Labman, Chickamauga, mixed bag and my first Paddlefish, 07/14/2010, Solo

[FishNews]

I was out early this morning trying some channel ledges for bass with a dropshot rig. Found a couple of spots that held fish, but the bite was pretty slow. I decided to move up to the outlet at the nuke plant and try vertical jigging for some white bass. I was marking a lot of fish and getting regular hits from drum and small cats and yellow bass. Only had one medium white bass.<br /><br /> I moved to an area showing a ton of fish at 35' near the bottom. Had just repositioned the boat with the trolling motor when my jig "hung up on the bottom". So I am pulling and jerking trying to get the jig loose when it suddenly started to take line against the drag. I guess I was not hung up after all. <br /><br />I figured it was a large blue cat as I was unable to do anything with it, just kinda hang on and follow it with the trolling motor. I was using a light 6' spinning rod with 6# line and 1/2 oz hopkins spoon. After about 10 minutes I finally got the fish to the surface for a second and saw it was a large Paddlefish. It immediatelly went back down and I fought it for another 5-6 minutes before getting it to the surface again and getting a gripper on it. Lots of fun, but really wears your arm out after awhile. Not sure of the weight as I didn't want to injure the fish by hauling it into the boat. I would estimate from 35-40 #. Sorry about the picture quality, hard to hold with one hand and get the fish in position in the water. <br /><br />I think I am going back to crappie fishing for awhile, these large fish wear me out. Had a large blue last week on the same rig. Jigging is getting a rest. Ended the day with 1 paddlefish, 5 drum, 1 blue cat about 6#, a couple of channel cats, 3 white bass, and a ton of yellow bass. Also had 3 medium largemouth bass. I never did find a good concentration of LM.<br /><br />Saw Hal out with his grandsons, and EricM was chasing the kitties and seemed recoverd from his spill on the rocks at riverpark. Always good to see fellow CFF'rs out on the lake.<br /><br />Regards, Labman