Fishlegs

I would throw them in the river. If they came back with a fish attached, I'd probably throw it right back in the same spot. If there's not a fish attached, I'd try a different spot...but not in California. 😉

These guys are crazy. You don't want Academy stuff. You should package it all up, and send it to me for proper disposal. 🤣 Just kidding. Their stuff is very good. I use their hard baits, soft plastics, hooks, weights, rods, and it has been good. Not just good for the price...good. The only thing I didn't like enough to buy again are their spinnerbaits. I had to spend too much time trying to get them to run true so I gave up on them. Otherwise, I am a big fan of their brand.

I agree. That’s a beautiful smallmouth!

Excellent fish @Pat Brown!

Prayers for a successful surgery, and full recovery.

Got to fish below Pickwick dam the other day. The temp was in the 20s the previous night. It had probably warmed into the upper 30s by the time we started fishing. The sun was supposed to come out, but it never happened. It was tolerable, but didn't warm up liked we hoped. The fishing started out as cool as the temps. We had good current. We were drifting 3 mph without the trolling motor. We did a 2 1/2 mile drift and caught nothing. We tried the other side, and only caught one. We went back to the other side again, but all we caught were drum. Hopefully @roadwarrior won't be too disappointed that we don't have pics of those. 🤣 Since we were having no luck on the bank, we decided to try fishing along the channel. Turns out that the fish were in the middle of the river. We only caught 3 in the first 5 hours along the banks, but got 6 in the last 2 hours in the middle of the river. Nothing too big, but one solid 3 lb 6 oz smallmouth. The most interesting part of the day came as I caught the first fish along the channel. We noticed a boat speeding toward us. While I was reeling I said, "He sees us, right?" He sped right up to us, and turns away at the last second. When he turned we see "Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency" on the side of the boat. I pulled the fish out of the net as he pulled up beside us. I said, "I'll get my license out in just a second." He said, "I don't want to see your license. I want to see the fish." I was confused since it was just a dink smallmouth. I held it up for him, and he said, "No, I want the fish." So I gave it to him. He measured it, and asked me if I wanted it back. I said, "no" so he released it. I thought we were about to get checked by the game warden. Turns out that he was with the TWRA Angler Survey. He asked us several questions about our fishing experience. He wanted to know where we were from, how much our trip cost us (counting gas, meals, etc.), how satisfied we were with our experience, if we'd fished there before, and if we planned to fish there again. It was actually a fun, and interesting experience. We had a nice chat. He seemed like a good guy. He went on his way, and we started catching fish. Too bad he didn't see us when we caught a bigger fish. 🤣

That is awesome @Aaron_H!

Zoom trailer sounds ideal. I also use the 3.5 in Yum Pulse swimbait as a trailer when I want a small profile paddle tail trailer. You could probably cut it shorter if you wanted to.

Congrats on such a day! Hopefully, you will get to fish with the little ones one day. Helping your kid catch a fish is another great feeling.

100%, but so does every other team in the country. This has been one of the most unpredictable college football seasons I can remember.

Y'all remember when @Swamp Girl caught 2044 bass in one year? Thank you for taking us along, and letting us share your awesome trips.

In my waters the fish prefer green pumpkin, watermelon, watermelon red, watermelon candy, cotton candy, honey candy, hard candy, candy craw, Falcon Lake craw, Bama craw, Okeechobee craw, crawdad, ghost shad, sexy shad, gizzard shad, electric shad, Tennessee shad, California 420, Bama bug, red bug, junebug, pumpkin, purple pumpkin, PB&J, huckleberry, plum apple, plum, bubble gum, black, black & blue, black & red, white, pearl, tinfoil, motor oil, merthiolate, disco violet, glimmer blue, chartreuse, moon juice, rootbeer pepper, bourbon blaze, tequila sunrise, sprayed grass, baby bass, sungill, baitfish, tilapia, and KVD magic...not necessarily in that order. I talked to the bait monkey, and he approves this message. 🤣 Seriously, I classify my colors into four categories: 1. green 2. white/grey/yellow 3. red/orange 4. black/blue/purple The conditions (sunny vs cloudy, water color, time of day, season, etc.) determine what variations of these colors I use. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't.

@Dwight Hottle Calling that a “nice one” might be the understatement of the year. What a fish! @AlabamaSpothunter Big beast on a mini lure. Well done! @Aaron_H Gold is the only H2O lipless I don’t have. Now I need one. Thanks a lot! 😂

Lipless is one of my favorite lures. I use several different ones depending on the situation. Here is how I usually decide which lipless to use: If I want a slow, fluttering fall...Red Eye Shad. If I want to fish deeper, and need strong, sharp hooks...6th Sense. If I want a unique color/shape...Spro Aruku Shad. If I want a subtle presentation for highly pressured fish...the Yo-Zuri Vibe. It is compact, and looks very realistic in the water. I have thrown this one behind someone else using a more popular lipless and caught fish that they did not. If I'm around grass, or I have one chance to entice a big fish...the Booyah (formerly Xcaliber) is the one I always reach for. I don't catch as many fish with this lure as I do with the others, but it seems to entice more big bites than any other lipless for me. Another category I have is "cheap". My two favorite cheap lipless brands are H2OX, and Ozark Trail. They both catch fish, and I can throw them in riskier places because it does not cost much if I lose them. They are readily available at Academy Sports, and Walmart, and cost very little. The Ozark Trail definitely feels the cheapest, but it only cost around $2, and it catches fish. If I could only choose one brand (bait monkey says, no chance) I might choose the H2OX because it is a good lure at a fair price. It works in most of the situations listed above, just not quite as well as the ones listed. They are limited in colors compared to other brands, but they have the basic colors. Also, H2OX lures are surprisingly well built for a $5 lure that goes on sale fairly regularly.

I had to wait in line to back the boat in at a three wide ramp Monday morning. Still a ton of people fishing here. Seemed like there were 1,000 boats on the river all day.

Because of all the veterans who have served our country over the years, people like me have the freedom to fish. So, thank you to all veterans. You have my sincere gratitude. We started out the day fishing bluff walls. My friend quickly caught the first fish. It was a pretty smallmouth on a lure I wasn't familiar with called a "snagless sally". It's a single hook, inline spinner with a weed guard. The bait monkey has been reminding me all day that I do not have one. I caught the second smallmouth a few minutes later so we thought we were going to be in for a big day, but it turned into a fishless grind for the next few hours. We tried spots other than bluffs, but had no bites so we went back to the bluffs. I got a quick hit, but missed the fish so we made another pass. I caught a smallmouth on the second pass so we decided to try it one more time. This time I hooked a good one. I fought it to the boat. I told my friend to get the net. By this time the wind and current had pushed us right up against the bluff. With nowhere to go the fish swam under the boat to the other side. We could hear it thudding heavily under the boat. Before I could get my line around to the other side the fish broke my line. I checked my drag afterward, but it was fine so I guess it cut the line on the boat. I lost a nice fish, and learned not to let the boat get so close to the wall while fighting a fish. By this time the wind, and the wake from all the other boats was wearing me out. We left to look for calmer waters. We decided that the lock must be closed because barges were parked everywhere so we decided to try the barge canal. The number of shad in the canal was insane. We caught a couple more small largemouth, and then I hooked the best fish (that was landed) of the day. Strike King Rage Menace for the win. We caught 3 smallmouth, and 5 largemouth on the day. It was a grind, but a great day.

Well said. Those of us who feel this are the ones who keep striving toward peak.

I hope @T-Billy keeps posting pictures of the monsters he catches regardless of whether it's caught using live bait, a home made lure, or horse poop. I love seeing them!

Something like a Daiwa Revros or Diawa Legalis reel in the $50-60 range paired with a 2 piece Diawa Aird-X spinning rod in the $50 range should handle pretty much anything he's likely to catch on the TN River. Those can be easily found on Amazon, or local retailers. If he likes it, and wants something bigger/better down the road you can get it. If he doesn't, then you haven't wasted much money, and still have a decent setup you can use yourself. Good luck! I hope y'all catch some nice fish.

How do you fish it? I've caught a few fish with them, but haven't had that type of experience. Maybe I'm not doing it right.

30 fish in 2 1/2 hours is a mighty fine time. Congrats! I hope you get another day just like it next week.

It's a good thing that he's a good dude with a sense of humor because we all give him a hard time about spinnerbaits! 🤣

I’m not buying it either. @TnRiver46 has either been hacked, or there has been a glitch in the matrix. 😂

@TnRiver46 I thought we'd see some effect from the water y'all had, but we really haven't seen very much. At least, not that I've noticed. I guess it has a lot of room to spread out in Chickamauga, and Guntersville before it gets here.