I got out Saturday morning about 9 am, just as the heavy fog was lifting. The air temp was 42, so it was a bit chilly but there was no wind to speak of. The water temp was 64. I caught my first fish on a c-rig 15 ft deep, a nice little keeper LM just under 2 lbs. The bite was tough from there on. I only caught 4 LM and one spot (1-8) all day, but one of them was nice! I was on a large flat next to the river, sitting in 4 FOW throwing a spook jr. at a long hump that was about a foot under water. On my 3rd cast BAM! One EXPLODED on the spook, and landed in the water with a THUMP. "That's a decent fish" I thought to myself. I waited for the tug telling me that he had gotten the spook, then I tugged back..."this one's solid" I thought, so I gave him another tug for good measure and then locked down on him. He immediately came out of the shallow water..."OMG. That's a 5 pounder!" I said out loud. Too bad there wasn't another boat in sight! I change his mind when he goes for his 2nd jump...whew...he's still in the water and still hooked. His 3rd jump snuck up on me...SPLOOSH! That IS a 5 pounder! I changed his mind again on his 4th jump attempt, and carefully worked him to the boat. I went down for the lip-lock. Crap! I got 2 trebles looking me in the face! I manage to get a grip and pull him out of the water, one hook digging into my thumb. I got the lure clear before much damage, but he almost nailed me good. He was not quite a 5 pounder, but was my 2nd largest LM ever at 4-9. I was flying solo, so a bad cam-phone pic is below.

I got out Sunday with my friend Rick, and we started up-river to my favorite slough. We did not see much action until we got to the back of the slough, and then the water started boiling. He threw a hard jerkbait and I threw the trusty spook. He ended up with 4 LM and I caught 7. The largest was 2-2. We went to a couple of other sloughs, and I caught a 13-14" dink on a c-rig in each spot.

All-in-all, not a bad weekend on old Lake Chickamauga. A little windy, but sunny both days and 60-70 deg. temps once the morning chill left the air...BEEEAUTIFUL!

Oh yeah...as always, all fish were released alive and well, ready to fight another day...

Nice hog dude.  Way to get that Spook working for ya.  Still yet to catch one on that topwater bait but I have been practicing alot and utilizing it.  Had a couple of blowups but I set the hook too early and it came flying back at me.  Good job man.

Nice hog dude. Way to get that Spook working for ya. Still yet to catch one on that topwater bait but I have been practicing alot and utilizing it. Had a couple of blowups but I set the hook too early and it came flying back at me. Good job man.

Love the spook! I've finally (after WAY too many lures have gone zinging by my head!) learned to ignore the top-water explosion and wait until I feel the fish to set the hooks. All I do is crank a time or two to take up the slack. If they get it, your rod will bend and then you pull back to set the hook, just like you would a crankbait. With the excitement of a top-water hit, it's not easy to wait...but if they miss the lure is still in the strike zone.

Stay at it...you just can't beat an attack on a top-water lure!

If you ignore it you can get them to come back about 90% of the time if you slow down and make the spook look injured.Bass feed this way a lot.If you ever watched them slam some bream or a school of shad,they smack them 1 sometimes twice then swoop back around and eat em.This always entertained the heck out of me.Especially if it is my bait!

Good fish man. To tell ya I really HATE having to try to take the cell phone pics like that one all the time.I got A little chuckle out of it as I have TONS of pictures exactly like that. Have even gones as far to try to set my phone to 10 second delay and then pose,but its tough LOL,can never get it right.

 

haha...me too...all my fish pics are that way...I just can't seem to catch the bigger ones when I have a partner!

haha...me too...all my fish pics are that way...I just can't seem to catch the bigger ones when I have a partner!

HeHeHE  meee too.Always get the lunkers when no one is around.But on the other hand its a great mind settling experience to catch them anyways.

Nice fish! it's got one crazy looking eye though =D

Nice fish! it's got one crazy looking eye though =D

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