drumking, chickamauga, Crappie and bass, 7/28/09, alone

[FishNews]

I wanted some alone time this AM, and my plans were to run to Sequoia and fish for white bass. Launched around 6:40 and the 15 minute run to the nuke area put me to fishing just before 7:00. First indication of a problem came when I put the trolling motor down, stepped on the foot pedal and nothing happened. Checked the connections, etc. and tried again. Nothing doing with the trolling motor. There were several boats already in position for the whites and I just motored to the edge of where they were and the fish came up. Hooked one on the first cast that pulled off, then landed a white on the 2nd cast. Then the fish were down. When they came back up, they were a long way from where I was and about 6 or 7 boats between me and the fish, so I said to heck with this. The only alternative was to go to some crappie places, tie up and fish.<br /><br />Good move. The first place that I stopped and tied off yielded 16 crappie is less than 30 minutes. But only 2 or 3 that were 11" and in my slot limit. I caught a spotted bass in that area too, then decided to run to another place where I could tie off. I caught 11 more and most of those were keepers. I kept 7 crappie, 1 white bass, and 1 spotted bass for supper tonight. I caught a 10.5 inch crappie on the first cast in the 2nd area, let it go, and on the 2nd cast, hooked what looked to be the longest crappie that I have seen this year. It was 12-15 feet deep and I got it nearly to the surface after a strong fight, saw the fish very good about 8 inches to 1 foot deep and 10 feet from the boat. The fish turned sideways, the little jig popped out, and the beautiful crappie slowly turned and retreated to the deep. Bummer. Totals 27 crappie, 1 white, 1 spotted bass in less than 2 hours of fishing. After the past 2 or 3 trips that I had, this was a refreshing change with the fish biting so good.<br /><br />Water temps were above 81 degrees today, gently current, and no wind. Great conditions for fishing. I quit fishing at 8:50 and ran back downriver to Tyner lane ramp and loaded the boat and went home for breakfast. Now a trip to John Swallows is probably in order if I can't get this trolling motor fixed myself. I tried the constant on switch and it is out too. I might not be able to fix it. <br /><br />I used both 1/32 oz jigs (first stop) and 1/16 oz jigs (2nd stop). The fish seemed to be around a 12 count on the deeper structure and around a 7-8 count on the more shallow structure. I used several different colors of panfish assassins on the first stop. They all caught fish. Then I switched to a slab slayer, white/chartreuse on the 1/16 oz jighead on the 2nd deeper structure. I saw Reliable and his sons up there. They were white bass fishing and did quite well. They motored over to me and we chatted for a couple of minutes. That is a nice looking boat that you have there, Clayton. I can't wait to take a ride in it. emoBig <br /><br />If I promised anyone to take them fishing this week, you may have to take a rain check until I get that stupid trolling motor fixed. It depends on John S. emoBig emoGeezer