High school tournament on Lake Chickamauga

I fished a high school tournament out of dayton on May 31, 2014.  The fish seemed to be in between their shallow water pattern and their deep water summer pattern. I caught them on a Go 2 Baits 10" paddle tail worm in the plum color. I out fished my partner with this worm compared to his zoom worms. I started fishing shallow to catch a quick limit. Didn't really work out the way I planned, as I only had one keeper in the livewell after an hour and a half. I tried out of the ledges after that, but all I did was find out the fish have not made it out that far yet. I then decided to try a spot that was in 13-15 feet of water with brushpiles scattered around it. I would drag my worm until I hit a brushpile or a rock, then I would shake it in place for about 20 seconds. Then I would hop it right into the heart of that cover and let is sit. Then, if I have not gotten a bite yet, I will hop it fairly fast to try to trigger a reaction strike. Then I would hop it over the cover and drag until I felt another object that I felt like it had a good chance of having a fish on it.  I did this and missed one on the first cast, and caught a almost keeper on the 9th cast. Then, on the 13th cast, I hooked something that was coming straight at me. It was a 4 pounder! After two missed net tries, I went ahead and swung the bass in the boat. It could have easily broken my line, but thank goodness my 15 pound pline fluroclear held up to the task. My partner didn't catch any that day, and that was my last fish. I took it back to the weigh in and they weighed 5lbs 11oz. Not a great day but not a failure. These fish are probably going to be moved out to the ledges when I go back June 6 and 7th.

A trip in the woods on Percy Priest

I got to sneak out of my house today to fish for a couple hours. I discovered a spot last September that is about 10 minutes of walking away from my house. I started using a 4.5 inch Go 2 Baits shaky worm. I hooked one on the first cast. It is still fun, even though it was only 14" long. I rigged the worm on a split shot rig. I caught two more on this rig before I wanted to try the bait rigged shaky head style. I tied on a Go 2 Baits signature "CJ's Shaky Head" in 1/8 ounce. I caught a small fry guarding male shaking is along the bottom. Then I remembered the  1/4 ounce sexy shad spinnerbait I put in my bag before I left. I tied it on and threw it next to a laydown with fry swarming everywhere. I got to see a largemouth come out of nowhere and CRUSH my bait. It is always fun watching them eat your bait. I got another fish on the spinner bait before I had to break it off. Then I tied on a watermelon with purple glitter trick worm rigged weightless texas rigged style. I caught one on it. I was paranoid about having a run in with a snake, so I went home to grab some dinner.

Go 2 Baits are 100% hand poured, insuring that the baits float. My favorite baits from them are 4.5" and 7" shaky worms, 10" and 13" paddle tail worms, 4.2" beaver bait, and a craw type bait. Also, be watching for a few more baits coming out. I have tested them out and they just flat out have action!

Bluegill fishing is picking up!

I went today to one of my favorite bluegill spots on Percy Priest Lake. I found a nest and caught 9 bluegills that were all bigger than 7 inches. Since I had enough for a couple sandwiches, I didn't keep any more. But that didn't mean I stopped catching them! The next few hours I put the hurtin' on them with my 2 pound test S.O.S. trout line, Shimano Sedona, 6 foot 6 sore lip series trout magnet rod, and bison and black trout magnets. My guess is I caught 150 total fish. I had a few giant bluegill spit the hook or break my 2 pound test in the rocks where I was fishing. Then the female bluegills moved in and I caught around 100 of those. I was not going to keep or give away female bluegills that were full of eggs because we need some bluegill to catch next year. There is nothing like hearing your drag going off for a few hours straight!


Some people will say there is no magical bait, and I agree with them. But there are some that are close. The trout magnet is one of them. I have caught just about every species of fish on them. And not just little fish too. Sure you will catch bigger bass on a 10 inch worm, but with the trout magnet you will catch little fish AND big fish. Catfish seem to live a trout magnet twitched over their house. If I was you I would order some trout magnets RIGHT NOW if you haven't already. They catch fish. Period. Just remember to use 2 pound test, and in clearer water use a flurocarbon leader.

Late April- May 13 bass fishing report

The past few weeks have been good to me fishing wise.  I have been catching them on Zoom baby brush hogs, Zoom 6 inch lizards, Zoom super flukes, Go 2 Baits 7 inch shaky worm, Strike King KVD 1.5 squarebill crankbaits, Hoppy's Lures 1/4 ounce jigs, and Academy brand spinnerbaits in 1/2 ounce white/chart. double willow spinnerbaits.

I went to an isolated bank fishing spot that not even most of the locals know about.  It is about a 10 minute hike down there from where I get dropped off at. The first day I went there I threw out once with a watermelon red texas rigged zoom lizard and caught a super chunky largemouth within the first minute of fishing. How many times does that happen when you are bass fishing? I proceded to catch 4 more in an hours time, but it seemed to have slowed down. Just then the fish started schooling and I picked up my rod with a weightless rigged super fluke and caught them one after another. I only caught 17 that day because I went through a pack of flukes in about 30 minutes. I decided that I was not going to run out next time so I bought 6 packs at the next Academy trip. The details of this trip was a 3/16 ounce bullet weight with a 4/0 gamakatsu EWG worm hook on it for the lizard. For the fluke I just tied a 4/0 EWG gamakatsu worm hook on my flurocarbon line.

The next trip was with my buddy on his boat. We caught 9 keeper crappie on crappie magnets and we decided to bass fish a bit. I picked up my Hoppy's lures flea flicker in black/blue. The day before I had super glued a black/blue paca chunk trailer on the jig. I got that familiar tink, tink, tink with the weight on my line and I swung away. When the fish jumped I called for the net seeing it was a smallie. It was 18 inches long and it weighed 2.5 pounds.

The next trip was on my jon boat. We didn't have a motor for it so I had to use a trolling motor and I even paddled a few hundred yards. I also got out and pushed the boat so we wouldn't use all out battery power. I decided that I was going to learn to use a spinnerbait so thats what I started using. I hung 7 nice ones on it before the day was over. The biggest was about 3 pounds. I threw the bait on 15 pound mono and on a H2O Express 7 foot MH Ethos rod with an Abu Garcia silver max reel in 6:4:1 gear ratio. The bait itself was a 1/2 ounce H2O Express 1/2 ounce small profile in white/chart. with double willows. I threw to cover (Chunk rocks and laydowns) and banged it off the cover. When I was done fishing the cover I would burn it back in trying to draw a reaction bite. I even threw my arsenal on plastics, including a Go 2 Baits shaky worm in 7 inch and 4.5 inch, a carolina rigged lizard, a texas rigged lizard and baby brush hog, and a Hoppy's flea flicker jig. Spinnerbaits outfished bottom hugging baits tremendously that day. 

Percy Priest fishing 4/2

I fished Percy Priest Yesterday and I caught 59 fish. I caught bluegill ,Crappie, yellow bass ,white bass, largemouth bass, and a warmouth. I fished Crappie Magnets and Trout Magnets in the bison color and the black/chart. color. The double cross jigheads hold the body on forever! The trout magnet  I would use the twitch method showed on the video on the trout magnet website. http://troutmagnet.com/video-detail.php?id=2  
I had hits from  yellow bass and white bass every cast for about 100 casts the last hour. About that time my brother caught a 6 pound pre-spawn largemouth and a 20 inch drum on the crappie magnet. Great way to end the day!

It is amazing how strong the SOS 4lb trout line is!

Lure review: Netbait Paca Craw

This is another bait that is one of my personal favorites. It would be a lot easier to name the pros than the cons. Some of the pros are: great action, cheap, durable, lots of colors, lots of sizes, and they are scented. They come in a yellow and clear package. I normally get them at bass pro. The paca chunks are around $2.50. The paca craws are around $4.

I normally use the paca chunks for jig trailers and the paca craws on a shaky head, a texas rig, a carolina rig, a flipping and pitching bait, and a swim jig trailer. They have a great flapping action good for Spring, Summer, and Fall. The size I usually use for a jig trailer if the normal paca chunk. My favorite paca craw size is the baby paca craw and the normal paca craw.  My go to colors are green pumpkin, black/blue, and natural craw. They normally last quite a while on a jig trailer and on a shaky head. This is the most erratic craw style lure I have ever used. They come in 3 sizes on the chunk, and 4 sizes on the normal craw.



This is another lure I highly recommend. As soon as you see the action you will be a believer.



The first pic is of the normal craw, and the second is the chunks.

     

Lure Review: Rapala shad rap

I am doing another lure review about the Rapala shad Rap. Just about everybody has one tied on on Percy Priest lake in the fall. The shad rap 5 is personally my favorite bait to use in the fall. These baits have a tight wiggle and they work best in colder water. My favorite color for the fall is the shad color. In the spring my favorites is the crawfish and bluegill color, although all colors work.  The size 5 is my favorite to catch a quick limit. After I catch my limit I will normally come back with a jig in fall or winter, and a lizard in the spring.  I normally throw these on a spinning rod with 8 pound test fluorocarbon. These baits are $6-$9 most places, but they will last you at least a season. I like the normal size bill and the shallow size bill depending on the depth the fish are at. These baits are made of balsa wood so they  naturally float. Because of the balsa wood they don't have a rattle so they work in heavily pressured areas. The paint jobs on the shad raps are super realistic in the craw, shad, and bluegill colors.  They make them in size 7, which also has the same action, but the size 5 is my personal favorite.


This is a lure I highly recommend for cold water situations.  You also need to bring a plug knocker with you because you will not want to break off this a $8 lure! Buy this lure and fish it and you will not be disappointed!




                                        The first pic is of the shad color. The second pic is of the bluegill color. The last pic is of the crawfish color.