Fished five hours on the Tennessee River Saturday. We started

out early with good water and my partner boated a 4 lb smallmouth,

less than five minutes into our first drift. We ended up with seven,

but nothing big. I fished artificials for the most part, my buddy live

shiners. As expected, I was out fished 6:1.

On the other hand, I caught a number of trash fish which included

a 24 lb buffalo! Man, that was quite a fight on a smallmouth rig. We

had fair action, but never found the right fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ictiobus

8-)

Seriously, it doesn't count if you never post a picture. Really, Kent, an occasional picture is a good thing. Decent digital cameras can be found for pretty cheap. This comes up a few times a year... buy a camera! If you don't, I just might mail a letter to Mrs. roadwarrior and suggest it as a Christmas gift! ;D

sounds like a fun trip kent.  curious though.  if you expected that artificial baits would get outfished and you had live bait available, then why did you use mostly artificial stuff?  are you starting to cave in to the pressure of the live bait haters on the forum? ;D  glad to see you're still on 'em.

sounds like a fun trip kent. curious though. if you expected that artificial baits would get outfished and you had live bait available, then why did you use mostly artificial stuff? are you starting to cave in to the pressure of the live bait haters on the forum? ;D glad to see you're still on 'em.

I fished two drifts using minnows without a bite, but my partner was

catching a few with a heavier weight and catching them right on the

bottom. I thought a "craw profile" might work. I fished two different

colored tubes without a touch, then changed to a hair jig with a Rage

Tail craw trailer, 3/4 cut off so the head and claws were basically a

modified chunk.

A broader answer is from Rick Clunn, "Catching bass is easy, finding

them is the challenge." So, we were on some fish and I thought it was

the perfect scenario to try some artificials...I was wrong.

I'm not going to be hard headed, I'm going back to what works!

8-)

On the other hand, I caught a number of trash fish which included

a 24 lb buffalo! Man, that was quite a fight on a smallmouth rig. We

had fair action, but never found the right fish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ictiobus

Sweet trip. Catching a 24lb anything on light tackle would make my day.

Seriously, it doesn't count if you never post a picture. Really, Kent, an occasional picture is a good thing. Decent digital cameras can be found for pretty cheap. This comes up a few times a year... buy a camera! If you don't, I just might mail a letter to Mrs. roadwarrior and suggest it as a Christmas gift! ;D

I know it's Christmas time and that whole "seeing is believing" thing is supposed to not apply, but come on. Atleast Santa leaves you something under the tree. ;D

Sounds to me you out fished your partner since he was using live bait..

No, I don't look at it that way at all, bait and lures

are just part of the puzzle. I just want to catch big

bass and thought a different approach might work

since I wasn't having much luck using minnows that

day.