Blue Raider Bob

Sounds like a request for Santa! After all, you got a Vanford for your B-day! Bet it happens!

Great to see BR friends getting together for a trip and lasting friendships! Catching fish is always a bonus!

Looks and sounds like a terrific trip. I was many miles down the Cumberland and only caught three dinks. No current at all, actually the wind was blowing me upriver! You didn't miss much football on your radio. It would have been better not to listen at all! The upper reaches of the Cumberland are beautiful beyond words. Thank for sharing!

This should be the billboard in front of Katie's home!

That a terrific job! Great big fat healthy bass. And yes, the last picture shows the meanest fish in the lake, although that's the size I catch.

It didn't start yesterday for me. Water temps on the Tennessee river below Nickajack were 81 deg. Only caught eight dinks in 5 hours fishing.

I'm not taking the bridge builder Man-O-Meter test if Audie Murphy only got a 11.2! I'm afraid of heights AND bullets! I would score a negative number.

There used to be a swinging bridge over the navigation channel of the river. My reading has revealed that the newer drawbridge was built 93' downriver from the swinging bridge. That means that 93 feet upriver from the current bridge should be a big rubble pile mid channel! I will have the side scan going next trip!

That's TnRiver46 trying to get you to paddle the Tennessee, not me Katie. He's trying to start some trouble!? But if you did......you would have lots of BR friends to fish with between the hills of east Tennessee and the base of the Appalachians in northern Alabama. I took the picture of the "Bobby Thompson" because it was painted up in UT Vol colors and it was venturing into north Alabama. Not sure it got a nice reception other than smiles from me! I did some reading about that drawbridge in Bridgeport as well as the railroad trestle bridge across the main channel on the other side of Long Island. The river was first bridged in 1852! How the heck did they do that in 1852? Amazing.

Enjoying the mild break in the weather. Temps stayed in mid-eighties with next weeks forecast, upper seventies! Put in the river at Bridgeport Alabama but the Eel Grass was so thick along the banks that my only option the way I fish was to head for the bridge pilings at Long Island. Water clarity was terrific and the little ones found the lures often. Caught twenty five spots and smallies but they were mostly newborns. Did have a great big brown one on for a moment until she went airborne. It was a very pleasant day with little traffic. I was able to anchor downstream from the pilings and work them with soft plastics. The 3" Mr. Twister in Bluegill was the winner by far, but the 7" Mr. Twister earthworm caught the larger ones. Got to see the Bridgeport drawbridge raise for the first time. Saw the "Bobby Thompson" pass under, liveried in the "correct colors" of Orange and White! The Bridgeport drawbridge is on the navigation channel which is separated from the main river by Long Island.

I might have mentioned that I have played guitar nearly all my life. My wife and I really crank up the vocals on the John Denver songs like the one "similar" to the one you wrote. This one and Rocky Mountain High. They are both great strumming songs as well. Glad you are surrounded by the wonderful flora and fauna. Surrounded by nature "as the sea surrounds the shore". An old Cat Stevens lyric.

Now I've got a pretty good idea of what Heaven looks like. Hope I pass the test!

I'm with TnRiver46 on this one. Never been close unless I can count Drum. I fish about 50 times a year and keep pretty fair records of what I catch. My five biggest of the year so far weighed 16.8 lbs. They are all Smallies and Spots. Haven't caught a 3lb LM all year. My biggest five all time would be just over 25 since I've kept records.

Woody, we ALL know to be break a new rod! Ceiling fans, tail gates, and jamming it into the bottom trying to unhook a snag! Did I forget car doors, children, and lifting the wrong end??

What do you do when you are fishing a 1 to 2 mph current? Do you let the wacky just drift or do you weight it?

That is an " EPIC" trip. I'm about as green with envy as those huge LM. I'll bet those beasts challenged your rod warranty!

It's a very large minnow with a round body like a torpedo as opposed to a flattened body such as a Bluegill.

The quest for an aquatic wonderland continues with the placement of the second batch of plastic half-barrel planters. The first Lotus plant seems to be doing well and as soon as I sink the ten white half-barrels, I will have a total of eighteen planters ready for next spring plantings. The Lotus in the photo is supported by a triple stack of twin 8" concrete blocks. The hardest part was not positioning the stacks because I get to play in the water. The hardest part is dragging the pots full of wet dirt from the bank, then across the bottom of the pond to the stack, THEN hauling off and lifting the barrels up and on top of the stacks. I'd better get this done soon because I'm not getting any younger. If it weren't for the buoyancy of the water, I couldn't lift them. Twenty five gallons of mud is seriously heavy.

thanks I'll try to remember to take a picture when I catch another. Those little suckers won't be still though. Kind of like taking toddlers to Olan Mills back in the day. Yes, all the time. I release LM, BG, catfish, and Green Sunfish. I only bring home what I would consider as minnows. I can expect different species at different locations. I have learned to avoid spots where the preponderance may be Greenies because I do not want them in my pond. The main reason I do this is just because I love being in the water, and all water related exercises. Always been that way. I'll share a picture of the upper reaches of the middle fork Stones River that I've sent to you before. It's serene places like this that keep my motor running!

I have a pond on my place. I catch minnows and crayfish to put in my pond. I don't know what the larger minnows are even though I have a fish ID book. I would have to kill the fish to determine its species and I'm not that desperate to know. They are five or six inches long and the area streams are full of them. They readily eat pelleted fish food that I feed to my BG's.

This post has me speechless! WOW!

Set out a minnow trap in the Harpeth River in the mid-state and this is my catch. Used a commercial crayfish bait I bought from (where else), Louisiana. I do not live bait fish but I can imaging what would happen if I floated one of these down the banks of the Tennessee River! These little fellas now live in my pond. I caught a couple dozen crayfish as well out of the Stones River yesterday. Hoping gimrius doesn't notice that there aren't any Bass in the picture. I'd like to avoid a citation if possible, although I did get my hair cut!

You are correct! I stand corrected. Summertime BBQ does beat grilled hotdogs....don't know what I was thinking! I am on a "Mediterranean Diet", because of age, cholesterol, and the fact that my cook says it's so! But I slipped off that diet Friday! We are seriously looking for some mid 70's. It was low 90's all weekend and my Blue Raiders let one slip away against Alabama Saturday. It was close until right after kick-off!?

We had a cook-out at the lumberyard Friday for Labor Day and served grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for drivers, yard workers, customers, ect. I went through the line twice! Nothin' beats grilled dogs!

I'm still happy about getting hot dogs!