My coworker's bass club is having 4 open tournaments on the Cumberland River on Saturdays; today was the first one and he asked me if I wanted to give it a try. I thought about it for maybe a nanosecond and said yes since it’s been a while since I got the chance to get out and fish. Unfortunately, with the rains we've had lately the Cumberland was very muddy and the current was quite strong; so strong that he was having problems keeping us in place with his trolling motor.
I told him he was going to be handicapped with me along because I have no clue how to fish current like the Cumberland has
; most of my fishing has been done in lakes or
very slow-moving water. When I cast my plastic bait out and it immediately starts moving downstream, I’m lost
.
A few of the boats with the big motors headed way up to Dover to fish the creeks up that way, and they ended up winning the tournament. My friend and I only caught 2 keepers, and came in 5th place (out of 11 boats, LOL) with a measly 5.36 pounds.
http://www.landinglunkers.com/wp-con...7/IMG_1549.jpg
Above is my contribution (caught on a watermelon-colored bitsy bug jig); we never did get a picture of my buddy's fish (but it was about the same size) or of any of the bass that we caught that were under the legal 15-inch limit (All our fish were caught on jigs, senkos or shaky heads; they wouldn't touch rattle traps, crank baits, spinnerbaits or chatterbaits - which I foolishly thought would be sure bets in muddy water
). I’ll have to say that today was the hardest I’ve ever had it fishing. Sure, I fished some muddy water back in Korea but the old Cumberland was moving right along today, the water was muddy, it was hot as blazes out and the fish just weren’t in a cooperative mood at all. But, it sure was a great learning experience for me and I can't wait to get back out and do it again.
Oh and check out this nice catfish one of my coworker's friends caught out there today...he guessed it was around 30 pounds or so.
http://www.landinglunkers.com/wp-con...7/IMG_1554.jpg