TnRiver46

I'm in Knoxville. I'll fish about anywhere, last time I was out your way I fished the caney fork river and center hill lake in late August. Got trout below the dam and bass above it

I saw a guy drive his onto the trailer with the trolling motor down the other day. I was hollering but he didn’t hear me

Mine is just a tall Cylinder with racks in it. Start a fire in the bottom and put the meat on top! Keep adding more wood as needed to keep temp in ideal range. Most of the smoke flavor gets into the meat in the first 2 -3 hours so after that I worry about temp and heat more than smoke

I guess I’ll just have to go fishing again........ last measurable snow we got tons of white bass

Rattle trap. Shakey head if there’s a bunch of spotted bass in there

You’re kiddin

Right now it's fairly stained to muddy and the current is crazy fast. That could change by mid March because the two lakes above ft loudon will fill up 30 feet starting March 1 so all this inflow it is receiving now could cut waaaaaay back. The tellico portion is much more clear and consistent, and where the fish in my avatar came from this winter.... Note: I just checked the flow and there's about 54,000 cfs flowing in and 56,000 flowing out. 14 flood gates open at the bottom end and generators maxed out Here's what that looks like below the dam. Off limits for the classic but not for gulls!!!

Launch it, start the motor, drive around carefully for a few minutes. Then pick a spot with rocks or logs and start fishing. Life jacket fire extinguisher throwable PFD and paddle are a must. Bail bucket / sponge and one ice cold beer can be very useful. Make sure you put the plug in. Welcome to the greatest club on Earth

Let us know how boat repair goes. I could save an open seat for you Saturday if you are still dry docked

Not so much fishing for me now and a lot of temps below freezing with wind coming up. I figure I might as well start using up a bunch of the materials I bought last year and even back before that

Wow. Awesome hair jigs !

A Lake Ontario fisherman with a boat made in Tennessee?? When I fished my first tournament everyone’s advice was “if the boat says bullet on the side, don’t get in it!” Needless to say nobody beats those boats to the spot

I get a lot of my plastics hand poured by an old timer, they are super soft with great action. As far as brands, I use zoom, rage tail, and big bite baits. Bobby garland for panfish

Baitmate. Hadn’t heard that brand mentioned since I was a little feller! I got in trouble more than a few times for spilling that stuff back in the day

Ditto. My preference is to change with the conditions. I enjoy throwing big heavy Texas rig just as much as a weightless finesse worm

I hope so! Been at it for years so far hahaha

No flat ground anywhere near me! Haha. You know what plumbers say about things rolling down hill.........

The part I don't like is that I never get a bite........ .

Well it depends......... If the current is raging I use a heavy one. If it's slack I use a light one. If the water is muddy I use a heavy one . If it's clear I might use light one or go weightless. Certainly don't hem yourself into only going one way or the other

I found the small ones with gray jig heads from last winter in my tying box

Update:

Thank you sir!!!! I had bought some deer belly hair for jigs and forgot about it, your post is the only thing that saved it from the proverbial rabbit hole. You might have just caused me to catch some fish ............

Just draaaaaaaaagggg it as slow as you can. The current and wind and trolling motor and living rubber or big mop will do the rest. They will eat it just like a jerkbait sometimes, sitting completely still and whammy. Other times they bite it without you realizing it, just have to experiment. Clear deep water smallies in cold water—- take a hair jig or jig head with gulp minnow and toss it out. Let out some slack after it splashes down and close the bail. DONT DO ANYTHING ELSE AT ALL until you get a bite , in which case the fun starts. I don’t know if that counts as jig fishing but it’s a hair jig and they eat it on the pendulum swing

It should be, barring a major flood. The only thing that could shut the bite down is spawning but that is usually more of an April/may event. The bags are typically heavier on every other Tennessee river reservoir though, fort loudon/ tellico is the furthest upstream reservoir on the TN river . As it flows downstream toward the Ohio it obviously gets bigger and bigger and in turn, so do the fish