Monthly Archives: December 2023

Clarks Hill Fising Memories at Christmas

Back at Clarks Hill Saturday morning, I got my first cup of coffee and went out on the deck at my mobile home at Raysville Boat Club and looked at the lake.

Christmas is a time for reminiscing and sitting there took me back over many years of spending Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays at Clarks Hill. Memories flashed across my mind like the lights of a fireworks display on the Fourth of July.

Saturday morning was the kind of day I love, not a ripple disturbed the reflecting pool of the lake surface. The only sound was an occasional craw of a crow or the bark of a squirrel, disturbed in his search for breakfast. I was at peace with the world.

Weather always played an important of my trips. One of the best, about 30 years ago, an unusually warm winter found me fishing in jeans with no shirt or shoes. The water was 61 degrees and big fish were active. I caught six largemouth weighing more than five pounds each and five hybrids weighing six pounds each in three days on Shadraps.

The other extreme was one winter when my dog Merlin woke me at midnight jumping in bed with me in my small camper. That was unusual, she always slept on the floor. The next morning I found out why. Her water bowl on the floor was frozen solid. The small electric heater kept the air tolerable from a couple feet off the floor to the ceiling but could not keep up with the 5-degree low that night.

I called my neighbor back in Griffin and asked her to check to see if she heard water running under my house from burst pipes. She said she did not but the well pump was running. I came home fast and found the well had run dry from pumping water out of 11 holes in pipes. I learned to solder copper pipe that afternoon.

Another winter on Christmas Eve the wind was howling and it was sleeting. I tried to fish but it was bad, so I went behind an island to get out of the wind. I caught an eight- and one-half pound bass on a jig from a rockpile there. After landing it I figured I had had enough and went in to show it off.

Some foggy mornings I unhooked my boat battery charger, pushed off from the bank, put the trolling motor in the water and started fishing. As soon as I got a few feet from the bank everything disappeared in a white haze. Outlines of trees were the only indication anything was near.

I could image I was the only person in the world. The fog dampened even the sounds of crows and squirrels, and the only disturbance was the whirr of my reel and splash of the lure as I cast. Sometimes the sound of a jumping bass, barely seen in the fog, added to the excitement.

I loved being up there by myself. Back then nobody fished during the winter. I had the lake and boat club to myself. One year I went to the boat club Christmas afternoon after dinner in town with my family. For a week I slept when I was sleepy, ate when I was hungry and all the rest of the time I either fished or built brush piles.

That year I did not see another person for five days. The only reason I saw people the sixth day was a trip to town for boat gas.

I had never built brush piles but had heard how effective they can be for fishing. A bank I like to fish near my trailer was bare clay except for two stumps about 50 feet apart. I could usually get a bite by the stumps if they were in the water, but that year the lake was down seven feet and the water just touched the outside edge.

Up on the bank someone had cut down some big cedar trees, cut the trunk out for posts and left the big bushy tops. One afternoon I drug two to the edge of the water, tied the base of the trunk to the stump and flipped the top out into four or five feet of water.

The next morning I cast a crankbait to the tip of the trees and caught two pound largemouth from each.

An old roadbed crosses the creek, rising on a hump out in the middle. There are three-foot drops, from 12 to 15 feet deep, on each side of it where it was cut into the former hill. I pulled two of the cedar tops out there and finally got them to sink by tying 5-gallon buckets of cement to them. I put them right on the edge of the drops about 100 feet apart.

I caught fish out of them for years, including an eight and one quarter pound bass one winter. Three years ago, I won a club tournament fishing those same two trees, they are still there. Cedar does not rot when completely submerged under water.

I have many more fishing and hunting memories from this time of year at the lake, but those are for another time.

Deer Camp Memories

As I threw another log on the fire, my mind wandered over the past 40 years of deer camp here. When I first joined, the “old” men mostly stayed in camp and didn’t hunt much. For several years “Captain” was the old man in charge of the fire. Now it is my “old man” job and I don’t leave camp much.

After spending almost half my life in the club, memories are plentiful. Hundreds of nights sitting around the fire, eating parched or boiled peanuts and sharing stores, some of them mostly true, revive past experiences. And the same ones are told over and over, drawing amazed reactions from young members and smiles from us older ones.

And we celebrate and morn lost members. Many of the young members fathers I watched grow up and become men over the years. They pass on their traditions to their children, just as their fathers passed them on to them. The never-ending cycle of outdoor and hunting life.

Many of the stories are funny and draw laughs every year. Tales of cut shirt tails, stories of first blood, memories of members walking to their stand in a circle in the dark and ending back up at camp, all bring chuckles.

One of mine is finding the perfect place for my climbing stand, easing up the tree in the dark then staring another club member in the eyes in a tree only 30 feet away. Or the time I helped build a permanent stand with a friend, only to have him not be able to hunt it opening day. He doesn’t laugh much when I mention the big nine point I killed from that stand on opening day, but everybody else does.

Four wheelers stuck in the creek are both funny and scary. Turning a four-wheeler upside down on top of you in a creek is not funny until after you are safe. It is funny now to remember the work of the six of us laboring for hours to get it out, but at the time it was only exhausting.

Some of the scariest stories are the one or two about stands breaking and tumbling members to the ground. Fortunately, none ended up with serious injuries, just injured pride.

Many of my memories revolve around a stand I have hunted for more than 30 years. It is a simple stand, 2x4s nailed between two sweetgum trees about 24 inches apart 20 feet off the ground with a 16-inch piece of plywood nailed on top of them. Spikes driven into the trees 30 years ago are sticking out barely enough for a boot hold now.

The stand has been sweetened over the years. A small shelf is placed in the perfect position to hold my coffee cup. Sticks cross the area above my head, placed just right for a black plastic bag to stretch over and protect me from rain. And a nail holds my hanging rifle in position to raise it without excess movement.

I found the place for the stand by accident. I found a creek hillside that seemed to be perfect for a stand, near the very end of one of our roads. I loaded materials to build it in the truck then headed to the end of the road.

Before toting everything through the woods, I remembered hunting too close to the other club member so I walked around a little. Sure enough, there was another stand, hidden in an oak tree, looking over the same hillside.

I went back to the truck disappointed and started driving slowly back out, watching the ground on either side of the road carefully. When I spotted a trail crossing it, I stopped and followed the trail though some pines to where they stopped at the edge of hardwoods. There was a slight opening along the edge from an old logging road.

Careful inspection proved there were no other stands for at least 200 yards in any direction. I built the stand with help from a fellow club member. The first morning I hunted it I was shocked how close it was to Highway 18. The bends in the road fooled me. I could glimpse 18 wheelers traveling along the road, and their tire noise often make it hard to hear.

Even with the noise problem I have killed more than 40 deer from that stand.

Some of those kills I was very proud of, some not so much. One day I glimpsed a deer facing me about 50 yards away at the very end of the old logging road. Young pines hid part of it but I could clearly see its head and chest since it was facing me. I shot it with my 30-30 in the chest and it dropped.

When I got to it, I was shocked how small it was. Although it was doe day and I was hunting meat, I wanted a bigger deer since the limit was two a year back then. I was able to pick up the 40-pound yearling by its back legs and carry it over my shoulder, not drag it out.

I quickly gutted and skinned it and took it home, since I did not want to take it back to camp and get kidded about its size. I quartered that deer, cut its backbone in half and froze it. Each piece fit in a big crockpot! But it was some of the most tender venison I have ever eaten!

I was very proud of a big ten point I shot from that stand, but I really didn’t put any effort into finding it, it just happened to wander by me. It fell near the camp road and I drove to it. As I drug it to the truck and started loading it, another member stopped on his way out of the woods and helped load it.

He gave me a sour look and said “I have been hunting that deer all week!”

Don’t miss a chance to make memories in a deer camp.

Till next time – Gone fishing!

2024 Bass Masters Classic

March 22–24. Grand Lake O the Cherokees, Tulsa, OK.

The 2024 Bass Masters Classic will be held March 22–24. Grand Lake O the Cherokees, Tulsa, OK.. This is the biggest tournament of the year on the pro circuit.

I was quoted in Sports Illustrated a few years ago saying, “The Super Bowl is the Bassmasters Classic of football,” a twist on the usual comment. I had no idea a writer for that magazine was sitting near me on the bus going to practice day on the lake for the pros.

One thing some don’t understand about the fan support of pro fishermen. We are different from other pro sports. We may watch our favorite pro catch bass on TV today then go out and try to catch them ourselves tomorrow, using the same baits and equipment the pro used.

Other pro sports fans are viewers only. They may have played the sport years ago in high school or even college, but almost none will be competing on the field tomorrow. Bass fishermen keep competing all their lives.

I have been lucky enough to spend time in the boat with many of the pros, including four of the 53 competing in this year’s Classic. After hours of watching how they fish and questioning them on what they are doing and why they chose to do that, it always amazes me that they fish just like the rest of us. They just catch more and bigger fish.

The Bassmasters Classic is a big event. I will not be able to attend this year but a trip to attend the huge outdoor show, meet the pros and watch weigh-ins would be a great way to spend some winter days. Then you can come home and go fishing with the baits and equipment you bought at a discount at the show, fishing just like them.

Z-Man Chatterbait Tips On How To Catch Fish In Them

Top 9+ ChatterBait® Commandments – A Masterclass in Bladed Jig Fishing

By The Fishing Wire

Ladson, SC – Any time your angling goals include personal best bass or top-10 tournament checks, chunking and winding a ChatterBait® bladed jig carves the straightest wake to success. It’s a simple, self-evident fact that continues to prove itself across North America’s waterways, almost every day of the year.

In the years since the Original ChatterBait ascended to dominance on the national bass scene, a new lure-category sensation emerged, evolved and snowballed catch rates. Newer, refined Z-Man® bladed jigs offered subtle variations in vibration and unpredictable hunting action, as well as delivering select situational tools, such as the ChatterBait Elite EVO™ and WillowVibe™, which shine both shallow and deep.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=g8vFShDPd0M%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Seems like a no-brainer now. But the enchantment of a ChatterBait and its propensity to produce epic outings often depend on the details. A quick change in the cadence. Reading the blade’s musical language. A little tweak in lure or trailer selection, color or jighead weight can bring about radical results. Read on and learn more . . .

Top 9 (+1) ChatterBait Tips

(1) Color Coordinate – A common head-scratching bladed jig puzzle, color-coding your chosen ChatterBait with the right soft plastic trailer is usually easier than we make it. Sure, you can run wildly contrasting combos like a pearl-pattern ChatterBait MiniMax™ with a chartreuse/red tail MinnowZ™, or a ‘glitter-bomb’ ChatterBait Elite EVO with a fire-craw ChatterSpike™ for a different look.

Or, to follow the lead of pro anglers who face this riddle every day, you might opt instead to color-match your chosen ElaZtech® trailer to the bladed jig itself. For imitating crayfish, give ‘em a double dose of green pumpkin. In stained or tea-colored water, try black and blue all over. In high, dirty water, especially in spring, it’s all fire-craw orange, all the time. Or, for mimicking openwater baitfish, a one-two punch of shad-white to shad-white’s just right. You get the idea. The goal should mostly be to create one cohesive, color-coordinated critter—a continuous lure that impersonates nature rather than a cosplay convention.

(2) Pattern-Matching Trailers – While color coordinating your bladed jig and trailer can be critical, many anglers overlook the role the soft plastic bait plays in altering ChatterBait action and depth. For bottom hugging crawfish patterns, go slow or ‘stop-and-go’ with a double legged creature like the Gremlin™ or GOAT™. To imitate a bluegill in shallow cover, try a subtle, super realistic RaZor ShadZ™.

For probing slightly deeper—and for medium retrieve speeds—rig a slim-profile paddletail. The 4” DieZel MinnowZ™ or Scented PaddlerZ™ pair nicely with a ChatterBait Elite EVO or a JackHammer™.

To kick up the speed or max out a ChatterBait’s random juking movements, dial back tail action to a nervous little wag. A slender ChatterSpike™ or a 4- or 5-inch Scented Jerk ShadZ™ take a backseat to blade action, empowering the lure to perform those evasive, unpredictable moves that incite angry strikes.

PRO TIP: Try ‘vertical rigging’ a Z-Man GOAT, creating a cool scissor kicking double-tail swimbait trailer.

(3) Multispecies Mods – The ChatterBait’s prowess with big bass is undeniable. And yet, just off the radar, anglers seeking walleye, pike and redfish continue tapping alternative bites, thanks to the power of the blade.

Reserve your abused, naked (skirtless) ChatterBait JackHammers for walleye or pike duty. Add a paddletail swimbait and go to work around cabbage and other toothy critter cover. Or, kick up the visual attraction factor with an Eye Strike® ChatterBait. This eye-catching, naked bladed jig is the perfect vehicle for spicing your favorite redfish or walleye swimbait with flash, wobble and those good vibrations.

PRO TIP: Try probing deeper and slightly slower for walleye or bass with a ChatterBait WillowVibe / Slim SwimZ™ combo. This little ChatterBait offshoot has become a secret weapon among top river smallmouth and walleye guides.

(4) Go Deep – Quietly, select bass anglers are also mining deepwater bass with unconventional ChatterBait techniques. Instead of fishing shallow and horizontal with the crowd, consider grinding deep river channels, bluff banks and boulders. Think big bass. Untapped spots and smallmouths. Grind bottom just fast enough to keep the blade pulsing. Sweep the rod forward. Stop and reel slack as the lure “chatters” on the drop.

The money move for going deep remains a ¾- or 1-1/4-ounce JackHammer, dressed with a craw or creature bait trailer. Heavier bladed jigs hug bottom, traversing deep, rocky terrain, and alerting bass with audible collisions and amped up blade music.

(5) Tackling Up – While no single ChatterBait rod matches every application, pro anglers often favor a 7’1” to 7’4” casting rod for traditional horizontal retrieves. For ripping cover and controlling big fish, Z-Man pros prefer rods with stout spines. The tip section should be moderately fast, just soft enough to read yet absorb blade vibes with ease. Some anglers prefer a glass crankbait rod.

To match a variety of retrieves, consider a casting reel with a 7:1 or even an 8:1 gear ratio. Among pros, consensus is to opt for 30- to 50-pound test fluorocarbon for abrasion resistance, sensitivity and slight stretch.

(6) Cut the Grass – Turn angst with inevitable grass snags into bonus bites. When the lure comes up tight to a plant stalk, give the rod a fast, forceful rip. Not only will this power play immediately clear the lure of leafy debris, the sudden speed burst often coerces nearby bass to take a swing. Pay particular attention to what happens to the lure as it settles, immediately after attaining escape velocity.

(7) Off the Rails – As noted, ChatterBait trailer selection can impact lure depth and action, particularly the ease with which it enters ‘hunt mode.’ Empowered to randomly “go off the rails,” the ChatterBait Elite EVO becomes an evasive, juking machine when you suddenly speed up, slow down or give the rod a fast pop.

PRO TIP: Tournament anglers often use the gears of their high-speed casting reels—rather than rod action— to make the lure cut and dart randomly.

(8) Speed Demon – To big bass, there’s something irresistible about a fast-fleeing baitfish. It’s why burning a heavier, streamlined ChatterBait-trailer combo over skinny water can produce electrifying big fish bites. Be sure to rig it with a low-action, low-drag trailer for minimum water resistance and maximum speed. Scream a ½- to ¾-ounce bladed jig alongside a grassline. Shoot the lure past and parallel to boat docks. Don’t be surprised when a supertanker suddenly warps in and grabs the lure right beside your boat.

PRO TIP: If you enjoy arm-jarring eats, try burning a heavy, compact ½-ounce ChatterBait MiniMax with a 3.5” Jerk ShadZ or Finesse ShadZ™ across shallow rock or weed flats—especially sweet for jumbo smallmouths.

(9) Blade & Bite Music – If you’re paying attention, it’s impossible not to detect the musical, melodic vibration of a ChatterBait bladed jig. But “listening” closely to these sounds through your line down to your hands reveals what’s happening down below. When you hit the sweet spot, speed-wise, the blade sings, producing a pleasing rod-strumming cadence. It tells you when a piece of grass clings and comes aboard. And most importantly, when the blade suddenly stops thumping in its usual rapid drumbeat pulse, it nearly always means a bass has crashed the party. Reel down fast and sweep the hook home.

BONUS TIP: Auto (Instant) Activation – Anglers who choose a non ChatterBait bladed jig often realize the lure requires them to “activate” the blade—to get it pulsing— usually by popping the rodtip or briefly reeling extra fast. As pro anglers know, bass often sit tight to the bank, or within inches of cover. They’re waiting to ambush an animal. And if your bladed jig isn’t auto-activating and vibrating right out of the gate, if could be a long day.

Conversely, if you’re casting the real deal—a ChatterBait Elite EVO, JackHammer or StealthBlade™—the lure’s blade self-engages. No need for extra tricks or standing on one leg to get the blade to engage. Simply tie on an original ChatterBait bladed jig and get bit on those critical first few cranks of the reel handle. Easy like Sunday morning.

Winter On the Farm – Too Cold To Do Anything But Go Fishing

“Baby its cold outside!” For some reason that song keeps going through my mind. Temperatures in the low 20s are not usual here, thank goodness! But when they hit, unusual problems pop up.

The pressure switch on my well will freeze if the temperature stays in the low 20s overnight. A heat lamp on it solves the problem, if I remember to turn it on! Outside faucets will freeze. I have “freeze proof” faucets on the outside of my house, but I found out a couple of years ago they will freeze if you leave a hose attached!

Many houses are like mine, with heat pumps to warm them. But a heat pump can’t get enough heat out of air in the low 20s, so they switch to either gas or electric strip to produce heat. Problem is, the relay that tells it to switch over can go out, and you won’t know it is bad until it doesn’t work on a cold night!

Farmers have an especially tough time in bad weather like Texas had this week. Taking care of livestock and other farm animals is miserable for the farmer but can be deadly for the animals if not done.

Every winter when I was growing up seemed to produce a few days when the temperatures didn’t get above freezing. Our 11,000 laying hens didn’t stop eating, drinking or laying eggs.

We had seven chicken houses. The older four were wide, open structures with shavings on the floor. Nests were attached to the inside of the walls and filled with shavings. Food troughs had to be filled with five-gallon buckets of food brought from the big bin twice a day

A trough ran the length of each house. Water ran very slowly into one end. At the other a drain kept it from overflowing. The pipe nipple had to be pulled from the drain and the trough flushed out every day, chickens don’t know not to poop where they drink!

That water trough would sometimes freeze overnight so we would have to break the ice out by hand so fresh water would be available to the birds. I hated that wet, messy job.

The other three houses were modern, with cages along the inside walls of narrow houses. A small trough for water ran the length of the house, and it had to be cleaned, too. A bigger trough was filled with a motorized cart that augured it into the trough, much easier than carrying buckets!

On very cold days and nights, we had to gather the eggs every hour to keep them from freezing. The caged chickens’ eggs rolled out onto a wire shelf, so they froze fast. Even the ones in the old houses nests would freeze since the chickens didn’t stay on them after laying them.

With that many chickens, gathering the eggs hourly was never-ending. By the time we made a circuit of all the houses, it was time to start over!

Now, the only time I have to go out in miserable weather is to go fishing. But for some reason, eight hours in a boat is not unbearable, no matter how bad it gets!

How the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ‘Fishdozer’ May Aid In Invasive Carp Management

‘Fishdozer’ May Aid In Invasive Carp Management

from The Fishing Wire

Clarendon, AR — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lower Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in Tupelo, Mississippi, recently tested a new method of fish sampling on the White River that may help monitor the fight against invasive carp. The electrified dozer trawl method streamlines two previously used sampling techniques to collect information on the populations of silver and bighead carp, two invasive species the AGFC is working to reduce in Arkansas waters.

Previously, biologists would slowly motor through an area and use electricity to stun fish while simultaneously dipping them from the water using long-handled dip nets.

“Dip netting those giant carp can be extremely difficult for the person on the front of the boat,” Matt Horton, Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator for the AGFC, said. “You also have some variability between how good different ‘dippers’ are that can make it difficult to get consistent numbers between sampling events.”

The ‘fishdozer’ takes that variability out of the equation. Instead of people using dip nets, a device called a push trawl is lowered into the water. The trawl looks like a blade of a bulldozer that’s been hollowed out and outfitted with a length of netting as a catch bag that flows underneath the hull of the boat. As fish are stunned by the electric field, the boat cruises over them, securing them in the net like a whale swallowing krill.

According to Jimmy Barnett, Invasive Carp Biologist for the AGFC, the dozer testing was conducted in three different scenarios along the White River to determine its effectiveness in varying aquatic habitats. Researchers are testing the experimental gear throughout the Mississippi River Basin to modify the design and technique to optimize carp capture and identify where it is most effective.

Standardized sampling methods are necessary to estimate fish abundance. Horton says the AGFC and its partners may be able to more accurately measure the effectiveness of carp removal efforts in some bodies of water using the dozer trawl.

The sampling technique doesn’t have immediate use as a fish removal strategy, but Barnett mentions that with some modifications, the tool may have some applications to help control these invasive fish.

“We performed both active netting with gill nets and the electrified dozer trawl in Cook’s Lake, which lets us compare the two,” Barnett said. “Gill nets produced 200 adult silver carp versus 78 collected with the dozer trawl, but we did see that the trawl collected mostly fish in the juvenile size ranges up to about 8 pounds. We use gill nets that have large webbing to reduce the amount of nontarget fish we catch, so catching carp smaller than 10 to 12 pounds is pretty rare with our current netting protocol.

“I wouldn’t say this gear is as efficient as other methods for removing carp, but it may provide managers with another tool for monitoring the distribution and abundance of carp and evaluate the effectiveness of control efforts.”

Visit www.agfc.com/ANS for more information on aquatic nuisance species like invasive carp.

Hot Hands Hand Warmers Are Worth Their Weight in Heat

When I first joined a bass club I had no idea bass would bite during the winter. But a January, 1975 tournament at Jackson taught me they would. Six bass weighing more than six pounds each were weighed in.

I thought I would freeze that cloudy, windy day with sleet all day long. I had worn my winter hunting clothes that were fine for deer hunting in the fall or walking winter fields and woods looking for squirrels, rabbits and quail, but they were not fine for sitting in a boat in 32-degree wind and sleet!

A catalog at home from a new mail order company, Bass Pro Shops, offered snowmobile suits and boots. I ordered both the next week. The thick insulated jumpsuit was water resistant and repelled sleet and snow, but I had to get a good rainsuit to go over it.

The boots were very heavy, with inch thick felt liners inside. I knew if I ever fell out of the boat they would take me to the bottom, so I never tightened up the string at the top, leaving them where they would easily slip off. Of course, with everything else I wore, getting out of the boots probably would not make much difference. This was way before the small auto inflatable life jackets I now wear at all times.

I had some of the old hand warmers, the ones you filled with lighter fluid, lit and put in a case in your pocket. When they came out I got the ones that used a charcoal stick and put it in a cloth lined case to put in a pocket to keep you warm. Both kinds were messy and hard to use, and inconsistent staying lit, but they helped.

A few years later I saw a product called “Hot Hands” at Berry’s Sporting Goods that did not make sense. It was a small cloth pouch with grit in it that, when taken out of a plastic bag, shook up and put in your pocket, it warmed up. Since I taught science at the time I was able to figure out the iron dust inside rusted really fast when exposed to air, producing heat.

Hot Hands make a huge difference when fishing this time of year. They are not messy or bulky and are easy to use. I can put them in my boots before leaving home and they are still warming my toes up nine hours later.

One in each jacket pocket lets me put hands in them one at a time when driving the boat or even fishing a slow-moving bait to warm them up. A few scattered inside my heavy suit keep my body toasty.

I was a press observer at the 2015 Bassmasters Classic on Like Hartwell. On practice day I rode with David Kilgore, watching him figure out patterns for eight hours. I could not fish, just sit and talk and watch.

The air temperature was eight degrees that morning, but it warmed all the way up to 20 degrees during the day. And the wind blew. I was comfortable all day though, since I had hot hands in the toes of each boot, in each outside coat pocket for my hands, and four in inside pockets against my body. I even put one under my cap before putting on a stocking cap and pulling my hood over it.

Two-packs of both hand or toe warmers are about $1.75 at Berrys and bulk packs are cheaper. They really help and I don‘t leave home without them this time of year.

Are Great Fish Caught On Watts Bar Reservoir In the Fall?

Great Fish Caught On Watts Bar Reservoir

from The Fishing Wire

Rhea County, TN — Watts Bar Reservoir, created in 1942, has remained a consistent bass fishery according to data collected over the past decades. Reservoir biologists are hopeful that a recent catch is reflective of Florida largemouth bass stocking efforts started in 2015.

Randy Miller of Spring City caught an 11.22-pound largemouth bass on the reservoir and graciously shared the photo with Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reservoir biologist, Mike Jolley. Jolley, an employee with over three decades of professional experience, grew up on the lake and has intimate knowledge of its waters.

“We routinely evaluate our fisheries in reservoirs, including Watts Bar, to assess overall health of population dynamics,” Jolley said. Some anglers have questioned the status of the bass fishery in this lake. I’m happy to share that Watts Bar has remained a consistent fishery based on long-term, routine data collection.”

TWRA reservoir crews perform yearly creel and electrofishing surveys throughout the entirety of the lake. Furthermore, crews have stocked one million Florida largemouth bass fingerlings into the reservoir since 2015. Jolley stated, “In my career, I’ve never seen a largemouth this size caught on the reservoir, and I look forward to seeing more.”

Reservoirs decline overtime due to many factors including sedimentation that can cover rocky areas used for spawning and insect habitat. Nutrient loads can decrease, and necessary fish habitat degrades. Reservoir crews address habitat needs on a rotational basis adding structure. Crews and volunteers recently built and added 250 structures. Structures will be utilized by bass, crappie, and various other fish at different life stages. They also provide a place for anglers to target fish.

Fall is a great time of year to fish. Bass can resume springtime patterns, making them more easily targeted. Furthermore, waterways are less busy. Anglers are reminded to follow safe boating measures. More info on fishing and boating can be found at tnwildlife.org.

Opening Day Of Squirrel Season Memories

I missed the opening day of squirrel season bck in August. That would never have happened when I was growing up. Opening day was almost as good to me as Christmas and the last day of school each year!

Back then opening day was much later, usually in early October, if I remember right. I could not wait for it to open, always on a Saturday back then. I would be up before daylight and sitting under my favorite white oak tree as it slowly got light enough to see.

I usually carried the Remington .22 semiautomatic rifle I got for by 12^th birthday and had its “high capacity” 17 round magazine full of long rifle bullets. I prided myself on marksmanship, being able to hit a squirrel in the chest just right to not mess up any meat.

Some of my friends shot squirrels in the head, but even though I was a good shot, I knew a miss just 2 inches the wrong way would blow its jaw off, sentencing it to a slow painful death. And I would not get to eat it if I made a bad shot, so I stuck with the high percentage chest.

Later in the season when leaves were off the trees I carried my .410 shotgun. With no leaves, I could see the tree rats better and often run to them to “tree” them, but the squirrels could see me better, too. And they often would not stay treed but would run, so I wanted my shotgun to have a better chance of hitting a moving target.

We ate every tree rat I killed. Mama would cook them in a variety of ways, from country frying young ones to making squirrel stew or squirrel dumplings with older ones. And BBQ squirrel was always good.

With the way things are going, I am glad there are lots of squirrels around my house and I know how to kill, clean and cook them!

Kids now-a-days miss out by not going squirrel hunting. Deer hunting is exciting, but so is squirrel hunting and you can kill 12 each day, so you get a lot more shooting. And you learn hunting and shooting skills, as well as safety, chasing them.

Take a kid squirrel hunting. You may be surprised how much fun it is for both of you.

Would You Rather Be Lucky Or Good When Fishing

“I’d rather be lucky that good.” Kenneth Hattaway, one of my mentors in the bass clubs back in the 1970s and 80s, used to say that a lot. He was one of the best club fishermen in the area back then and did well in bigger tournaments, too. In many ways he was both good and lucky.

Over the years I have come to believe what he meant was you can be good consistently, but when you are lucky you do even better. Anyone can win a tournament with the right luck, but it won’ be consistent over time.

All the pro fishermen on the Bassmaster Elite Series are good. I have fished with more than a dozen of them and they have all the details and mechanics of fishing down pat. They can skip a jig under a dock into places most of us never reach. They can read electronics like a printed report. And they keep all their equipment in top condition.

But to win an Elite tournament when competing against 87 other fishermen just as good as you are takes some added luck.

Boyd Duckett sitting on the porch of his cabin after the first day of a tournament, seeing fish schooling and going there the next day and winning is mostly luck.

Leaving your bait in the water while eating a sandwich for lunch, and your boat drifting over an unknown rockpile and getting a bite, then winning the tournament on those rocks is a lot of luck. My partner in a BASS Regional in Kentucky did that.

When I do well it is a lot of luck. To do well one day of a two-day tournament is luck, to do well each day takes some skill. There have been multiple times I have done well one of two of the days in our state top six, but I have done well both days only five times, making the state team each time.

Sunday I got lucky enough to stop first thing on a bank with a little current moving, and caught six bass in the first two hours. The next six hours produced only two more fish. Stopping on that particular bank was as more luck than skill, and the current died before 8:00 AM.

In the Flint River Bass Club tournament Sunday at Sinclair, eight of us fished from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM to land 18 12-inch keeper bass weighing about 28 pounds. There were two five-bass limits and three people did not have a bass.

My five weighing 10.42 pounds was first. Niles Murray had three at 6.45 pounds for second and his 3.34 pound largemouth was big fish. Doug Acree had five weighing 6.22 pounds for third and Lee Hancock came in fourth with three at 2.83 pounds.

My first stop was on a deep bank with docks and grassbeds and I started casting a buzzbait. When I came to a shallow seawall a cast with a weightless Trick worm produced my first keeper, one that was very skinny and barely 12 inches long.

A few minutes later I skipped a wacky rigged Senko under a dock and landed my biggest bass, a 2.94 pounder. Then another good keeper hit my buzzbait between docks. Another dock produced my fourth keeper on the Senko at 7:00. I was pleased with the fast start.

A few docks later I caught another good keeper, filling my limit, then, right at 8:00 caught my sixth keeper, culling the small bass. I was happy with my catch and started trying to find something else that would work.

At noon I had not had another bite, then I caught my seventh keeper on the Senko on a dock and my eighth, my second biggest of the day, on the Senko on a shady seawall.

Other than hooking a 20-pound blue cat on a shaky head near a dock at 1:00 PM, I did not get another bite until weigh-in.

I wish I could be that lucky every trip.