Nickajack Angler, Chickamauga, CFF #3, 3/10, TeamD

[FishNews]

Great day to be on the water... Nothing like the TN River at first light. But his morning surprised me. I just didn't think it would be THAT cold... man, my hands didn't get the feeling back for two hours. For the last number of weeks, being on the fish on the lower lake, we both felt confident we could get a good three fish to compete. Matt had the chances to fish some other spots we'd both fished in the past the past two weeks and we ran his game plan by the Fat one, and then ran mine... FA said his piece of what he'd throw if he wasn't umpiring today, and where he may be inclined to try. One of his suggestions proved fateful. <br />We never left Chester. We planned on hitting at least three other areas we know fish are right now. When the light first came up, we just laughed at how many boats had the EXACT same idea. At first light, there were 9 within 100 yards of us, and at times more. But we soon learned that most were throwing fast baits - spinnerbaits and traps, which we figured in the first hr were not going to continue the bite we had enjoyed in the past 8 weeks. So we stuck with plastics most of the day - I mean we did catch a number of short fish on spinnerbaits, but only stumps on the trap... Previous weeks we had caught fish on deeper transition spots - throwing shallow and at the break, get bit. But today they were shallow. I don't think we fished out of 3 ft for 5 hrs. After catching a lot of shorts, as were everyone around us, we pulled up to the heart of the area we fished at less than 2 ft - about a 75 sq yd area ALL DAY. These fish were moving. And as pressure came and went, they would move back. Only one fish we caught was sore mouthed so it led us to believe there were many. The big one picked up Matt's bait and MOVED OUT. We didnt' think it was a bass. She never jumped. But she moved out like it was a stripe or as Matt said "It's another dang carp..." but when her mouth came out we both yelled "NET" and she was in the floor quick. Which was 6lbs and we knew had a shot at some money when only slicks were caught by everyone we saw all day. We fished in vein to get one or two more like it, knowing they are in that area, but just too many boats and pressure I guess. Never got another solid bite. We culled 3 or 4 and didn't upgrade again until Noon or 1pm on the only journey 300 yards from that one spot we stayed on all day.<br />While there were about 15 boats in our area... close in our area, the match fishing guys came screaming all the way back to the end of the creek. They didn't come off plane until they were in 2 ft of water and how they missed all those stumps is beyond me. I heard a guy from a neighboring boat say to the boat on the other side of him "Man, if I came through here like that, you'd find me in the hospital..." It was interesting to see their setup - with a four boat caravan. The lead boat with two fishermen - George Cochran in the front and Andy Morgan in the back. They were friendly and chatted back and fourth. Fish Fishburne was in the trail boat and I said "It must KILL you to be out here without a rod in your hand..." And he lit up. Talked about his trip with EricM and he lit up more. Said to say Hello to Eric and hi to his Kitties. <br />Great day to be on the water. Nice fish by Cutthroat to pull out a W and a sweet toad. Enjoyed seeing many of my CFF buddies and hope to contend on the Nick. Thanks Pointer & Dropshot for putting on the show today. It was well organized and with as many folks in all events, every one today helped things go smoothly. Tip of the hat fella's.