10-22-2009, 09:00 AM
Norman and I were scheduled to go crappie fishing this morning around 8:00 AM, but the fog had other ideas. With my Eagle fish elite 500c in the factory for repair, that made navigating impossible until the fog lifted this morning. I did manage to make it out to the bluff this morning and fished by myself for over an hour while waiting on the fog to lift so that I could pick Norman up at Chester Frost Park. After an hour or so, part of the fog lifted until I could see across to the western shoreline, so I made a beeline over there only to have the fog sock in again and I had to idle up the western side of Chickamauga until I got to the entrance of CFP. It was like a doorway there. Right on the point to the entrance, it was socked in fog with very little visibility and 100 yards in toward the park, it was crystal clear. Bright sun, no fog at all.<br /><br />I picked up Norman and then we went back out to the entrance and basically sat there for about 30 minutes more before deciding to motor slowly upstream. Made it up there after a while and reached our first destination only to find EPaul fishing that spot. We had a great conversation for a few minutes and then joined him in fishing for a few minutes. Then on to spot 2 where I picked up a couple fish and then around 11:00 the fog lifted enough to run safely anywhere, so we ran downstream and fished docks and bluffs.<br /><br />The fish were scattered today and very slow for us. All the fish but one were deep. Norman did catch a nice crappie that apparantly came to the surface to look around some when Norman&#39;s jig hit the water and the fish gobbled it up as soon as it hit the water. But all the rest of our fish were deep. We ended up with 20 crappie, 5 bass and 1 bluegill. I did manage to catch my 13th TARP black crappie this year while fishing the bluff waiting for the fog to lift. BG shads were used mostly, and I threw a slab slayer just a little bit. All colors were equally unproductive. emoUp
<br /><br />I did catch a nice largemouth bass on one dock and Norman caught 3 spotted bass and I caught a little spotted bass before picking him up. I also fought a large fish of unknown species for about 2 minutes this morning. I picked up my net and had it at the ready, but the fish never did come off the bottom and finally tore the jig out of his mouth. Probably a big drum. It didn&#39;t fight like a catfish (no rolling around and no slime on the line) and it wasn&#39;t fast enough for a bass, so it was probably my pet drum. Tough day to fish for us anyway. I didn&#39;t do a good job of guiding. Current 57,000 cfs. emoBig emoGeezer<br /><br />PS Egad! I&#39;ve lost my pics. I don&#39;t know what file I saved them in. Just be patient while I go back and try to find them.
<br /><br />I did catch a nice largemouth bass on one dock and Norman caught 3 spotted bass and I caught a little spotted bass before picking him up. I also fought a large fish of unknown species for about 2 minutes this morning. I picked up my net and had it at the ready, but the fish never did come off the bottom and finally tore the jig out of his mouth. Probably a big drum. It didn&#39;t fight like a catfish (no rolling around and no slime on the line) and it wasn&#39;t fast enough for a bass, so it was probably my pet drum. Tough day to fish for us anyway. I didn&#39;t do a good job of guiding. Current 57,000 cfs. emoBig emoGeezer<br /><br />PS Egad! I&#39;ve lost my pics. I don&#39;t know what file I saved them in. Just be patient while I go back and try to find them.