KevO

Listen to RW, deeper pools and current breaks as well. I generally fly fish for trout, but the rednecks here in TN like to use canned corn to catch them. Spinners and small crankbaits are good too.

I have a 12' pelican (plastic) jon boat, it's great for those little electric only lakes, but I am kicking myself for not getting an aluminum boat. Keep looking on craigslist that's where I found mine. BTW, I drive a Ford Ranger, and I put it in the bed, so you shouldn't have any problems getting into your truck, since they are both built on the same platform. You just have a shorter bed but, it should be ok.

In TN, I think each person on a boat is allowed 3 rods. Whenever I am trolling with my buddy and a his wife we each have at least one rod out. We all use different colors and fish different depths as well. When one of us gets a hit we make adjustments. I also do not agree with the opinion of trolling not being a real technique. I have learned about the lake just from trolling. I have found great spots, that do not get fished as heavily because other people don't know it's there. It may not be the most active type of fishing, but you can't beat for those days when your gf brings all her friends out on the boat and they want to cruise.

inline spinners are always a good choice

So I got off work early today and decided to go fishing since my gf went to her parents house. I went Williamsport WMA here in TN, it was a beautiful day high only about 70, with sunny sky's, but windy. I fished from 2-6 had one dink on and he got off 10 ft from the boat, but what really made me mad was that the bass were schooling all around me bustin' shad. I went there last week, they were doing the same thing, and I was killing them with a rat-l-trap on a windy, cloudy day. Today I went at them the same way I did last week with the trap, but had no luck at all. Last week, I used a chrome w/ blue back trap, and thats what I started with today. I also tried other colors I had but no luck. I tried everything I could think of that resembled a shad to get a bite, topwater, flukes, rapala original floater... but couldn't get a bite. It was kinda weird because the people on the bank were watching the action and they couldnt get a bite either. Can anyone give me some suggestions on what else I could have used? Did the sun have some thing to do with it. . This had to be my most frustrating day ever, I jsut kept getting madder and madder. >

Me and my dad are taking a little vacation for a few days here to try and catch one of those big smallies, but we are also wanting to catch a few trout while we are out there too. I know most are caught at night, but we will be renting a boat and they are not allowed out after dark. So I need some help with how to catch them during the day. Any special techniques I should try? Any help would be great thanks.

It's always worth a shot. I found a huge school of shad last week and it turned out to be LMB and Stripers tearing them up. I threw a rat-l-trap and inline spinner and was killin them.

I've never had much luck with the trap before... until last week. I found some bass and stripers schooling up on shad. I caught ten fish in an hr and a half on 1/2 oz chrome trap just throwing it toward the shad and reeling it in at a moderate pace. Oh yeah it was windy too, I could have caught more but my little pelican boat kept getting blown into the trees.

Funny story marko, I had a great day yesterday, the lmb and stripers started schooling and they were killing the shad. I caught 5 lmb and 5 stripers. nothing really big 2.5 was the biggest for each kind but it was a lot of fun. I caught them all on chrome rat-l-traps and super spots.

I have a pelican jon boat, and am wanting to put a gas motor on it too. The guy I bought it from said he bought it for the 2 stroke that was on it because the EPA changed their regulations and they aren't made any more. And yes 4 strokes are heavier which is very important for our boats because they aren't rated for a lot of weight. You can still buy a 2 stroke, but from what I have seen on craigslist.com they are hard to come by. I am looking for a 5hp for mine, I hope it will push me and friend along at a decent speed?

Sam, I just graduated Aug. 4th, with a bachelors in P.R./Journalism. Other than writing local fishing reports for newspapers or for a magazine, got any suggestions for a job. I know Triton boats has a factory or something here in TN, unfortunately the only position open at the time is VP of Finance. LOL don't I think I will be getting that one, fresh out of school. Do you have any suggestions for other company's around this area that might have potential jobs? TH

Unfortunately, it was my bass rod. Luckily, my buddy was actually using it when it broke so he said he would buy me a new one. 8-)

I was doing some night fishing for catfish last night around a boat dock. I got hit hard and my pole almost went overboard. luckily I caught the pole, but the fish wrapped me around something and the tip of my rod snapped. It broke off clean at the second eye. SO can I still use it, or should I buy another one?

Mepps spinner all chrome with a tail

Rebel wee-craw crankbait

Have you tried craigslist.com it's free.

Thanks guys... I use a medium action for cranking anyway so I guess I will be fine. I'll just have to remember not to set the hook as hard.

Anyone use this line, I put some 30# on for striper fishing. I like it so far it is very tough, sensitive, and casts like a dream. I heard braid isn't good for crankbaits, is this true? why not?

Yeah I saw that on the news one of the ponds was Jackson lake here in Franklin. I saw the video and it looked like they were all shad that were dying. It sucks, but when the creek that feeds the lake dries up it is only a matter of time before this happens. Jackson used to be a public lake, but there is an F'n subdivision around it, so it isnt anymore. It's thundering outside right now maybe it will rain a little to help the situation.

I let my buddy use my 30lb minn kota on his 22ft pontoon. It pushed it barely on speed 1 but speed 3 did a great job. I think you will be fine with the 50lb.

Worst Reel = Quantum Energy 2, the first generation black one, it literally fell apart in my hands as i was fighting a small rainbow. The handle fell out and the spool fell off at the same time. I picked the spool up, out of the water and and pulled the little guy in, but after that I threw it in the garbage. Worst Lure = The Flying Lure, and the banjo Minnow. Worst Line = Cajun Red Line, I put some on my spinning rod for fishing tubes and grubs. The first cast the line was twisted so bad I cut it off and retied. A couple casts later I got a bite and the line broke. I was so mad I just left and called it a day.

I agree I have caught stripers on a small crankbait (Rapala DT-10) it dives a little deeper than Thomas' and I was fishing for LM too. So I don't think it would matter.

I have so many spinnerbaits and I never use them. The only time I use them is when I go fishing with a relative in NY, they work great there around the pads, but here in TN I never have any luck with them. I have learned to use the underhand cast to get them close 2 cover but never got any strikes so I gave up on them. Anyway I do agree spinnerbaits are a great lure and they are easy to use.

I just bought this reel from dicks for $70. It was 50% off so I figured what the hell. Has anyone used this reel before? Should I keep it or take it back and look for something else?

I have a lightning rod and I love it. it is a great rod and it was cheap too I think I bought it for $25. It doesnt have a reel on it right now, but I will be taking care of that in the next few days.