Blue Raider Bob

Then you can relate to this! After starting a job selling materials instead of putting them together, I was driving through an under construction sub-division late on a Friday. The place was abandoned except for one dude who was up on a ladder waving at me. Dude is just a little too friendly, I though to myself, so I drove over to see what he wanted. He had nailed his hand to the top plate and dropped his hammer! His butt was stuck there bigr-n-you know what! If I hadn't have driven by, no telling how long he would have been there. Possibly till Monday morning! This was before cell phones! He was durned grateful when I handed up his hammer so he could pull the nail!

Eric we could start a whole new thread on this topic. I believe you once framed didn't you? I shot a 3" through two fingers into a subfacia while up on a ladder with no one around. Nailed myself to the side of a house. Fortunately, I could reach my hammer and was able to pull out the nail from the house. Pulling the nail out of my fingers was much harder. Missed the bones though! That is just one of many painful adventures in the live of a former framer. I have also done the trim nail through the wood thing. OOCH!

What color worked best? I used to toss a curly tail but got away from it. Need to re-visit. Also need to get back to wade fishing.

Hang in there Murph! I can tell you one thing.......no, two things. Your wife is durn lucky! She has a man with a backbone....AND....she gets fishing lures for her birthday! You guys will work through this. That I can promise from experience! The harder life pushes, the stronger you push back! One other thing.....no one with a heart is a failure....EVER!

I agree. It is a priceless piece of America. I am also a landowner there. The problem is there is such a small window to fish each year. It floods all spring long. When the water subsides it takes weeks for it to clear. When the water clears the jet boats muddy it up again and then when fall arrives, it gets totally covered in leaves, making it unfishable. With all that said, it is one of America's scenic rivers with a diverse fish population that is purported to contain more species than the entire continent of Europe. Holler one day when you want to re-visit and we'll give a shot! I'm 2mi downriver from the State Park.

Thanks for taking us along!

I absolutely love to fish in the rain but my rain gear is a little different than most. The umbrella shown in the picture got destroyed by a strong wind and it was replaced by a triple canopy, 15' model that covers almost the entire boat. Unless the wind is really blowing, I can comfortably fish in the rain and usually have the water to myself.

I have two different scales. One weighs an average of 2 oz. more than the other. That's the one I use. ?

It counts as a catch! Tough fishing at the Duck river on Father's Day but I did do the trifecta, Spot, LM, and Smallie. Problem was out of five bass, the biggest was shy of 12". As Katie would exclaim....sigh! Wanted to go to the Tennessee River but there is a yearly, weeklong music festival called Bonnaroo in Manchester TN between here and there. Not taking a chance in getting caught in that traffic. Hippies look weird now that I'm not one of them anymore!

And they are the fastest turtle ever on dry land. The only time they leave the water is to lay eggs and if they are startled, they can seriously run to the water. I've never seen anything like it. Wow Katie! You are crushing them. I know you've invited me up but its a couple thousand miles from Tennessee! I am slowing regaining my natural color from the deep green from a few minutes ago! One of these days though........sausage and taters and a boat load of bass!

Gigi's bunch are feathered out and testing their wings. I included a picture taken 4-14 for comparison. The 4-14 picture shows Gigi guarding unhatched eggs that were very soon to hatch, compared to yesterday, a mere 8 weeks later when her brood is nearing the time when they can fly. Of course this is nothing compared to smaller birds such as Bluebirds who hatch in twelve days and fledge twelve days later, but is interesting to me just the same. It took so much longer to get our kids out of the nest! One other interesting thing to me is the parental duties, and this is a constant, Ralph stands guard all day while Gigi's and the youngin's feed. I never see him do anything other than stand his ground and watch over his charges. This is contrary to so many other species be it bird or mammal. Gigi is not in the first picture. It is Ralph and the babes. Just another of the many enigmas uncovered by pond observations.

Middle Fork Stones River Rutherford County Tennessee just below old mill dam.

Finally caught the snapping turtle that has been residing in my pond. Well.....I caught a snapping turtle. It may or may not be the one responsible for pulling a gosling under, but it has been relocated just the same. It now lives in the Middle Fork Stones River in Rutherford County Tennessee. The picture is of the Middle Fork just below an old mill dam near Elam Rd. I used to fish above the mill dam when my kids were younger but the older gentleman that owned the land passed away and his heirs closed off access and restricted fishing. I do not blame them because the locals used to trespass and throw out litter. It always looked like a garbage dump. At least now it has regained its former beauty. Too bad so many people would just as soon trash a spot as take care of it. As you can see, not a bad place for the turtle to relocate.

Sounds like you did everything possible and then some. You got soaked, so you just have to tip your hat at the big fella and admit temporary defeat. You know he's in there and you know he can't get out! Hope you had a change of clothes. I keep a carry bag in my truck . Not that I expect the fish to dunk me, but as you've described, you just never know! Sometimes we pull them out and sometimes they pull us in one way or another!

Looks like a Shellcracker without the red edged gill flaps. Is that what it is?

Gigi's bunch are feathering out and are looking more like adults. Out of the seven eggs, all hatched, two died of possible hypothermia after a very cold, late winter storm when they were a week old. I found one on the bank. A snapping turtle pulled another under a couple weeks ago. I heard a commotion, but by the time I got there, the gosling was dead with flesh stripped off its neck. I pulled it close to the bank with the turtle still attached and the parent geese attacking me, but when I grabbed the turtle and drug it up, it released the gosling and came after me. I chickened out and let it go. They can sure stretch that neck! It was the biggest common snapping turtle I have ever seen. The gosling was over half grown. Very sad. Anyway, she has four remaining so it must be considered a success. The white frame contraption to the left of the geese is a PVC frame built to hold a bird feeder. The idea was the 2" PVC pipe would not allow the squirrels a footing to climb up to the feeder. Idea failed! My daughter moves the chicken food around the yard daily but Gigi always finds it. Life is good.....except for the trail the geese leave! Now back to turtle patrol.

OMG! Dwight, that may be another wall hangar! WOW!

Ran across this guy on the Duck River in middle Tennessee couple weeks back. He was fishing live crawfish under a float and keeping the smallies he was catching. Broke my heart. There are so few already that I sometimes go all day without a single brown one but I won't fish livebait just to catch one.

Thanks for the pictures! I'm staring in oblivious silence while work productivity plummets! I'm daydreaming of clean, uncrowded waters, uncorrupted by jet skis and rude, noisy boaters. I'm dreaming of silent, well placed casts that stir the resident largies in their shadowy lairs. You truly have a paradise in your back yard! Thank you for the extremely pleasant diversion!

My opinion may not be very helpful as I've had a tough year so far, but I tend to use a more visible soft bait such as a Zman Laguna Shrimp TicklerZ in stained water. It may be psychological on my part but it sometimes works, as well as builds my confidence. I also use a Mepps inline spinner in stained water. It creates visibility as well as turbulence. I haven't had success with conventional spinnerbaits but probably someone here has. Really would like to hear from them. I am having the same issues with low, slow, stained water.

I also enjoy jig fishing. I use either a 1/16 or a 1/8 with a 3" or smaller plastic. Exposed hook unless there is a lot of submerged timber, then textaposed. I do well with Zman TicklerZ but everyone has an opinion about what works best for them. Smallies seem to eat anything that resembles food.

I also have a hook-up rate with the TRD that I'm not satisfied with. I have tried every approach and the one I have settled on is a slight wrist flick. I also do not like to rear back and stick them so the modified hook set seems to give me the best hook-up ratio with the lightest hook set. I tried the no-hook set method but the bigger ones seem to come unbuttoned more easily when they jump. Just my two cents.

Absolutely agree but on the Tennessee River we have to contend with the dreaded Eel grass. You can't hardly troll and relax without having to constantly maintain your cranks. If you can pull for a while without fouling then you have a great chance of hooking up. During the summer the bass pull away from the bank most days, and trolling can save the day occasionally. The umbrella saves the day always!

The Blue Angels will be in the Smyrna Air Show this weekend! There will also be a F4U Corsair, and a P-51 as well as other performers. Can't wait!

Thanks, I just ordered these. The jells glue my fingers to the baits as bad as the small vials of glue so I'll give these a chance. Thank you and everyone else for taking the time to respond!