4/5/17 - 4/9/17 - Field Trip!
Apr 10, 2017 19:41:40 GMT -5
catfishking, widgeon3, and 2 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Apr 10, 2017 19:41:40 GMT -5
Second annual TN trip with ArchEnemy / Charlie & Gator/Mike R..... this year we decided we would make a trade-off of potential size for potential numbers - but hopefully with some size mixed in. Multi-day report to follow.... hang on 
4/5/17:
Weather: Mid-60's, mostly cloudy with storms approaching and winds around 5-10
Water: 61 and quite clear
Techniques: planer boards in current with medium gizzards on light-lines and a light-line with a dead bait (that drew a cat)
We were taking Charlie's boat so he headed out of his home in N. Topsail at the coast around 3 am and hit I-40 West. Mike came down from VA and met me at my house about 5am and we hooked up with Charlie at 5:30 and kept on rolling west.
We made our 1st stop in TN at around 11:30 am at Big Fish Outfitters to load up on some bait and other supplies. The tournament boys had cleared them out of the Large & Mongos so we grabbed 30 mediums to get us started and headed for the waters. Had a tip on a location to give a try thanks to Team Squidhound that won the tournament on Watts Bar the weekend before (thank's again guys for the pointer) - and was confirmed by other sources as a good place to try. We were on the water by around 1:30 and fishing by 2ish. Storms were coming that day so we only had a few hours, but we got into a good spot and put 4 striper, a bass and a catfish into the boat - including a 20 lber to kick the trip off. We took off a little after 5pm due to the approaching line of storms.... Charlie was ready to move when Mike convinced him to wait 5 more minutes..... well 2 minutes later I was hooked up with the 20 lber fighting a great fish in the current... once that was in the boat, photoed and released we headed back and got to our house minutes ahead of the downpour.
4/6/17:
Weather: rain off and on, cloudy if not raining, winds blowing 15 with gust to 25-30
Water: 58 and visibility of several feet most places
Techniques: Bait catching with 5/8", 3/4" & 1" mesh, 10' nets
Thursday was bait day - we tried to go down below Watts Bar dam to cast for skippies and fish but between the wind and 4 generators we didn't stay too long - casted a little while for skippies without a hit - watched another boat from GA catching some small striper and some drum floating smaller baits so we put it back on the trailer and headed back up near the house and went chasing bait. We hit the marina in the back of Whites Creek to try and get out of the worst of the wind and threw the net a while - putting a 1/2 dozen mediums in the tank along with one large and some misc other baitfish. We tried several creeks down that way - marked a lot of small bait deep - threadfin I guess - but we couldn't tough them with the 5/8 tape net and didn't have anything smaller. Was a bit of an earlier evening on Thur but we ate well while plotting our plan for Friday.
4/7/17:
Weather: mostly sunny, winds 10-15 with gust to 25
Water: 56-58, visibility of gin
Techniques: anchored up in current, mostly medium gizzards on freeline boards (3 or 4), some casting of a Storm Tthunderstick in black/chrome
Friday started with a trip back to Big Fish Outfitters to pick up 50 more mediums to round out our tank - and then we headed back to where we fished on Wednesday - we got set up and it was fish on from the get-go - with some pretty continuous action throughout the morning. Mike spent some time casting the Thunderstick and picked up a few white bass to pass the down-time in between striper. We made a few moves mid-day but came back to the same spot for the afternoon/evening bite and got it on again - putting 12 striper in the boat with a 19 and a 22 along with several others in the teens - and two white bass and a largemouth again. Turned out to be our best day overall of fishing.
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4/8/17:
Weather: mostly sunny, finally some calm winds, but cool - morning started in mid-30's and rose to 50's
Water: 51-53, visibility of gin to 5' depending where we were
Techniques: anchored up in current, mostly medium gizzards on freeline boards (3 or 4), then pulling freelines / light-lines on boards and some downlines
Saturday AM we headed back to the same spot - we didn't get our boards out more than 2 minutes and I had a 16 lber on - followed by a 15 lber for Charlie 10-15 min later. But then things went dead. We hung out there a while, moved up, slipped down, turned all around but could not draw another bite. So late morning we moved further down where we had marked a bunch of fish of some sort the day before - and put out some light-lines & downlines to complement the boards. We had a hit on a line, but then a little while later one of my Avet MXL / Shimano Teramar Heavy rods setup as a downline ( we didn't have anything lighter for downlines with us that day) got slammed and buried - and Mike reeled in a 22 lber to get on top of the board for the week. After taking a quick lunch break on the water - which coincided with trying to figure out what the blinking Low Oil Pressure light on Charlie's dash was telling us (for the record, it is the 100 hour service interval light..... nothing worse) - we went on a bait mission. We had some intel on bait in a creek not too far away and found some decent baits and some guys from SC that we had seen the day before at Big Fish were also in there and turned us on to another creek that was full of a mix of mediums and threadfin, so we topped off the tank and headed back up to our spot hoping the sunny day would turn things back on, but the water had not warmed much and we didn't get another bite for the evening - but we still have 3 more fish to the tally with our biggest so far....
4/9/17:
Weather: mostly sunny, windy again but not terrible, temps in the upper 40's rising to the low 70's
Water: 58-61, visibility of a few feet
Techniques: freeline boards, downlines and light-lines with medium and small gizzards and a few threads.
Sunday we decided to stick closer to where we were staying on the lower 1/3 of Watts Bar. We checked a few creeks but ended up back over at Whites Creek and just when we were about to pick up an move, perhaps down below the dam, we stopped to do a water change on the tanks when we started marking fish. I had put a small gizzard out on a line with just a split-shot and dropped it down while we were floating doing the water change and it got hit but didn't hook up. Ok, we're fishing here now.... we reworked some rods for 4 down-rods, several light-lines and the boards and started pulling in the main part of the creek out over the deeper water - 20-40'. Marked lots of fish most of the mid-day morning but couldn't get a bite. Mike convinced us to pull over closer to one of the banks and while pulling down around 30' off the bank a light-line finally got bit - I thought at first maybe Charlie was hung up on a tree, but then it pulled and pulled drag. Charlie brought the longest fish of the week to the boat - a 22 lb, 37.5" striper. We pulled for quite a while longer with only a 4.5 lb fatty large-mouth to show for it. Moved over the the creek we were staying in an pulled some points there and missed a hook-up but didn't get any other action and I headed out at 5pm. I had to head on back home Sunday evening - long drive back to NC but got to sleep my own bed around 11:30pm.
4/10/17:
Charlie and Mike fished a little while on Monday AM, putting a 20 lb striper in the boat on a threadfin, fishing the mouth of the creek we had been in - and several channel cats before they had to head back east as well.
We accomplished what we set out for..... some good fishing, with some nice fish (that were even more fun in that current), and some numbers - 23 or so for the trip - plus the "bonus fish" - all released to continue to grow in the magical TN waters - and we caught fish every day we put out lines / baits.... given the cold front that hit us over the trip we're pretty happy with how it all turned out - and even if we'd not landed a fish we still would have had a great time..... tons of laughs and memories made with good friends..... a little sun-burned, a lot wind-burned, quite tired but ready to head back as soon as we can!
4/5/17:
Weather: Mid-60's, mostly cloudy with storms approaching and winds around 5-10
Water: 61 and quite clear
Techniques: planer boards in current with medium gizzards on light-lines and a light-line with a dead bait (that drew a cat)
We were taking Charlie's boat so he headed out of his home in N. Topsail at the coast around 3 am and hit I-40 West. Mike came down from VA and met me at my house about 5am and we hooked up with Charlie at 5:30 and kept on rolling west.
We made our 1st stop in TN at around 11:30 am at Big Fish Outfitters to load up on some bait and other supplies. The tournament boys had cleared them out of the Large & Mongos so we grabbed 30 mediums to get us started and headed for the waters. Had a tip on a location to give a try thanks to Team Squidhound that won the tournament on Watts Bar the weekend before (thank's again guys for the pointer) - and was confirmed by other sources as a good place to try. We were on the water by around 1:30 and fishing by 2ish. Storms were coming that day so we only had a few hours, but we got into a good spot and put 4 striper, a bass and a catfish into the boat - including a 20 lber to kick the trip off. We took off a little after 5pm due to the approaching line of storms.... Charlie was ready to move when Mike convinced him to wait 5 more minutes..... well 2 minutes later I was hooked up with the 20 lber fighting a great fish in the current... once that was in the boat, photoed and released we headed back and got to our house minutes ahead of the downpour.
4/6/17:
Weather: rain off and on, cloudy if not raining, winds blowing 15 with gust to 25-30
Water: 58 and visibility of several feet most places
Techniques: Bait catching with 5/8", 3/4" & 1" mesh, 10' nets
Thursday was bait day - we tried to go down below Watts Bar dam to cast for skippies and fish but between the wind and 4 generators we didn't stay too long - casted a little while for skippies without a hit - watched another boat from GA catching some small striper and some drum floating smaller baits so we put it back on the trailer and headed back up near the house and went chasing bait. We hit the marina in the back of Whites Creek to try and get out of the worst of the wind and threw the net a while - putting a 1/2 dozen mediums in the tank along with one large and some misc other baitfish. We tried several creeks down that way - marked a lot of small bait deep - threadfin I guess - but we couldn't tough them with the 5/8 tape net and didn't have anything smaller. Was a bit of an earlier evening on Thur but we ate well while plotting our plan for Friday.
4/7/17:
Weather: mostly sunny, winds 10-15 with gust to 25
Water: 56-58, visibility of gin
Techniques: anchored up in current, mostly medium gizzards on freeline boards (3 or 4), some casting of a Storm Tthunderstick in black/chrome
Friday started with a trip back to Big Fish Outfitters to pick up 50 more mediums to round out our tank - and then we headed back to where we fished on Wednesday - we got set up and it was fish on from the get-go - with some pretty continuous action throughout the morning. Mike spent some time casting the Thunderstick and picked up a few white bass to pass the down-time in between striper. We made a few moves mid-day but came back to the same spot for the afternoon/evening bite and got it on again - putting 12 striper in the boat with a 19 and a 22 along with several others in the teens - and two white bass and a largemouth again. Turned out to be our best day overall of fishing.
4/8/17:
Weather: mostly sunny, finally some calm winds, but cool - morning started in mid-30's and rose to 50's
Water: 51-53, visibility of gin to 5' depending where we were
Techniques: anchored up in current, mostly medium gizzards on freeline boards (3 or 4), then pulling freelines / light-lines on boards and some downlines
Saturday AM we headed back to the same spot - we didn't get our boards out more than 2 minutes and I had a 16 lber on - followed by a 15 lber for Charlie 10-15 min later. But then things went dead. We hung out there a while, moved up, slipped down, turned all around but could not draw another bite. So late morning we moved further down where we had marked a bunch of fish of some sort the day before - and put out some light-lines & downlines to complement the boards. We had a hit on a line, but then a little while later one of my Avet MXL / Shimano Teramar Heavy rods setup as a downline ( we didn't have anything lighter for downlines with us that day) got slammed and buried - and Mike reeled in a 22 lber to get on top of the board for the week. After taking a quick lunch break on the water - which coincided with trying to figure out what the blinking Low Oil Pressure light on Charlie's dash was telling us (for the record, it is the 100 hour service interval light..... nothing worse) - we went on a bait mission. We had some intel on bait in a creek not too far away and found some decent baits and some guys from SC that we had seen the day before at Big Fish were also in there and turned us on to another creek that was full of a mix of mediums and threadfin, so we topped off the tank and headed back up to our spot hoping the sunny day would turn things back on, but the water had not warmed much and we didn't get another bite for the evening - but we still have 3 more fish to the tally with our biggest so far....
4/9/17:
Weather: mostly sunny, windy again but not terrible, temps in the upper 40's rising to the low 70's
Water: 58-61, visibility of a few feet
Techniques: freeline boards, downlines and light-lines with medium and small gizzards and a few threads.
Sunday we decided to stick closer to where we were staying on the lower 1/3 of Watts Bar. We checked a few creeks but ended up back over at Whites Creek and just when we were about to pick up an move, perhaps down below the dam, we stopped to do a water change on the tanks when we started marking fish. I had put a small gizzard out on a line with just a split-shot and dropped it down while we were floating doing the water change and it got hit but didn't hook up. Ok, we're fishing here now.... we reworked some rods for 4 down-rods, several light-lines and the boards and started pulling in the main part of the creek out over the deeper water - 20-40'. Marked lots of fish most of the mid-day morning but couldn't get a bite. Mike convinced us to pull over closer to one of the banks and while pulling down around 30' off the bank a light-line finally got bit - I thought at first maybe Charlie was hung up on a tree, but then it pulled and pulled drag. Charlie brought the longest fish of the week to the boat - a 22 lb, 37.5" striper. We pulled for quite a while longer with only a 4.5 lb fatty large-mouth to show for it. Moved over the the creek we were staying in an pulled some points there and missed a hook-up but didn't get any other action and I headed out at 5pm. I had to head on back home Sunday evening - long drive back to NC but got to sleep my own bed around 11:30pm.
4/10/17:
Charlie and Mike fished a little while on Monday AM, putting a 20 lb striper in the boat on a threadfin, fishing the mouth of the creek we had been in - and several channel cats before they had to head back east as well.
We accomplished what we set out for..... some good fishing, with some nice fish (that were even more fun in that current), and some numbers - 23 or so for the trip - plus the "bonus fish" - all released to continue to grow in the magical TN waters - and we caught fish every day we put out lines / baits.... given the cold front that hit us over the trip we're pretty happy with how it all turned out - and even if we'd not landed a fish we still would have had a great time..... tons of laughs and memories made with good friends..... a little sun-burned, a lot wind-burned, quite tired but ready to head back as soon as we can!
