The summer time heat is here and probably here to stay for a good bit.  This time of year is when a lot of people and clubs tend to fish at night in Tennessee.  I am not big or too fond of night fishing but there are times when you can't beat it.  Local tournaments take upwards of 25 pounds for 5 fish to win.  During summer if you want some good numbers you may not be able to beat the night bite. 

I went out Friday night from 7pm to Midnight to  pre-fish a little for my F-3 Club tournament on Priest June 23rd.  A friend of mine and club member, Denny Krogh,  met me at Fate Sanders Marina.  We went to my favorite ledge point to throw some DT-16 and football jigs with no results.  For some reason this ledge has been off for me this year.  We decided to head down lake and fish some humps down near the dam.  As we listened to a band at Nashville Shores I came across a good looking brush pile holding a ton of bait fish.  I only caught 2 dinks off it but did hook up on something that had some shoulders.  As night fell we moved around quite a bit just looking for bait fish.  We ended up near Hobson Pike bridge and caught several more fish and finally a keeper Smallie.  Most of our fish came on a crank bait in 6ft or less water.  We lost $10 to a Rob Kennedy and Ron Taylor as they caught the only keeper during our mini tournament time frame.  I did not catch a keeper so I was not looking forward to Saturday night.

Saturday F-3 Club launched at Hurricane Creek ramp at 6pm.  My partner Torrance Miller and I headed down lake to fish. I figured with my poor performance Friday Night I should jump on a bluff and catch some KY Spots before night-fall. I started at the bluff before Elm Hill Marina flipping a 3/16 oz Watermelon bitsy bug.  I caught my 1st keeper fairly quickly in about 15ft of water, a nice chunky Largemouth.  A few casts later I caught my 2nd keeper largemouth.  We jumped from bluff to bluff before it got dark with little success, a few dinks was about it. We fished the  face of the dam, humps in front of the dam and points to the right with a few dinks to show for hauling water.  I was saving a spot down by the bridge for the last couple hours.  We pulled in and again started casting jigs.  Normally at night I would throw only black jigs but I had yet to muster a bite on it so I switched back to watermelon for the rest of the night.  We fished that spot for 2 hours and I finally caught my last 3 keepers in a 15 minute span.  I also caught the big fish, a 2.93 smallie.  I managed a small limit of bass weighing 9.83 plus 2 show points for a total of 11.93 lbs. It was good enough for 1st place and big bass.

Sunday morning I headed over to Old Hickory and it really bit!  I won't even get into it.  I mustered 6 fish and only 2 keepers.  Old Hickory and I just do not get along! 

Billy 

        

 

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