TnRiver46

I've had the wool pulled over my eyes on some craigslist stuff, I buy stuff in stores now

This is probably excellent advice 90 something percent of the time but I love fishing gin clear water (10+ ft visibility) with a wake bait or spook. You better have your adult diapers on when a big smallmouth comes up from 20 ft to hit a topwater

Good info, although I thought you weren't supposed to set the hook with a drop shot??? Just kidding i knew what you meant

Nice work, my buddy discovered that once when fishing a popper and picking out backlashes. The only difference was he did not hook any of his bites because he was picking out backlashes and I was sitting in the back of the boat and could not stop laughing

I eat some of the legal keeper fish that I catch so I guess I am the jerk in this whole scenario. I don't ever ask other people what they were using or where, I just say hello or how's it going. I also share legal keepers with the less fortunate. In general it is my opinion that not being a jerk is always the best play. Who wants to be known as someone who doesn't share fish with their fellow man?

I reckon they are more common on the eastern end of the river. I only had to go back to July 23 to find the most recent one in my photos, I catch a good many yellow perch in the TN river so I guess it's a little different habitat this far upstream. I also watched a scott martin video on YouTube fishing below wheeler dam with David something, a big time smallmouth tournament angler and guide. Apparently he catches a lot of 5-6 lb meanmouth and some even bigger.

Nice fish, they are also common in the Tennessee river nowadays

Got a nice smallmouth this evening fishing a deeper flat on the river (8-10') with the rage tail menace. Water temp 75 and current pretty swift

Gotcha thanks

Nice fish thanks for the pics. Smallmouth are not horrible eating. I can understand being concerned about water quality but smallmouth bass is excellent food

Are you seeing any white bass busting out on Melton hill?

I fish some that are over 100' deep straight down, just throw a tube up against it and let it sink while watching the line. If your line stops it's definitely not because it hit the bottom so set the hook!

Wind is brutal 99% of the time but big fish live there, usually takes over 20 lbs to win a tournament year round

Getting hot again, don't abandon summer pattern yet

They lower the two lakes upstream from my house 30 ft starting this time of year. All that water comes gushing down the holston and french broad rivers and forms the Tennessee river. Sometimes when the water is raging I like to throw something huge and/or noisy that the bass will be able to find amongst a million gallons of water going by at 2-3 miles an hour. Buzz baits and frogs up under the overhangs are my favorite but a lot of folks swear by a spinnerbait in fast water. Suspending jerkbait can also be good if you can keep all the grass off of it. If I was bank fishing (which can be somewhat advantageous in heavy current), I would use a jig or worm on bottom in all the swirling eddies. If the grass is fouling everything Texas rig a big soft plastic with a belly weight hook or throw swim jig. Swim jig in shallow grassy current just makes me all tingly inside

I lost an 8 lb bass off a metal clamp stringer that I was going to mount when I was 14 yrs old. I couldn't fish the rest of the day and I fish as much as anyone on the planet. I was fully recovered the next day though

Nice fish and report as always but that top picture is exceptional

Nice fish! I was out there yesterday myself got 3 non keeper largemouth a smallie and some white bass and a catfish

If that's your first ever smallmouth you might want to retire! Excellent fish

I was about to say what Neil just said, I know some guys that troll crankbaits to get them on soho. No surprise that they hit the spoons you trolled, I can't count the number of times I have struggled to even catch a dink and started catching lots of good ones when trolling. It gets the baits way deeper and they stay deep. And they are moving so fast the fish can't hardly stand it. Another option for suspended bass is dead sticking but it's painfully slow tactic. But they will eat it

I would guess you are getting bites from small rock bass. They hide under the boulders and come out to chomp through a whole bag of soft plastics. They chew on them like crazy and rarely get hooked unless you downsize the lure

Wow!!! Sounds like you've got some healthy soil. I do also like the scissor trap (especially for the deep tunnels). I could use your help in TN!

This is true, to a point. At some level it takes two to tango

Cool photo, I catch moles for a living (among other nuisance wildlife). They way to get them is with harpoon traps and there are way less than you think in your yard. Dozens of tunnels usually means 1-2 moles. Whole yard eat up with tunnels could be 4-6 moles

Caught several of all 3 species on the Tennessee river only a couple miles from downtown knoxville last night after work