Wasn't planning on fishing Friday morning because of storms but woke early at 5 am and checked the radar and said what the heck. Nothing better to do and I have raingear. Headed to Percy Priest lake to troll for crappie. On my way across the lake I noticed some topwater action. Motored over and quickly put a jig on a spinning rig and started casting. I spent nearly two hours hauling in white bass and hybrids. Nothing huge with the hybrids. The biggest was just about 3-4 pounds but on a med wt. spinning rig with 8 lb mono, it is a drag pulling blast. I guess because of the weather, all the other fishermen had stayed home. I only saw one other boat pass by while I was there. It was truly some of the best jump action I have seen in several years.
A few hours after the jump action ended and I had trolled I went home for a little break to have lunch with the wife. During lunch I checked the water levels and flow of my favorite rockfish waters. Looked at the radar and decided everything was perfect for overcast skys, good current and perfect time of day. Headed out about 3 pm to the striper waters. Had to wait about 30 minutes after I got there to launch due to a bad storm passing through but as soon as it was by I launched and ran to my starting point and hooked a nice striper on the third cast. It weighed 22 lbs. After getting it in the boat and unhooked and revived and released, I made about 5 more cast and hooked up again. This one was 24 lbs and was my biggest fish of the day. All in all, I hooked and landed 5 rockfish between 15 and 24 pounds. Had at least 6 take a swing but not hook up and saw no telling how many follow my redfin right up to the boat. I even managed to catch a fish in the "Look but don't touch hole". Every time we pass this area, fish will follow up. EVERY TIME! It has been 3 years since I hooked one there hence the name. When I passed through Friday, it was pouring down rain. I made a perfect cast and on about the third crank, he hit like a freight train. A solid 18 pounder which isn't huge but fun all the same.
I couldn't have imagined a better day fishing. Jump action on hybrids and whites in the morning and great rockfishing in the afternoon. Not bad considering I wasn't even planning on fishing that day.
