TnRiver46

My aunt and cousins livein Florida and it seems this happens every year........ code orange tree panic mode

Prayers sent

Hahahah good point. I suppose that is always the reason for most anything

Thanks Glenn!!!!

I'm in northwest Ohio right now and it was -10 with howling wind this morning, I think wind chill was -28 or something ridiculous. Hmmmm I live in knoxville and kayak/canoe fish a good bit. The PB smallmouth could easily be tied or broken but sometimes it can be tough. For smallies, April would be your worst month for river fishing on a normal weather year (because of spawning). March can be really good for river fishing in prespawn, they usually spawn in April and are hard to catch. One really good thing about spring can be the freestone streams. Tailwaters take longer to warm up but the streams/creeks/rivers without dams warm up much faster and fish much better in early spring. Fair warning, the biggest snows we have ever had in east TN occur in late march. 24" in late march of '93 was the biggest snow of my lifetime. I honestly think camping and weather are going to be your limiting factor. There's a billion places to fish just like you described but spots to camp (legally) and cold weather could hinder you a tad. Here's a few rivers I would suggest: holston, french broad, little river, little pigeon, big pigeon, clinch, Powell, harpeth (never seen it though). We don't have any natural lakes in every entire state (except reelfoot) so small lakes are few and far between and are basically dammed up creeks. A few of those that come to mind are cove lake (state park), big ridge, and Indian Boundary. These small lakes typically don't have smallmouth with the exception of John sevier on the holston (which is Famous for vehicle break-ins but not recently). It would be handy to have two cars for kayak float trips or find someone to run a shuttle. Norris lake is not too far from Ohio and in summer loaded with buckeye fans! Always pretty easy to find camping on that lake and has lots of smallies but they can be tricky. I would probably recommend Norris lake unless you are strictly after river fish. South holston watauga lakes are also giant smallmouth factories that could be a possibility. Panther creek state park would be a decent place to look into also on Cherokee lake, caught some there on the day after Christmas (see smallmouth section "smallies + bonus fish" report i posted)

Would you want to watch fla vs tn in the national title game? Not that it would happen in the next decade........ also, if Georgia was 0-8 in the conference I would imagine the dawgs might be a tad bitter

Loaded question! Which part of TN? What's your PB that you are looking to break? How far do you want to be from civilization/cell phone service?

Yea I like fly fishing, got kind of burned out working as a fly fishing guide but I don't do that full time anymore (thank god). Now my fly fishing is for fun, I like it mostly for bluegill and trout. The fight is better on the fly rods, trout don't fight well with a jerkbait in their face unless they are fairly huge. I picked up an eagle claw fiberglass feather light 6'6" fly rod that makes rainbows fight like tuna

I'd rather watch figure skating than watch bama v Georgia....... maybe the field will collapse and both teams will fall into the center of the earth.........

@12poundbass, our half Pyrenees only guards against other dogs, she loves people. She was an oops baby....... @A-Jay, my phone took a minute to load and that middle picture was cut off at the bottom......i thought trucker was licking your face while you were standing straight up! Those dogs are still huge but I thought it was wolf sized until the picture loaded

See the panfish???

I get a local guy to hand pour a bunch of stuff for me. Everything he makes floats like a cork and is super soft, unlike elaztech

This is why I shop in stores that you walk into

Tennessee river system was good to me last week. Also some dude caught a 14 lb bass in chickamauga last week! There are probably locations closer to you with open water though.

What an awesome ending to the story! Way to stick it out basschump! Kudos to everyone who helped and of course thanks and praise be to the Man upstairs who taught us all kindness

Wethinks beagle/basset on the left (male named bo). Half Pyrenees on the right (female named Cori)

I was pulling for the Sooners! which is most likely why they lost

It won't weigh the shiner down but it may float it, I use 50 a lot and it takes the lures forever to sink

I have never bought a rod over $40, not really sure why sorted through this topic hahahaha

Why do they always have the classic on the same lakes that they have already had them on? Logistics?

Just glad I don't have ice!!!! The only way I can take reels apart and successfully put them back together is individual trial and error, the spreadsheet would be way trickier than the reel for a technologically challenged individual like myself. Also, not sure if this exists where you are, but people will go through a fishing reel and clean it and replace broken parts for like $17. No clue how or why they do it this cheap but take advantage if you find someone. The people that fix reels are typically old guys with awesome fishing stories that make great friends too!

Guides on the rods freezing is the least of your worries at that temp. You can soak them with wd40 and it will delay the freezing. The major problems are steering cable, impeller, starter, and launching your truck into the river. I have had all these things freeze on me but I still haven't dumped a truck in he river yet. Came really close twice and have seen it happen twice. My steering cable was frozen once so I decided to be a he-man and turn the wheel. Well that broke it. Had to fish all day using a paddle on plane to turn. I'm still pretty dumb but at least I was younger then. I have been putting off changing my gear lube here recently. I try to change it frequently because some seals are busted and water gets in. The two days after Christmas my lower unit was frozen stiff, finally changed the lube with the aid of a space heater the other day. I was getting a warning beep even after it warmed up and the impeller was peeing

Pretty cool! Seems like a nice lake, Mr. Wetline certainly does damage up there

Youre welcome. -bengals

Also a non facebooker but I'm sure I saw all the fish on this forum! Here's to an equally fun 2018! ?