TnRiver46

No bowfin here and the water is typically gin clear so finesse is must, especially in winter

Good deal. I haven’t got on a big school of whites in a while, freezer is getting lean. Might have to leave the main river and come your way soon

I just use the small hooks because I have tons of the 1/8 oz round ball jig heads for grubs and tubes that I use all summer for smallies. Since they are cheap And I already had them tied on most of the time, I just started slapping a worm on their weightless. I have football shakey heads with 3/0 hooks as well but if I used those every time I fished I would be in the poor house! You would be surprised how well that little hook will stick and hold a big angry smallmouth

I also forgot to mention that catching live bait can be fun and challenging

I've got some big hand poured paddle tail swimbaits, the soft materail has good action at slow speed

I just went out to the boat and found those to take a pic for the post. It appears I only have 3........ Do they still make it? I thought it was sour grape or sprayed grass, the label is worn off

I tried it once, wasn't for me. I didn't like the luck of the draw part as a co-angler, felt like I just threw $100 into the water. And they drive too fast......

I agree . I bass fish with live bait a lot and almost never do I just sit and wait. Usually pitching live shad under docks and trying to keep them from swimming around all the posts . Also if you hook a live shad in the back it tends to swim really fast........ And on top...........

Zoom u tail zoom trick worm zoom finesse worm and zoom swamp crawler are the ones I like! Rigged all kinds of ways but one great way is like this on an 1/8 round ball jig head. Very good hookups and affordable . I have mentioned it a few times on here, I call it poor mans Shakey head

Been skunked many a times on live bait. If it’s wrong I don’t wanna be right

Deep fried fish and an ice cold bottle of suds can really change a man

Too cold to fool with launching a boat after work, got one bank fishing. Much better than watching espn from 4:30-6

I know a spot or 3 where you can catch the redeye bass (micropterus coosae)

My buddy always says “take a marker buoy and throw it backwards. Not drop it, throw the /@&)” thing!”

Sure have! In fact I snapped a picture of the spoon on the graph just after I caught the fish. It shows up on 3 d sometimes also, like it did in the picture. It seems the water has to be pretty calm for that to happen. I have always been able to find the fish and drop down to them, it’s the biting thing that seems to be more like 1 in 100. Most of my catching happens when I’m just dragging Texas rigs on bottom.

I just read the title of this thread again and I don’t care why it is so addictive. I just want more

Shad wax is what you use to dress a hair jig. Also float and fly can be casted on regular gear from a boat where you can slap the water on the back cast to load the rod. It still helps greatly to have a long spinning rod specially designed for float n fly. No clue how you can cast a fixed float and long leader from the bank . I imagine it would be beyond frustrating.

I will have to say............. it looks like the one from e Tn is bigger.......... nice catches

Yes sir! And my girlfriend bought me the electronics for Christmas a few year back! Haha

Yee haw. I ♥️winter

Plastics : bobby Garland baby shad Bobbers: I despise every bobber I have ever tried. I've caught more crappie with Texas rigged creature baits than I have with a stupid bobber Minnows: they work great but I don't use them. I live close to the lake so driving to go get minnows would slow me down. Sometime I catch crappie with shad I have netted

I can't make it work. Berkeley gulp minnow on 1/8 oz head or hair jig without bobber works way better for me. Honestly my catch rates go to almost zero every single time I attach a bobber to my line

Honestly you could paddle from Thompson boling to neyland stadium to volunteer landing on a paddle board. In fact you can rent paddleboards at volunteer landing and do just that, people do it all the time.

You can catch all those except Pike about 4 hrs north

Mono is bueno