Not a great picture but a great day of fishing!
Launched the Basscat at sun-up this morning in anticipation that the much-sought after ledge bass of Old Hickory would show up again. Ledge fish have been missing this summer, not sure if it's because of the lack of current or some other anomaly but I was hoping today would be different, and it was.
The first spot I pulled up on was a submerged point tapering off from 12' to about 18' of water with a 20-25' drain on one side and the main river channel on the other side. Nice hard bottom, lots of bait and I was graphing fish under bait fish. Petey-rigged fluke did the trick for numbers but the 12" worm was the real deal for the big fish. A 4 and a 7 came off this spot early so I let the spot rest. I went up-river to look at a few similar spots (long tapering points with hard bottom and bait fish) and was able to duplicate the results. 20-21 lbs for my best five.
So glad I'm not crazy, even if I look like I am in the middle of the river to those who don't know what I know! Planning to double-check the pattern tomorrow and use this in the weekend local tourney if it holds.
So Ive had some mixed results regarding my theory that the 'deep' bite has returned to the Hick. Ive practiced a couple of days and fished a local club tournament since my last post and I think the big girls are there but there are also the little yellow bellied bar fish present. Im not sure how these pests are affecting the largemouth but there are so many of them shallow and deep that I have to think that somehow they are making the big girls a little skittish or maybe they are not letting the bass get to the baits. Ever present is the 'tic tic tic' of the barfish tapping your worm or jig. Absolutely every place I have scouted out a deep hard bottomed piece of structure the little guys are there too. Lots of bait but maybe too much. So the tournament I fished was a one fish, big fish club tournament only 6 hours duration and I caught 3 largemouth all day off of 2 spots. I feel I was lucky to get those 3 bites amongst all the local traffic and baitfish. I soaked a jig and basstrix all day but did end up with this 6.85 to cash a check which made me feel good but in a normal five fish event I feel it would be very hard to come by 5 of these. Numbers are there shallow but 5 14" fish may only weigh 10 or 11 lbs and I know I would need more than 15 to cash another check so the search is on again this week to find some more deep bites and maybe less bait in the area meaning less nuisance fish as well.....
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