[Doc Marshall]

Ha!

I'm new to the forum -- had some login issues for weeks -- but I have a tale to tell about Marrowbone.

I just moved to Nashville from NYC and, as soon as I read about Marrowbone, I headed straight to Joelton to try my luck. Since I don't own a boat, it seemed like a perfect fit.

20 minutes later I was greeted by a beautiful, serene lake with pristine shores and zero housing developement. I thought I'd hit the jackpot. It made Percy Priest look like a Soviet-era gravel pit. I rented a jon boat for peanuts and jumped in. Thing is, though, they only give you a canoe paddle to maneuver your way around (no oars?). This worked well enough for a few minutes, but a little ways from shore, the wind made it dang near impossible to get anywhere. I spent hours fighting the wind in small coves and more than once ended up pinned to shore. They don't give you an anchor either, so fishing was...not fun.

I returned with an electric motor and anchor the next week. This is the ideal setup. Within minutes I was casting at all the cover the I could find.

No bites. Nada. I tried everything: Senkos, cranks, spinners, jigs, and crickets. I vowed to return.

After four trips and not a SINGLE BASS, I wrote the darned place off. It made no sense -- you'd fish the cover and the shores...nothing. You'd try a little deeper. Nothing. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I returned -- I love the peace out there -- and tried a jig and trailer combo that I finally got the skunk off of me (see below). I wanted to stick around, but a lightening storm blew in and forced me to head back. By the time I got back to shore, it had stopped raining. I fished from the dock and immediately caught my first ever trout, which I ate that evening.





Anyway, I find Marrowbone to be a very tough, if beautiful, lake.