I slept in Sunday after a 14-hour day on the water Saturday. I got a few honey-do's done at the house and called my dentist buddy to see if he wanted to chase a few brown fish. Doc (Randy Holder) was sort of down in the mouth about having to clean his basement, so he was happy for a good reason to escape. Next thing you know... Thar we was on the Tennessee River.
About the time I called Doc the wind kicked up and TVA cranked up the generators at Chickamauga Dam, so I didn't have high hopes. It was tough fishing heavy water and gusty winds, but right off the bat Doc Holder sticks a hog smallmouth. He fit it for a long time and we never laid eyeballs on it until he got it boatside, but when it hit the bottom of the boat I was just plain tore up. It was a football shaped fish... a shade over 20 inches long with a 15.5 inch girth, right at six lbs. That might be one of the biggest smallmouth to come in my boat. We was tickled.
We kept slugging it out and Doc Holder smoked me. He caught four smallmouth... none as big as the first but all were trophies.
I didn't stick a brown fish until sunset. Not as big as Doc's, but it was no slouch.
We stuck a few big drum and a couple of channel cats. Doc had another big fish on that was most certainly a striper but it bursted the line afore we could capture him. Darn the luck!
But we couldn't complain about five quality smallmouth under sort of tough fishing conditions. BTW, all our fish fell victim to tasty shiners fresh from Jack's Bait & Tackle. I sure am happy that Jack is there for us. That means life is good and gettin' better everyday!
Doc Holder's Monster Smallmouth
