Blue Raider Bob

You make me blush Katie!

Thanks so much!!! I would like to. That is very gracious but it's what I have come to expect from everyone on this site! I would assume that the best days are midweek when the crowds are down. Wednesdays are best for me. Just let me know and I'm heading that way!

Water temps in the Cumberland Tuesday started out at 56 and ended that evening at 62. When the wind died down, I started tossing a small Whopper Plopper. About the time I got bored with it and quit paying attention, an explosion occurred by the boat that woke my butt up! The rascal missed the bait but managed to get me soaked! From then on the WP started making the little spots and smallies crazy. When the little ones would strike and miss, I just kept reeling and they would eventually crash into it enough until they caught themselves. Big fish landed was only 15" but the dink bite was on and it reminded me just how much fun topwater can be. I like the WP because it won't sink if you quit reeling, unlike the buzzbaits that are work after a while. Only downside is I seem to get a treble driven into a finger every few fish when the smallies show off! Is there a greater sense of anticipation while fishing than pulling a topwater over a laydown? Can't wait till Sunday and my date with the Tennessee!

Totally agree with InfantryMP! Need/want to learn how to use my electronics more efficiently. I spend too much time fishing and way to few moments learning. I also will try for the 100 fish day, but the places I fish would mean I could get to 100, but most would be dinks. (Me and a buddy hit 100 fish Tuesday but big fish was 16".) That was my third over 50 day this year. But my main goal for 2023 is to reach the 5lb Smallie mark. I have two 4lb plus and gobs of 3lb plus but no fivers. It's tough to get a 5lb river fish but that's my goal just the same. Also I will be cheering on all my BR friends in their endeavors! One goal that will be attained shortly is running power out to my dock. I will have a ceiling fan comforting me this summer so I can avoid even more farmwork! Pulled the wire over the water yesterday and gonna hook up the electrical boxes today.

Just marry that girl then you can tune her out when she gets mad at you for fishin'! Works for me and everybody else on this forum!

This is what a 20" River Smallie looks like down here. Yours look like they been hanging out at the buffet all day, while mine have been on the treadmill! This smallie weighed 3 lb 6oz. What would a 20" weigh at Menderchunk?

I don't mind you holding back the water but I wish you would hold back the wind as well. Our northern friends would laugh at me shivering in 50 deg. with a 25 mph wind in my face.

Thanks! I watched video! I do not target spawning bass either, I was just looking for the locations prior to shallow movement. That is very interesting that your fish will feed on YP spawn and then mover deeper.

Followed up last weeks trip with another yesterday. Boy what a change in weather. Cold wind blew upriver all day and I never took my coat off. TnRiver46 is still stingy with his East Tennessee water and he's barely letting us have any. Water is low and clear with hardly any current. The wind was so strong that it was blowing me upriver. Still managed to catch a bunch of dinks but the biggun's are nowhere to be found. Water temps 64 Deg. so maybe the boys are guarding fry and the girls have retreated to deep water. Final score.....46 Bass Big Fish 17-1/2 and 2 lb 14 oz. and a few at 15" to 16"

40 Smallmouth! What an "Epic" day! Way to go and keep it up!

Your fish are so much thicker than what I am able to catch down here. What was your water temp and how many weeks away are you from the spawn? The temps on the Tennessee yesterday were 64 deg. and all I can catch are dinks. Looks like you are targeting deep water structure. Sure would like more details if you get the time.

Alex, I have seen your videos and fish. You put your work in for sure! I may crush them numbers wise (116 in the past two trips), but yours could eat all mine and still be hungry!

We all strive to attain Katie's level but some mountains are just to tall to climb! My several thousand dollars worth of electronics can't compete with her stealth approach as she zones in on her unsuspecting quarry. Sniper quiet and just as deadly. Quite the opposite of how I approach the Chinese buffet!

I've never understood the prejudice surrounding the Ned Rig. Is it something to do with finesse vs. power fishing? Is it that it works so well it is unsportsmanlike? I am missing something here that I would really like clarified. Maybe my opinion may change but I love fishing the Ned. It can be fished as you would with a Texas rigged worm with slow movement, or it can be fished like a swim jig and sped up. Regardless it is my go to and I have never been skunked with this presentation. I understand everyone gets to choose their likes and dislikes and I'm not criticizing opinions. Just curious.

Dude a 20" River Smallie is a HOSS! I can hear that drag screamin! I looked back at my records and I've caught two 22" Smallies. They were river fish so they were long, lean, and strong as corn licker'! Can't wait to get out Sunday and try some topwater.

That's me as well. Straight Suffix 832 braid 15 lb test on med. lite spinning tackle. Retie every couple hours if bite is slow. Retie often if bite is good. No leader to fail me at the worst possible time. I'll never know if the straight braid costs me bites because the bass can see it but I really doubt it. Caught 64 two Sundays ago and 52 last Sunday, so i couldn't have missed many. The braid helps me to straighten out hang ups without breaking off.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only angler allergic to treble hooks. It's alot easier to unbutton a thrashing smallie from a Ned than it is from a treble when one of the trebles is sticking in your finger, not to mention the trebles caught up in the net. That is an awesome river Smallie! Look at the belly on that big girl. Looks like she ate all the competition!

Kid baseball will last just a short amount of time. Hang on to every moment! Fishing can wait until this very special time in your life is past. Take lots of pictures and videos because your memory will fade. You will have plenty of time to fish when your kid is taking theirs to baseball!

Those are huge fish! Congrats! I try to use a variety but I keep going back to the same O Ned because it just works. I use it all year round. I will be tossing some topwater soon because it's just fun. What did your 21.25 weigh? I've never caught one that long down here. caught a 20.25 Saturday and it was 3-6. River fish are just longer and meaner!?

In my river experience the answer is yes, they spread out when the water and current are low. I fish big rivers in Tennessee and when there is little current, the bass hang out at the deeper ends of the laydowns and rock piles. I rarely am able to catch anything close to the shore.

TnRiver46 mentioned a couple weeks back that TVA was filling the East Tennessee reservoirs and very little water was making it my way. That's fine with me. Love it when the water is low and clear. Especially now that the water is warming up and the fish start eating.

Actually, most were small spots but there were at least a dozen smallies. The biggest spot was 16" but most were 13 or less. A couple were this years spawn. They go nuts after a wounded minnow bait.

Sunny skies with a few clouds and a bit windy. Water temps 62 deg. Water was low and clear, allowing me to drift slowly and spot underwater structure. Shout out to "Jig Man" for sending me a box full of jigs I can fish textaposed. These jigs allowed me to fish much tighten to structure than I normally do and boy, did that pay off. I caught a 17" Smallie on my second toss up against a laydown. Fishing was fairly slow for the first couple of hours until I determined that the fish were only going to be found around laydowns and stumps under water. Hardly anything came from bare riprap or rock bluffs. Once I started concentrating on the wood structure off the bank, the bites became frequent. The only issues I had with the new jigs were the hook-up ratio. I lost several nice ones including a river pig that I got up to boatside before she ever opened her mouth and gave me my jig back. That wasn't the jigs fault, but my own. The hook never penetrated the bait. As much as I like the Zman products, they are too tough to use texstaposed (at least for me). After a while I just went with an exposed hook on the Smelt TicklerZ and fished the outside of the laydowns. This started bringing in the numbers including my first 20" Smallie of the year. The fish were so aggressive at one point that the unimaginable happened.....I hooked a small spot and he came unbuttoned by the boat.....and the dummie went after the TicklerZ again. I hauled his little self in that time. Another time I was bring a small spot in and out of the depths, A big smallie tried to eat him! The smallie lingered by the boat for several seconds before leaving! Crazy day on the river. Final score....52 Bass ranging in size from just born to 17" with one 20" in the mix.

Well they have arrived! All seven of Gigi's eggs hatched this weekend so I am celebrating by cleaning the goose poop off my dock! I know geese are not popular with most of us, but Gigi has lived here for four years since she hurt her wing somehow. I am so fortunate to be able to provide a place for wildlife that I can share with my family. I have my dock back, (except for the Eastern Phoebes that are nesting in the rafters), and I am enjoying my lazy dad seat daily! I still get scolded when I'm on the dock but I'm used to it. Been married thirty something years.

Those Hogs came out of that little 'o bitty creek behind you? That is incredible. Those are some beasts!