River fishing
 

Went below Old Hickory dam Sunday.
Found a bunch of bluegills hanging near the short slip wall. The graph was loaded with them but after fishing for fifteen minutes, all I was catching was little 5-6 inch fish.
Decided to go to the outside of the slip wall, in front of the right side gate.
Not near as many gills out there, but much better size.
Drop shot rig with a #8 long shank hook, pinch of nightcrawler, drop to the bottom, and hold it steady. Never got hard bites, always just a tick, set the hook and bring another fattie to the boat.
Oftentimes there would be no indication of a bite, just lift the rod once in awhile and the fish would be on.
This is where the Gliss braid really shines. 8# test and every bite is transmitted to the rod. And 8# Gliss is about as thick as 1# mono. I like to use a 6' light action rod for the sensitivity and fun fight.
Tried for sauger for about an hour, caught one 15.5 incher.
I kept a dozen big gills and the lone sauger....gave them to some older Mexican fella at the boat ramp who hadn't caught anything. Figured it was enough to make a meal for him and his wife.
On a side note, fishing Sunday night at the steam plant, using the same setup, 6' light action rod and 8# Gliss line, casting for skipjack, I hooked into a catfish that looked to be about 20+ lbs.
I fought and followed that fish for 42 minutes, getting it to the boat 3 times, but not close enough to net it.
Must have wallowed a hole in the mouth and the hook slipped out and he was gone.
And I was glad he was!
I have never fought a fish that long in my entire life!
I'll sure be glad when this shad kill is over. It's making the hybrid fishing nonexistent on Priest this year.
Last year at this time we were averaging 30-50 fish per day. Now we are lucky to find ONE!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...307451187c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a80b25ec0f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ade32f7978.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...4472c8f31d.jpg

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Merv, that fish would go 12" on my home made measuring cup.

Good report Merv. I tried there two weekends ago and caught six in front of gate 4. Takes a little trolling motor battery to stay in one spot in there

Good going merv! The shad kill is pretty bad below oh and jpp there's thousands of dead gizzard shad of all sizes, went below jpp this morning and the river was super low, you could have walked across it, no activity, river looked dead along with all those shad.

Two weekends ago, we had high water flow.
Sunday the river was at summer pool, 386 el.
The big gills are along the outer wall in front of gate 6, about 50 yards in front of the gate. Not near as many as Mike Dial and I hit on Dec.20, but enough to keep it interesting.
Now, on the inside lock wall, the short wing wall, in front of that, the fish were STACKED in there. BUT! They were small, mostly 5-6 inches.

Merv, both you and Mike are guides. Do you charge him a higher rate than he charges you

I hire him first, pay his fee. Then I double it the next I'm I take him out.
Right now, his next trip is going to cost him $500, a home cooked meal by Jackie and a map marking all his creek honeyholes.