Slayed the hybrid with the TN rig today

[Scott715]

Man what a day on JPP. I got on the water a little sooner than I planned (which isn't a bad thing) so I started fishing for crappie. I caught 25 within 2 hours, but only netted three keepers. Not enough for me to clean so they went back for another day. Like Travis mentioned, tube jigs black/white or black/chartreuse are doing great. My fish were a little deeper around structure.

I had a buddy let me know that the Hybrid were in the jumps before nightfall close to the dam so I started to head that way around 5pm. Well five minutes heading down lake I see a ton of birds near the party cove area. Normally where you find birds you find fish. I thought this would be a good time to throw the TN rig. I'm not sure how many hybrid I caught, but I can tell you my arms are freaking sore! They were all between 4 and 10lbs. Unfortunately I lost my TN rig, but I can't blame anyone but myself. My braid probably wasn't heavy enough for the fish I was aiming for (I think it was 15 or 20lb test). The rig took a beating before I finally lost it, which was likely on a two-fish hit. I'm definitely going to order from the same guy because it held up superb against the fights these fish put on. My rig was set up with two big swimbaits and a large spinner. I have some heavy braid on the way and I'm definitely buying some more of these rigs. I don't think anything is better when you're fishing around those chasing bait, no matter the species. I think it's important to have the same baits to mimic a school of fish as close as possible.

[Fishmanjoe]

Nice! Sounds like the fishing is really good on JPP right now.

[StriperFan]

That is some great fun. If you know where they are at and in the jumps, dont bother throwing the expensive, heavy rig. When they are that aggressive you will easily end up with one on each hook, which increases your chances of loosing it as well. Glad to hear the report.

[Scott715]

I should have expected two fish to latch on and adjusted to the heavy stuff! I plan on going out this afternoon (Sunday) and I hope they'll still be active after the showers on Saturday. Monday & Tuesday are looking great as well, but I have a bit of a "honey do" list since the house is going on the market in a week.

[Scott715]

I fished Sunday & Monday and killed the stripe. I caught one or two hybrid on Sunday and seven on Monday. In 3 days we easily caught 100 fish in the same location. No deeper than 12 - 15 feet of water. The killer baits were a small pearl-colored fat rap (3 - 6 ft diver), Sexy Shad (1/2 oz) and a fluke. Everything was caught on a crankbait. I didn't fish for crappie, but caught hybrid, stripe, smallmouth, largemouth, and yellows. We creeled out on stripe and it made for some good eating this past Tuesday. I caught two largemouth on the pearl crankbait at once (pictured).

[GO-OKFISHIN]

We have been killing them too in that same area. White Yo Zuri 3D minnow, grubs and Live shiners.

[Scott715]

I went out this afternoon and only netted one or two yellow bellies in that area, but I was in 10 - 15 ft of water near the bank. I didn't try the channel. Either the time has now changed for feeding or they have moved up or down the lake. I don't know enough about those hybrid to figure out which way. I really didn't have a ton of luck no matter where I fished this afternoon. I want to say the bite has slowed down, but it doesn't appear so for the crappie. I talked with a guy that was fishing one of my crappie holes that pulled 80 in the boat between 830a & 330pm today with 20 - 25 keepers. I wasn't out there looking for crappie so I hit some great rocky banks, but didn't get anything around Hamilton Creek or Anderson swim area.

I threw the TN rig a little bit, but no birds were anywhere to be seen. That thing will wear your arm out so it wasn't thrown for long. It's a great rig if you know they're actively feeding. Different story if the bite doesn't appear to be on.