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Follow my Fish of 2017
So, maybe I should have used my trip on Saturday to have started prefishing Smith. I mean, it couldn't have gone much worse. Alyse and I fished half a day without a single bass bite. Drifting current and bluffs, we weren't even able to catch trash fish. Oh well, what's done is done. Here's that report, if you don't believe me.
So, we got a group trip to Smith this past Martin Luther King day. In all, three boats fished together in hopes of figuring out a pattern. It was Josh and I's second time to be on the lake, though my friend and fishing partner John has fished it quite a bit. And, to be fair, John warned us....
I believe his exact words were "Smith lake can humble most any man."
Nonsense. Buffoonery. Josh and I were on the case. We'd solve this lake, forthwith.
Welp.
Ok. So maybe not.
We put in at Smith Lake Park and decided we wouldn't fish anything that he and our friend Anthony of AKRods (who makes all of our custom rods) had fished the day before. Oh, that might have been a bit of useful information....Josh and Anthony fished Sunday and caught two fish. Still, I figured we could build on their lack of success. The only thing they had found was that the fish they caught were on big chunk rock banks. So, Josh and I got on the first chunk rock bank and went to town.
We covered nearly 100 yards before I finally had our first bite. It came when I hit the breaks on a Luhr-Jenson speed trap. At least it was a solid spot!
We fished the remainder of the bank, ran to another, and fished the length of it before I caught a second fish on a Spro Little John MD in sexy.
Another move and another rock bank produced a third.
At around 11 we decided that we were going about this all wrong. So, we put the rods down and began scanning for fish. Not only did we not find fish, we really didn't find bait. It was so bad that I began to suspect that I didn't have the right transducer or sensitivity. But, with a little playing around, I was certain that it wasn't the units. There just weren't any fish. We scanned offshore structure and would find some fish, but they would be sitting on the bottom in 35-40 feet of water without any bait.
Then another problem presented itself: my motor began overheating while idling but would cool off when running.
That nixed idling. The wind began to build and we found ourselves hoping around, trying a bit of everything at this point but not getting any bites. We skipped docks. We flipped laydowns. We A-rigged bluffs. It was then that John came by and announced they were going home, having caught only one fish.
The other boat we were associated with caught zero fish.
We ran a set of bluffs before the ramp and managed to catch fish four and five, one on a dropshot and one on a jig. Mine came on a PTL Bull Nose Jig with a Craw 'D while casting on a AKRods custom jig rod.
In all, we had just five fish for around seven pounds before heading to the local tackle shop. There were several locals who had fished and we caught as many or more than every one we talked to. That isn't a humble brag but just statement on how bad the day is.
And, if it couldn't get any worse, a blowout on interstate 65 took the cake. But, you know, we've played this game before. We limped into Athens and went to Clem's Tire, who hooked me up with two new tires to replace the blow out and the leaky one (which had a 3" bolt through it....)
Anyways, we PROBABLY will avoid fishing that area again, but I can't see how it will be any different elsewhere. The lake is down about eight feet and you are very, very limited on options.
Oh, really the worst thing was Josh eating a Sonic double burger and tots in front of me, since I am on this diet.
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