TnRiver46

But the big ones have more meat!

Wow! I’ll take those two bites over a thousand others

D%#*+n it you beat me to it!!! i can throw a pigskin a quarter mile

Nice one! There was a lady living near lake Toho when I went there that required we bring her 2 of those for dinner when we went fishing!

Regardless of where I’m at, I would have a heart attack if I caught a 10 lb walleye. Congrats to the OP

Yes people are stupid but the guy that got the world record smallmouth had literally nothing to gain, his life was ruined by the fish. People lie and people are also jealous. Tennessee and Arkansas are about as far south as you will find a walleye, makes sense that a fish at the warmest edge of its habitat range would be biggest. We have a whole lot of massive musky in TN also but I could care less where the records come from

They had accurate scales and measuring tapes in the 60s, it wasn’t the 1860s I’m not a fisheries biologist by trade but I am by education. And I stayed in a Kelty tent last night as opposed to a holiday inn express. Just look at lake fork, built in mid 80s. Then 17 lb bass started showing up! Tellico was built in 1976 and I have personally talked to folks that fished it days after it flooded. They caught huge bass easily compared to how it is today. Then you look at Norris lake, built in 1929. Infertile clear water and not much black bass over 7 lb

The guy that broke the smallmouth record wishes he never turned it in because of all the hate he got. When you first construct a dam, fish size booms big time, before everything eventually levels off. As reservoirs age they become less fertile, that why I believe most record were set in newish reservoirs. I have no doubt there’s some records currently swimming the Great Lakes but I’m also sure catching them is not easy

Just give me a purple worm and a month off work to fish all those cypress. Actually several purple worms

The river smallies follow them around like wolves among sheep. One of the bigger ones I ever caught I was trying to snag a carp with a fat Albert and the bass grabbed it out of nowhere

Bass Almost always jump more thaN once in rapid succession when schooling on Shad. If it only jumps once, typically not a bass

The deal with carp? They suck. See what I did there?

If a boat comes toward me, I assume it’s the game warden and start frantically trying to pull up my license on my phone

Will do buddy, we’ve got the rest of today and about 2 hours tomorrow morning before heading back. I haven’t caught many but there have been some nice ones. It’s only once every few years that I catch a 5 lb bass, needless to say I was hooting and hollering in a creek arm all alone hahaha

https://www.freshwater-fishing.org/the-facts-supporting-the-harper-walleye-reinstatement/

What about the 22 lb 11 oz from Arkansas? Is that also fake? I have a hard time calling things a lie when I wasn’t there

Looks thick in there! I bet you’ve got skeeters......

Obviously you weren’t in East TN! Coffee is more than a dollar and if you buy a cup, you best be ready to talk to the cashier about “how’s ya mom ‘n’ them?” and “all this rain”

Everything was all the same for me

I agree on the crappie, my fiancé won’t eat them. More for me though!!! They taste great it’s just a soft texture that turns off the lady

Interesting morning! Alarm goes off at 4:45 and I can see lightning . This was the only day it wasn’t supposed to rain on the week long trip. Crazy bad storm goes through, sitting in the tent for an hour anxious to get out and start fishing, especially after only catching one fish in 3 sessions yesterday (Wednesday). The boat is tied to a dock and my batteries were almost underwater. Finally get out and there’s a decent Shad spawn but yet again can’t get them to hit. I ran upriver to a really long slough full of cypress but the grass point looked too good to pass up. Hooked a ball of line, trying to extract from the water, and yet another 20lb horsefly starts eating me. I’m going to look like a pin cushion when I get home. Anyway, start frogging, nothing. Grass and cypress for miles, how is this possible. Go back to the tried and true from years ago on this trip, weightless hand pour Junebug stick worm up against cypress stumps. The second one I threw a small bass bites and jumps off. A clue! Then I boat a dink. Then I get stuck in a cypress and break a spinning rod out of frustration trying to rip it out. Cypress branches can be beyond frustrating at times. So I tie the stick worm onto the heavy rod with 65 braid. A few more stumps and the line is trucking off to the right. I don’t use braid often unless I’m in a swamp, so I’m not so used to it. I set the hook really hard and about broke my arm and lost grip of the rod! Haha. Somehow the fish is still on but has wrapped around another cypress. It jumps and I see it’s a nice fish, look down to grab the net and there’s a 5 gallon bucket with a cast net in it and 2 tackle boxes in the net! Somehow I land a 3 lb 4 oz largemouth, a blind hog finds an acorn every one else in a while! I’ve never been glad to break a rod but I was today, no way I land that thing on spinning gear and 10 lb mono

Methinks the world record is 25 even from old hickory lake near Nashville edit: saw @Tennessee Boy post after I did