BassNJake

My dad is who got me started He'd take me to the sandpits or down to the river most times I was just messing around while he fished But somehow the itch was born As I got older I would tape my 2 piece rod to my BMX bike and ride down to the sandpits myself Sometimes I'd stop at the river first, catch crayfish and or hellgrammites and use them for bait Later in my late teens and early twenties I'd take the canoe out on a local lake There I got convinced to fish in my first tourney That was all it took to get me hooked as a die hard basshead My dad was my partner for the first few years before I started fishing BFL's I'll never forget that time on the water with him and now I make sure we have at least 1 trip a year together

On my very first trip to Lake Erie, there was a slight North wind. The forecast was calling for a south wind. We bounced around getting further and further off shore. The further we went the better the fishing was but it was also getting windier and coming from the North. We are about 5 miles out and we're catching them one after another We look around and none of the other boats that were around were still there Now that North Wind from Canada was really rolling As we limped toward shore, I was looking straight up at the sky and then directly down at the water, the waves crashed over the bow as we went back to looking at the sky and then back to getting soaked, rinse and repeat for 5 miles I am very fortunate the person I was with was such a skilled driver I was amazed how in a short time the small rollers turned into 6 footers Thanks a lot Canada. We did have a helicopter do a fly by, they take on the water shots and you can go to their website to buy them The guy I was with won a BASS weekend series event about 3 months later fishing the spots we found that day So it had a great ending to what was the second scariest boat ride I ever had

Well thats awesome!!

Did your inner IKE scream "Never Give Up" when you caught that one from the dock? Good read and good luck on Lanier. Cant wait to read about it!! Good luck to you as well!!

They snagged a line an hour later so it's not like it just broke off and then they retrieved it instantly like the 2 examples of Fletcher and Zach. This could have been a great moment for McKendree University as another team from that college also won the BASS college event at smith lake.

When I lived in Ohio, I used to count how many trips I'd take in a year. Now that I live in TN, I count consecutive months and the last month I didn't fish a day was Dec 2013. I thought being from the North I would have the lake all to myself in the winter months. Boy was I wrong, the ramp is packed whether its a 22 degree morning or if its 90. The southern boys just love to fish

Those suspending smallmouth are tough to catch The techniques involved require no fear of boredom I tried the float and fly for a few winters with very little success except making me want to take a nap The Damiki rig has been a much better option but I have to drop on 10 different schools just to get a couple of bites If the D-rig isn't getting bites, I'll drop a silver buddy type bait through the school Mostly do that cuz I'm mad that they wont bite and I just want to scatter them a little for revenge lol Fishing up north I never really experienced the Paul Revere smallies, but down here it's crazy how the whole school will shut down

My internal clock has me up at 5am every morning, once summer rolls around I have to set the alarm for 4:30 so I can be on the water as the sun comes up. Wife still finds it amusing that I dont set an alarm for work but do for fishing I think TN is talking about making DST permanent because of how the state is split

It's a race for second, Jacob Proz is smashing it in the last period

He must have got into JT's "brownies"

I thought the same thing- now I see it as I missed out on that loving companionship for 30 years and a lot of memories I could have shared. As I look back on my life, it's like there are different chapters. These latest chapters have included some kids + dogs and cats. You would not be replacing Stretch, you'd give another dog a chance they might not get in another home Glad to read about what a good boy Stretch was!!

I grew up with a dog, I was born on a Saturday, we picked him up on a Saturday, named him Saturday. He lived 14 years - survived being hit by a car- survived being shot - vet pulled 56 bb's out of his hind quarters When he died, I was crushed and vowed to never own another pet. My wife is the dog magnet. All the dogs in the neighborhood seem to come by to get some love and attention from her. My wife and sister in law were walking back from the lake one day and a pack of dogs started following her. When they get to the house one of the dogs just sprawls out across the porch like she owned it. She didn't leave for 3 days. The owner stopped by and said that was their dog but it looked like she decided to live somewhere else. We decided to keep her and she's been giving us non stop loving ever since. She's a husky/shepherd mix, kids named her Misha

Yep, Neal is a native and has fishing in his blood Jacob moved there and will show up at tuesday nighter with his wife and take peoples money. I fished a tueday nighter a couple years ago and Wheeler, Neal and Strader were all fishing it. Neals uncle Rogne Brown won it with 19 lbs On 3 fish You wanna be a pro fisherman? go fish the tuesday night dogfights on the Chick

This has been a crazy one- hope you get it worked out or they replace the chair with a new one

Love seeing the topwater baits being used!!

I moved to TN around 2008 I love that I dont have to put the boat away in the winter Although I fish Chickamauga half a dozen times a year, LaDue is still my favorite lake Up by the dam you can fish deep and target smallmouth West of 44 fills in with weeds and lily pads and you can flip/punch to get to the largemouth buried deep in the cover In the middle section you can fish the channel swings and the flats directly adjacent to them. There is a mix of weeds and wood. Fishing the causeway or the 422 bridge was almost always productive. The lake had what seemed like millions of white perch in it Bass chomped on those things and got big every panfisherman would complain to no end about them also my dad because he always threw finesse type baits

I threw cranks or flipped something at cover I fished a DT 7 a bunch, I think they stopped making it but any crank will do as long as its bouncing off the bottom I flipped a lot of creature baits and crawfish type trailers at that time As it moved toward summer I tossed a carolina rig with a lizard on it (a couple guys that used to always win at LaDue always tossed the carolina rig and they would slowly reel it in, so i mimicked them with success. The typical drag and wait was not as successful)

Glad they dont have to sign after every catch this year

The top section of the lake is where I have caught all my smallies. I got into a school of them early in the year in that top right hand side about 100 yards from the dam I caught about 10 that were over 3 and the biggest was a little over 5 We went back the next week and still caught a few but not like the magic I stumbled on the week before Other than that my smallmouth catches were 1 here and 1 there. I like fishing below 44 in the spring as that is where I have seen the biggest fish caught I would fish the middle section quite a bit leading up to summer After June or so I'd just cycle between those humps that get weeds on them At different times of the day, the bass would pull up on them and would be feeding pretty good so it was a timing deal

Red circles represent areas where there are humps that come to within 5 feet or so of the surface Good luck, still my favorite lake to fish. I have not fished there in several years and most of my experience was from the 90's - 2008ish Good luck!!

As far as Bass go- the lake has 3 sections North of 422(top), between 44 and 422(middle) and west of 44(bottom). In the early part of the year I'd fish as far back as I could in the bottom part of the lake. There is a defined channel that cuts thru there and bass will spawn in the shallower areas. If you see a piece of wood, flip something to it. As the year gets later and bass move out, I move deeper and fish the humps/islands in the middle and the top section. I'll mark some places on the map. The humps will show themselves later in the summer as the weeds grow to the top. You can rotate between the humps and at some part of the day the fish will be on/near them. sometimes they move right to the top, other times they will be hanging off to one side and I have found quite a few times they will be 20-30 feet off of the bottom of the hump in the deepest water. There is a sunken bridge out from the boat launch, its a money spot when they are on it. At the dam there is a channel that the original creek followed, there are some stumps that are on the bottom if you can find these, they can be a gold mine.

I had to sneak into Rockwell and that was early 90's. I'd put the canoe in up river in a development. Then work my way down. They had a fence that went across but it was smashed up and you could get through. I have since heard that they reinforced the barrier that blocked access from this way. There used to be a guy named Mark that ran a baitshop out of his garage on lake rockwell too. He had some impressive pics of fish caught there. As soon as the ice breaks fish the breakwall on the 422 bridge. Not sure if they even let guys walk down there to fish anymore? This is when guys will catch 5lb+ walleyes. Wait too long and they scatter.

The next 20 years will be fun watching what he does. Spinning rod or Baitcaster that kid knows how to fish. Everytime he does well, I feel for his brother and think Matt should have stayed at BASS This way he could try and establish himself as something other than "the other Lee brother"

I have a 2003 Crestliner CX 1650 It has a 25hp on it. I also have a MK maxxum 101 trolling motor. (36V) I used to take it to fish the Presque Isle bay and even snuck out onto the big lake when it was calm like glass. If there was a lot of traffic in the bay, I'd get bounced around. I wouldn't get less than 50hp and would definitely get at least the 65lb thrust. Never had an issue with the boat itself and would not hesitate to get another Crestliner, thing is built like a tank

Some very nice fishing in this area. I never caught anything larger than a 7. I did catch a 5 fish limit for over 30 lbs though, I had them weighed at the bait shop next to LaDue reservoir I have also caught several 6's from Mogadore, Portage Lakes, Nimisilla, LaDue, Lake Rockwell and Deer Creek The Kent Bass team now runs the electric motor only league out of LaDue. Rory Franks jr is on the KSU team and his dad used to be the tourney director at Ladue. http://www.dobass.com/