Fishlegs

I would love to hear more about those things, and I doubt that I'm alone.

I send them directly to family, a few close friends that I fish with, and BR. Nothing else for me.

I’m on the way. Just need you to post detailed directions to menderchuck before I get there. 😂

If it wasn’t April fools day we’d all be saying…

Happy birthday! That's a very nice looking gift you're holding @Dwight Hottle.

It’s pretty telling that most people seem to be happy where they are. I like that. There really is no place like home. I’m in that boat too. I’ve lived almost all of my life somewhere along the Tennessee River. In east TN, west TN, and north AL. It’s one of the most diverse fisheries anywhere. It has big smallmouth, largemouth, spots, crappie, catfish, white bass, stripers, and many other species. I hope to live 100% of the rest of my life on this river.

The weather has certainly been crazy this year. Where I am we recently had tornado warnings one night followed by snow the next morning. Nice job sticking with it, and putting fish in the boat in tough conditions.

Congrats, man! What an amazing day!

You are correct that you don’t owe us anything, but you’re not correct if you wonder if we care. We do. We’re all pulling for you, and wishing you well. Thanks for the update, and please post any fish you catch whether they’re giants, or dinks. We’ll be there to celebrate with you.

Looks perfect. I am sure you’ll love it.

As @BassinCNY said, it feels weird to admit it, but I liked them. Five Fish Dream sounds like it could be a real Jason Aldean song to me.

I'm blessed to live close to the river where I fish. It's usually a 15 minute drive whether it's to fish on the bank, or to the ramp for a boat trip. About once a month I drive an hour to meet a friend who drives two hours to fish a different stretch of the river. It's not difficult for me to get to the water.

Nice fish, @Brycecover. Congrats!

Angler psychologist, huh? I like it. Maybe that's what I should start calling my fishing friends. I could tell my wife I'm going to see a therapist, and that the $50 charge is the copay. I'm not sure why they called it a "bait and tackle shop" on the statement. 🤣 Really the only lures I use regularly that I didn't use 30 years ago are bladed jigs, and Ned rigs. I still throw rattle traps, spinnerbaits, soft plastic worms/craws, and topwater poppers/walkers more than anything else. I do occasionally buy some of the trendy lures, but I usually fall back to the tried and true.

I agree with the light dusting vs heavy batter 100%. After reading both of these posts, maybe I need to give swordfish another shot.

I don't have a lot of high end gear, but I'm still pretty careful with my stuff. I don't spend my hard earned money on something unless I like it, and if I decide that it's worth buying then it's worth taking care of. I am not so careful that I won't use it though. If I buy it I plan to use it. I don't generally consider resale value with rods and reels, and I'd sacrifice my gear over losing a PB anyday.

Lipless is one of my favorite lures too. Which one I use depends on the situation. On bright, sunny day I either reach for a chrome original rat l trap, or a silver yo-zuri rattling vibe. On cloudy days I want a chartreuse H2Ox (academy house brand), or Azuma shaker z (not Azuma anymore since someone bought them out). Those two seem almost the same to me. In grassy prespawn areas I’m reaching for a Rayburn red Booyah hard knocker first. Then it’s a red rat l trap after that. If I want a lipless to flutter on the fall I reach for a red eye shad. It’s great at that.

Those look nice, and thick. You're eating good this weekend!

@TnRiver46 I was wondering if that was her, or you yelling at the end of that video when it started going crazy. 😂 Apparently, lowering a drop shot rig into a huge bait ball is a decent way to snag them. It happened to both people in the boat my last time out.

This has been a good thread. Fascinitaing to read thoughtful posts on both sides of the issue. I don't eat bass often, but I enjoy an occasional bass...especially with hushpuppies, and cole slaw. I have a friend who told me that bass tasted gross. We had her family over for a fish fry. When she left she sheepishly admitted that the bass was pretty good. Her husband, and son liked the bass better than the catfish. The only fish that I've tried that I won't eat again are fish that do not taste like fish. Things like shark, swordfish, mahi, etc. If I want something that tastes like steak, or chicken then I'll order steak, or chicken.

Grabbing a gar with treble hooks in it? You're braver than me @TnRiver46! 🤣 @Bluebasser86 It took some patience to get it in. I have become a believer in 6 lb Daiwa Samurai J-Fluoro. I have had multiple experiences where it's proven to be crazy strong.

@Jigfishn10 I caught it in Tennessee, and they do have an angler recognition program. You just need a picture with measurements, and a witness who's willing to verify the catch. I had thoughts of trying to get it in the boat to see if it qualified, but I wasn't 100% sure what species it was, we didn't have a good set of gloves to safely handle it (it had lots of teeth 😂), and it was a long way to the nearest ER if I needed stitches. In light of those things we decided against it. 45 inches is the qualifying length for a longnose gar. It was probably not 5 ft long, but I'm pretty sure it was over 45 inches. The TN state record for a longnose gar is over 38 lbs. I've seen 38 lb fish (other species), and I don't think this one was that heavy. I may have to leave a pair of gloves in my friend's boat just in case it happens again though.

I've looked at some pictures to see what type of gar it is. You're very good at fish ID. Is it a longnose? It was a fun fight. We passed over a large bait ball so I dropped my line down into it just hoping for something to happen. I felt the line move so I set the hook, and this is what was there. I've caught a few gar over the years, but never one this big. It's also the first time I've unintentinally snagged one with a #2 hook, and 6 lb test. Now I know that my hooks, line, and knots are up to the task though. 😂

If that picture is totally unedited then that's an absolute beast! It looks like one of Tom's @WRB-2.0 monster bass. Thanks for sharing @Pat Brown.

On a 60 degree February day we hit the river. The water is very low at this spot at winter pool, but it was just high enough at the ramp to get the boat in. The water temp hovered around 41 all day. We looked for fish shallow, and deep. Pretty much everywhere we usually fish along this stretch with nothing to show for it. We only found one spot with signs of baitfish all morning, but nothing was willing to bite. The only place we had not looked was at the dam. We went up to the dam, but did not see a lot of fish there either. We did manage to find a few baitfish near one corner of the dam so we tried there. My buddy caught a nice crappie, a fat spotted bass, a small catfish, and accidentally snagged a small gar. I managed a 7 lb blue cat, and also accidentally snagged a gar. This gar was pretty big. I've caught catfish heavier than this fish, but this may be the longest fish I've ever caught. We didn't have gloves sufficient to get it in, and neither of us are experienced handling gar so I just told my buddy to snap a picture when I got it to the side of the boat. It's hard to tell from the picture, but we estimated that it was between four and five feet long. It took me over 20 minutes to get it to the surface on 6 lb test. The drag on my reel got a major workout. That reel definitely needs a little TLC before I go out again. We called it a day after that.