TnRiver46

Folks around here think if you kill a bass there will never be another one. I wish they would take a trip to Mexico and witness the resource renewing itself. I get tired of being harassed for eating bass. This is the only fishing forum I have ever found where people don't totally frown on keeping bass. i would venture that some of the harvest in Mexico actually contributes to the excellent population dynamics of the largemouth

Sweeeeeet! Jealous, party of one!!! I would gladly do battle with one of those fish at whatever depth it wanted!!!

I catch a lot of angry fish on the h20 express jointed hardbaits. They are $5.99 regular price, sometimes on sale cheaper. I get my soft swimabits handpoured by a retired bass catching machine

When the water gets that cold the fishing is far better in a lake. I think there a guy named Jeff little, check out his online articles. He fishes exactly the conditions you are describing, cold water river smallmouth. Small tube jigs or shakey heads and suspending plugs sitting still seem to be most effective but I get way more bites on the lakes when it's super cold. The main channel is still almost 60 degrees here in gods country............

It's easy to do when all the water near your house is deep!

I can't remember what the white part is, craft hair or bucktail. Looking at that picture, I typically like to use the ends (tips) of the natural hair but I'm guessing that is craft hair where I cut it with scissors. The gray part is something called streamer fur from Bass Pro shops

Thanks! Don't twist my arm

Fancier is always worth a shot for finicky fish but this right here will catch the crap out of them

They are extremely easy to make, punisher jigs is the best brand around here. I used to tie duck feather and buck tail jigs without even using a vice

I have a few of number #19 also, papaw always called them a river runt

If that's your first smallmouth you may want to retire!

I know I have been reading your reports!!! Haha. Thanks for the details, I'll let you know when we plan on trying it. I will have an open seat for you but I'm low tech. Aluminum boat, 50 hp, $30-40 combos and eagle claw hooks hahaha. I am proficient with a cast net though, I'm assuming a live threadfin does damage down there because they are smallmouth candy below loudoun and watts bar dams

Thanks man! I have an old college buddy that lives in Memphis and we are going to try below pickwick soon. We tried below Wilson dam two years ago in march and it was a 2 day fail. I couldn't even drive my 18.5 ft and very wide boat in the main channel for the waves

No kidding, not many people on earth are from wears valley or Townsend. I'm originally from maryville, my girlfriend is from new Bavaria/hamler Henry county corn field area somewhere hahahah. I saw the river at independence dam once, definitely looked muddy. Her brothers say it's only for catfish and crashing pontoon boats where they are from

My girlfriend is from there, I've heard some wild stories about the muddy maumee

LIve bluegill will always get the biggest bass in any pond to bite. The problem is hooking then landing, they can spit those things out with ease. We have a pond at work with trained bass, they will jump and throw a bluegill that they have been swimming around with for a solid 2-3 minutes

I have been using mostly big mono and heavy Texas rig but I went up into some clear water. I think I had two spinning rods rigged with braid but I didn't have a leader on either of them so I just grabbed a rod with 6 lb mono

Just for an example, I'll talk about today (and recent days). As always, I turn on my graphs when I start fishing. Immediately they light up with fish. I formerly believed that the units were lying about fish being all around until I put on a diving mask and jumped into the water. The river is full of life and the graphs will find it. Problem is a lot of times it is marking gar carp bluegill catfish drum and everything else. This one spot I have been fishing always always always lights up the graph with suspended fish. And I always get bit on the bottom. I have tried cranking to where the suspended fish are, vertical jigging, deep diving suspending plugs, swimbaits counted down, nothing. Pick up a Texas rig and bam they eat it. I can use my graph to locate white bass and crappie but I hardly ever use it to find black bass prior to casting. I Have caught a couple that I marked while trolling and they hit the plug a few seconds later. Basically I am saying you can find the fish a lot easier with fish hooks than you can with the graph, or the least I can. Now I have got on a few good deep bites and looked down at the graph after catching a few and it looked like a bowl of spaghetti on bottom (actively feeding smallmouth). This also differs from lake to lake but every time I fish the TN river with current the graphs are lit up with fish. Even if you turn the sensitivity way down it's still marking fish. Because they are there. Larger deep clear lakes that move slower I sometimes mark a bass and at least try to catch it but that's rare for me. i guess I should have asked this earlier, what kind of water are you fishing and in what part of the world?

Hahahaha. I still don't know if I have ever truly known what the heck a secondary point is. I'm sure I have caught lots of fish on them through

We finally fired butch jones!!!! Finally!!! I have been waiting for this since the day they hired him in 2012. Look out next week @Catt, we might have a chance now! Actually we still don't have a chance but a team without butch jones as coach is better than a team with him!

i am much more comfortable and successful fishing deep water. Then again, the water is deep up against the bank where I live. Just cast a Texas rig out there and drag it along the bottom. If you do this enough you will start getting bites in certain areas and put the puzzle pieces together. Sounds like one problem you may have encountered was fishing the same spot too long. Use your shallow water skills to cover water, even though it's deep. Instead of sitting on a point move all around it

I guess I'm too late but I would come across the mountain and fish watauga lake

Guntersville is a tva lake. It will be crowded but most are saying find a creek full of shad and the bass will blitz them at some point

Water is 57-59 here right now and I think they will hit anything. Saw one bust a shad a couple times on top today

Yesterday was a good day for smallmouth but I seemed to lose all the big strong ones I hooked. Today was kind of the opposite, I got lucky. Maybe the clouds made the fish eat the hook better, who knows but I got a 20" and a 19" and a some smaller ones. I also got a couple "Alabama smallmouth" (drum). A big smallie ate my lure and I fought it forever and ever with a flimsy spinny pole and 6 lb line. The thing jumped then bulldogged hard and just pulled loose. This fish had all kinds of head shaking moves that felt crazy on the end of the line. No biggie I lose giant smallies all the time. I took a little while to relax and catch my breath, even texted all my buddies that were out on the water that I had lost a donkey. I trolling motor back to the same spot and I think (not 100% sure) that the same durn smallmouth hit it again!!! This time the thing takes off like a rocket and pulled some drag (that I thought I had locked down after losing it the first time). I finally got clicked over to backreel and let the fish go way out in the middle. Took my time and finally boated it, nice 20" fish. That was in clear water medium current, hence the spinny pole. Back down on the main channel stained and raging current, I'm thinking I should go home because I'm just lucky and my buddy eric calls. As I'm jigging a big creature bait and drifting along my line starts swimming away. I dropped the phone and set the hook and boated a 19 inch fish! my lucky day!