28 June 2019
I’ll get to the fishing in a minute, but let’s set the stage. It has been hot outside and I typically do not do much night fishing, this idea of staying up late is much more difficult than it was 20 years ago. Anyway, the girl is moving out and we had planned to go do a bit of night fishing with the girls.
I got my green light ready, I have taken it to the ocean and used it a couple of years, but have yet to use it at the lake, well, it’s ready to roll. I’m finishing putting epoxy on a rod and the daughter falls asleep on the couch. I get finished and begin the getting ready process and the wake her up process. One of these steps was not going well.
I wanted to be on the water during daylight, just so I could see if there was any debris and we were getting close to having to leave. I could tell she was wore out and she said she may not make it. I didn’t have a great deal of time to get out there and my father in law said he’d like to go, so off we went.
I caught 2 while the sun was still out, which was pretty quick considering the later start. Then as the sun went down I began the process of putting out my submersible green light that has never failed. After having it out for about 5 minutes, I looked down and it was off. I lifted lid to the batteries to see if it had come loose and smelled a burning smell. Being the genius that I am I thought that is not good. I unhooked, and a hot spot was in the line. I guess that is a converter in there, not sure, but it is toast, I will have to do some repair work and put a fuse in the line.
So we just bass fished the bank for a few hours. Most of the fish caught were on the PB & J Ned Rig, not sure if any other color was effective as I was getting so many bites I did not consider changing.
We basically fished one bank and we ended the night boating around 15 or so and lost a lot more. I missed a significant number of fish, hooked and saw quite a few more, it was a real good night. We discovered that I had brought the net and we should use it, this helped tremendously. Truth is a rod wasn’t necessarily built to flip the fish into the boat from the water. And since I don’t have a sponsor that will replace broken rods, well, I used the net.
The next morning I woke up feeling rough and I mean rough. Headache, pain all over, etc…. I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, but it was a good reminder of why I don’t stay out like that.
I hope everyone has a great 4th of July and gets to wet a line. We are blessed to live in such a fantastic country. I hope everyone has a great week and God bless.
21 June 2019
It has been a busy week and I shoulda gotten this online earlier, but time has slipped away. Anyhow, here you go, we went a fishing last Friday at Boone. My brother was in town for the week and this was the first opportunity to get on the water. My brother had spent the morning on South Holston, had caught quite a few, then came and met daughter and I to go hit Boone in the evening.
We figured to give him a good lesson in the Ned Rig as it’s the girls goto bass fishing bait. This is an extended competition between daughter and brother from her earlier trip out west to see him and his wife. I was just along for the ride and to drive the boat. It started off with both of them landing one and I am still behind. I had been trying a new color and thought, well I’ll slip back to the rootbeer pig and jig just to get rolling. A few cast later, I tied it up.
The bites were coming a plenty, but a lot of releases prior to the boat. The wind had picked up and it was howling pretty good, at times I’m not sure the Ned Rig made it to the bottom. The girl caught a nice one, best of the day at that point, but the competition continued. My brother explained to her many times over that she cannot count a fish that does not get into the boat. I’m certain more rules would have been made known had she caught up.
I finally caught a smallie that was a nice one. The pic may not show it, but it was a good fish. This began the debate of whose was bigger. I’m convinced that she thinks hers was, however………… Anyway, as the battle continued, it was a blast to listen to the conversation and get to do some fishing with my brother and daughter. They do a lot of picking back and forth, she loves it and he likes making her happy.
I can see that she is getting tired, he has to be wore out as many hours as he has fished and the score is 4-3-4, daughter was the three. We decide to fish down this bank to a dock then call it a day. The bite had slowed down and then Kayleigh (aka, the girl, daughter), hooks another pretty good fish. I’m thinking to myself, we shall all leave tied up this is good. She lifts the fish, it releases, hits the edge of the boat, then falls into the water. We (the guys) laugh, she sits puts head down briefly, then says, I am angry. Keeping in the spirit of the day, brother tells her that did not count, but she almost caught up. She laughs and we fish about 10 more minutes and call it a day.
This was a really good trip, we boated 11, missed a ton of them, hooked and lost quite a few, and got to spend time with a couple of folks I really enjoy spending time with. Really, that is what fishing is about, not so much the catch, although that is icing on the cake, but more about the time enjoying God’s creation and spending time with folks. I hope everyone had a great week, God bless.
6-11-2019
The End of an Era
A couple years ago, my son started his full time career and this year, my daughter graduated and next week, is beginning her full time job (or big girl job as she states). Her previous schedule limited our fishing trips and with the new job starting, I decided to take a day off and hit the lake with her as she embarks on her next stage of life.
We were on the water by 8:00am and with all the rain we had received in the past week, you guessed it, the water was pretty much a mess. We caught a few shad to pull in tow as we bass fish, and find ourselves a bank. I began with rootbeer pig and jig and immediately hook up with a nice largemouth. It was a great 3 seconds prior to him giving me back the bait. Next cast, a small largemouth, that also got off halfway to the boat. Finally, a few cast into it, I brought one into the boat, rather small but my hands got to smell like fish.
The girl was getting whooped pretty good at this point as she was going with a mud minnow Ned Rig and I was having a ball teasing her about it. Then I lost my pig from the jig, it was not the same rig, not nearly as big (sorry, a Dr. Seuss moment). I switched to a green pumpkin Ned Rig and she went with PB & J, that is typically her go to rig. This is when the catching started.
We head down a bank and I got a bump, set the hook, the fighting began. When it finally got close to the boat, we saw why, I had snagged a channel cat in the belly. At that time she gets bit and starts fighting, this was a nice mud cat. We go down a bit further and the downline gets nailed, big fight, and she land a nice little hybrid. She claims to be tied or ahead at this point, she did not count my snagged fish and I’m not sure and from that point on we are neck and neck.
We pick up the wife to join us and find another bank. We are landing quite a few bluegill and rock bass all along the way, missing many many more. Then she hooks up with a real nice small mouth. I don’t venture to guess how big, she threw it in as soon as the pic was taken. But it was really nice and I thought I was going to get whooped. As we fish a new bank, I get bit, set hook, and a smallie was on the line. It jumped, my eyes got about as big as silver dollars, and I wanted to get this thing into the boat. As it came closer, the down line at my feet double over and the line took off. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, I looked down at it, the smallie jump, I looked up at it and it spit the hook. I layed the rod down, grabbed the down line and that fish was off also. Let me say that was a big, smallie, guessing 5lbs but hey, no pic and she didn’t count it either.
We fished a long time, we had a great time, the weather was fantastic, the fish were biting and we caught at least 20 of a variety of fish. Quite a few largemouth, couple a smallmouth, hybrid, catfish, etc…   The Ned Rig is a lot of fun cause you don’t really know what’s going to be on the other end. I’m hoping that as she starts her new job, it may open up a few more opportunities for us to go a fishin’. I hope everyone has had a great week, God bless.
