02 May 2020
It has been a while since I have written anything, truth is, I haven’t fished much, between the weather and other things, just haven’t made it out. Also, I figured if I started typing I would begin to rant about this Wuhan Chinese Corona Covid 19 virus thing that has shut down the country, so I thought it best to type nothing, let’s keep it about fishin’.
I have been seeing monster stripers being caught on Boone Lake, so Saturday was the day that we were going. Catching bait was a bit of a chore, they just weren’t in their typical spots. This is probably due to the generators seeming to run constantly and all the rain, my what a year 2020 has been. We finally found us some and off we went. We marked some fish immediately and dropped down a few lines. We trolled this area a while but nothing was wanting to hit.
We ran into a buddy who suggested another place, so we headed that way. Again, marked a few fish and dropped down some lines, nothing biting. We ran back to the ramp where we exchanged passengers and headed out again to slay the striper. We had shad down (fish on fish finder), one flat line, and three swimbaits being thrown. Daughter got a couple small strikes she was not prepared to do anything about it (I think she had been lulled by the slow day). The son I think said he may have gotten a bite, but he said his expectations were being met.
We finally gave up on the striper, released the shad, and decided to Ned Rig a bank or two. I was thinking that the skunk was going to be on this day, the water was stained, the cold water from the river seemed to be pretty far down the “lake”, and I am not sure if everyone is Sullivan County was out, or just most of them. We tossed on a bank, nothing, we moved to another and finally, I lifted my rod, line was tight, and I set the hook, finally a fight. Daughter grabbed the net and I got the bragging rights.
We went down a bit further and same scenario for daughter, it was on the line when she lifted. She reeled that thing in and commenced to letting me know we were tied. The son in the back (he don’t get the opportunity to go fishing very often), ended the day with no fish, however, he was casting a bait caster very well, his first attempt. And I got to hear them picking at each other for a while.
I left the lake with a sunburn, long sleeves and a hat don’t help the neck, and we had a pretty good day. If you get out, be careful, a lot of debris on the water from the rain, some you can see, some not so easily. I hope everyone has had an opportunity to get out, the wife and I went to South Holston River just to walk around on Sunday. I’m typing this up as the rain is pouring outside, looks like fly fishing will be neglected for another week or so, shew, anyway, looks like Blackberry Winter this week. Good luck, God bless, and keep them lines tight, hopefully more to come at a great pace soon.
