemouth. It was a really good fish. We didn’t measure or weigh, just pics and release, abut it was a goodn’. Shortly thereafter, I set the hook, it took off and she said get the net to her momma. I fought it for a bit, she netted, and I convinced her to take the pic with it, she is much more photogenic than I am, (I’m the fat guy in the background that looks like he is out of breath and wore out). She took the fish and released and honestly I didn’t realize how big it was until the pic, she kept saying that is a nice one, we might shoulda measured that one.
Anyway, we called it a night, she backed the trailer in the water, I loaded the boat, and home we went. We did not catch a lot, there may have been a couple more mixed in there but not sure. We ended up tied and I did not count the one that got to the boat, but we had a ball. I like the peacefulness of night fishing, but I typically go to bed by 10:00 or earlier. I hope that everyone got out last weekend, next on is the 4th of July. We get to celebrate our Independence and I do love the patriotism this time of year. However, the waters may be crowded and wild, so just be careful and may God bless you.
Father’s Day
First apologies for not writing everything up. We may go bank fish for thirty minutes during the week, or I will head out fly fishing to the River in Bluff City. I don’t typically catch too many trout, but it’s close and I am fishing, so all is well. By the way, my new CTS Affinity M fly rod, I can’t say enough about. If I have mentioned it before bear with me cause I absolutely love that thing. It is extremely easy to cast and fits my style better than others I have tried. Now on to the lake.
Daughter worked on Father’s Day and the son went in that evening. We checked the weather (complete waste of time) and headed to the lake. We launched at Davis; a little side note here. If it’s not too much trouble, maybe get your boat strapped down in the upper parking lot and not pull to the side. Parking to the side prevents turning around and blocked multiple empty parking spots for those launching. Anyway, catching bait didn’t take long.
We headed to an area I thought might be a striper, and fished the bank on the way up. I was throwing a bucktail while the wife was watching the flat lines and the daughter was working on opening a can. She got the can opened early, and it must have been full because she whooped my hind end on the bass. She caught one or two and I broke down and starting trying to stop the bleeding. I caught one all day long.
She ended up catching 7, only put in a few pics. We were fishing for quantity that day as neither of us had quality, mine was the smallest. I’m not sure how many she missed in total, but she was wearing me out, let me say it did my heart good. I act like it bothers me, but I like when she catches fish.
A slight rain came and she said to put on your big boy undies and keep fishing. We found a soft bank and took a break while trolling and wife’s shad got some attention. I reckon that fish swirled 2 or 3 times, but never took it. Daughter said probably a trout, I don’t know, the shad wasn’t big and something was just messing and not interested in getting caught. The other flat line had a swirl later, but nothing wanted to eat. We got a Ned Rig hung and while getting unhung, got the flatline all tangled up in a tree, it was quite the sight.
Well more rain started and we heard the undies comment again, then the gully washer began. Next comment was, we can go home if y’all are ready, then we heard thunder. When I hear that, it is time to go as lightening was not far behind. We get to the dock, the girl (turned 21 last week) goes and gets the truck, backs it in like a pro and we are heading home. It was a real good day and I gladly took a whippin’. I’ve not gotten on the water as much this year, but I’ve gotten to go with both youngens (not young anymore) and it’s been good.
I usually like fishing to block out the noise of the world, with 2020 being the year that it is, I may need to pitch a tent at the lake and just stay there. Shew, y’all stay safe out there and may God bless you.
06 June 2020
What a year 2020 has been so far. We have entered the 6th month and I have not been on the water very much. A lot going on at the house and too many more reasons that as I ponder them, I think they are excuses. Well Thursday I took the daughter over the Davis Marina. We had the boat hooked up but the sky turned dark and I don’t play with lightning, so we headed over there just to fish a little from the dock. She caught three bass (pics above) and was wishing we had gotten the boat out, at least until the lightning did pop up.
Saturday we finally got an opportunity to go. We headed out after she got off work, we were going to bass fish a bit then striper toward evening, however, we were down the lake a piece and saw a few bust some shad and thought, why not. We caught some bait and began fishing for the big boys, while still bass fishing. We headed down a bank and I caught a couple three (can’t remember how many) small ones down this bank. Kayleigh hooked pretty nice one, but it flip, spit the hook at her, and I chuckled a little, we decided to go for the big boys and get away from the bank.
Had both my girls with me, wife likes fishing with shad, but the daughter is like me and tends to need something to do, so we started throwing swim baits. She was using just swim bait, mine had a bucktail with a swim bait. We threw for a bit with shad in tow and right at the boat I saw one come up and nail my jig. I set the hook, hollered at the girl and she did the heavy lifting. She still get excited when she catches one and it is a blast to be able to be on the boat or maybe the surrounding area as well. She fought it well, brought it in and grinned for the pick.
We continued out pattern and she hooked a good one, the fight was on. This lasted about 30 seconds, then the line broke. We were a bit perplexed, 40lbs braid, but not discouraged. She hooked up again and got another break, but to be honest, that one may have just been a rock.
We were fishing a bit more, sun starting to set and got one more hook up, she fought but got it in quick, it was a brown trout. She got the pic, measured it (I have a 2’ ruler) it was 21”, she said, can we keep it. I said I’d rather not have to clean it tonight, she says, oh I’ll clean it, so we took it to the house. We got home, we try to find my quality $5 filet knife that is not sharp and I have yet to perfect sharpening of the knife, be we found a work around.
Apparently, she has been youtubing fish cleaning and did well going through that rascal, she put it on ice, then she headed back to where she lives (yes I do avoid calling that her home). She has plans on cooking that this week. We had a really good time, the weather was nice, boat traffic not too bad, and laughter. The wife did not get one, but the daughter had to get her chance in while she could. I hope everyone got out and maybe this will get us motivated to go more often. Have a great week and God bless.
