Learning the ropes - and getting burned by them...

Wheeler Lake - Mouth of the Elk and near Lucy's Branch

Time: Morning Run
Air Temperature: 75 - 81F during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 555.64

Weather Conditions: Nice, clear. Winds calm.

After spending about 2 years talking about it, I finally hooked up with Kevin to show him how I run big water trotlines.

YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF THE TRIP HERE:

I set out lines on Thursday afternoon and launched from Cowford and intended to run all the way down to the Elk river.  It is about a 30 minute boat ride, but I wanted to enjoy my time on the water and the weather was great.  I had two lines boxed and anchors placed in the front of the boat.

WARNING - GRAPHIC INJURY DESCRIPTION!!

I'm writing this after the fact, but I had the worst fishing related injury/close call that I've ever had while heading to put out these lines.  Shortly after I launched from Cowford, I had gotten the boat up on plane running about 30 MPH when one of my anchor lines and marker floats came unwound.  The pool noodle float flew up into the air like a kite on a string.  I was somewhat annoyed and never slowed down, but instead attempted to grab the line with my left hand and reel the line back in.  Suddenly, the float hit the water behind my motor wake as I grabbed the line and it was pulled underwater.  The line became tight and started smoking through my closed hand.  I felt the pain immediately, but couldn't get my hand off the line quick enough.  I managed to pry my hand open just in time as the float ran out of line and pulled a 25+ lb steel I-beam anchor out of the front of my boat as sailed it right by my face until it crashed into the water.  It all happed in just a split second, but it seemed to drag out forever.  I slowed the throttle and realized I just had an extremely close call.  The pool noodle marker float was in shreds behind the boat and the trotline anchor was gone for good.  

I realized I hurt my hand pretty badly.  I I took a look at it, it was bad.  I has sustained severe rope burns on all five fingers and the palm of my hand.   The line had burned away about 1/4" of flesh from my fingers and had cauterized them.  It never bled a drop even given the severity.  I was trying to figure out if I needed to go to the ER or exactly how bad it was.  I was close to my neighborhood boat dock, so I decided it was best to pull in and walk to the house to check out the damage a little closer.

There really wasn't any think left to sew up and all a Dr. would could do is numb it, pack it, and wrap it.  I decided I could do as much.  I sprayed it down with Dermoplast, packed it with triple antibiotic ointment, wrapped it in gauze and tape, and put on a thick latex glove.  That would have to do.

The pain was steady, but manageable.  My hard-headed, stubborn ass decided that putting out the lines wasn't too bad and I had help the next day to pull them in, so I carried another anchor and float down to the dock and hit the water to fish.  Gotta be tough to be dumb...

The culprit that made me cuss and left me with some new scars...

NOW BACK TO THE FISHING!!

I decided to put one line out on the west side of Lucy's Branch and the other in my favorite spot on the south shore across from the mouth of the Elk.  This is the first time I put lines out since installing the programmable trolling motor and MAN, what a difference it makes in ease of deployment!!

I baited alternating hooks with cut bait and my Kool-aide and garlic soaked chicken gizzards.  We returned at daylight to pull lines and it was a hit!!  I won't spend a ton of time writing detail about the pull, but please check out the YouTube videos of the day above.  

On the first line, we caught 41 cats which I believe is my best haul ever on a single line.  This was the line across from the Elk.  We caught 20-something on the second line, which is more typical.

We ended up catching 60-something and kept 58, I believe.  We had both livewells absolutely running over with catfish.  Kevin came to the house and we cleaned fish for hours over a few cold ones.  I believe we ended up with 50-something lbs of dressed fillets.  What a haul!!

Kats with Kevin

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 6:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Air Temperature: 65 - 85F during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 555.96

Weather Conditions: Nice, clear. Winds East 8 MPH.

Kevin and I went out to the Nuclear Plant for a morning session.  Caught a few cats on cut bait and had a great time!

New Personal Best Catfish and Boat Record!!

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 7:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Air Temperature: 26 - 35 during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 551.64

Weather Conditions: Cold, clear. Winds North 12 MPH.

I love cold weather fishing and after an unseasonably warm couple of weeks, we had a cold snap.  I bought a couple dozen jumbo shiners and decided to head to the nuclear plant to see what I could catch.  I never got into the stripers this winter, so I was hoping for them or large cats on live bait.

I didn't get into the stripers, but I found the big cats!! My first fish hit hard and I immediately realized I had a whopper when it began spooling drag as fast as it could.  Current was pulling strong and between the size of the fish and the current, it was quite a battle.  As soon as it breached, I realized it was HUGE.

I grabbed my new Trophy Haul net and went to the back of the boat and went in for the scoop.  I broke my new Trophy Haul net... but I managed to land this fish!

This fish by far dwarfs my prior personal best.  My previous PB was a 62 lb flathead I caught when I was a kid that measured 48" long.  This fish measured 53-1/2" long.  My scale was not cooperating, but according to the length/weight charts, this fish likely weighed about 72 lbs.  I can attest that seems spot on.  

My day did not end there... the next fish was probably in the 30 lbs range and the next fish after that was a flathead weight near 15 lbs. 

I think I only ended up with 4 fish total, but it was an amazing day full of big cats.  I'll never forget this one.

Sometimes they don't cooperate...

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 7:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Air Temperature: 52 - 59 during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 551.74

Weather Conditions: Overcast, cool. Winds SSW 3-8 MPH.

Nick Bates and I set out today to see if we could catch some stripped bass or catfish on live bait.  We put in at Cowford and set out for the Nuclear Plant.  We set up with spotlock and targeted some fish with large shiners suspended off the bottom.  Little to no luck.  Fish had lockjaw.  Managed a couple drum and this decent flathead.

We headed down toward the bluffs across from the Elk River mouth to try to mix it up.  Nothing.  Moved to a creek mouth and found some suspended structure and switched over to crappie.  A couple bites, but no fish in the boat.  

Sometimes they don't cooperate.  

Highlight of the day was coming across a wrecked boat.  They had a bad day...

Winter Blues

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Air Temperature: 43 - 46 during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 555.04

Weather Conditions: Raining, cool. Winds E 7 MPH.

I went out today to try to repeat my catfish catch from two days prior and did just that, except fish were a slightly smaller. Weather was crumby, but fishing was great.  

I fished the same place with the same tactics (livescope, spotlock, live jumbo shiners suspended) and got the same result.  Another excellent day.  Biggest fish were 20 and 21 lbs.  I caught about 7 nice cats and a couple drum.  I was using leftover shiners from last trip and ended up running out around lunch.  Just for giggles, I tied on a white 6" saltwater swimbait to see what would happen... And caught a nice cat 😂!

Big Fish Workout

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 8:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Air Temperature: 28 - 39 during trip
Water Temperature: 48 Degrees
Lake Level: 555.5

Weather Conditions: Clear, sunny. Cool. Winds N-NW 5-8 MPH.

I set out once again today to see if the striped bass had moved in and they had not... But the beautiful think about striped bass gear and setup is it will also catch cats just the same.  

I fished the nuclear plant along the pipeline using my livescope to find the fish and the spotlock to set up over them.  No striped bass, but the big cats were loving the jumbo shiners as live bait.  I quickly caught one cat weighing about pounds and then afterwards, it was GAME ON!!

My next fish was 30 lbs and the next two weighed 25 lbs each.  With 4 fish in the boat, I was at nearly 90 lbs.  I was the only boat on the water until a catfish guide came and parked about 30 yards away.  They never caught a fish, but was about to get a good show.

The next fish was HUGE.  I had a big fish hit me hard and I immediately knew it was over 40 lbs.  I couldn't gain any line on it and it keep spooling drag so hard the bolts in my reel were getting loose.  I don't know how long the fight was, but probably 10-15 minutes before I got the fish to surface.  I keep a big net, but this fish was going to be a struggle to net.  I managed to get it in the net, but the webbing was snapping like crazy around the net ring as I lifted it in.  BOOM - 57# fish in the boat!  This is my 2nd largest ever caught on rod and reel.

I managed two more decent fish to end the day with 7 total weighing somewhere just over 150 lbs total.  I'd never had a day where I caught this many large fish consistently.  Pulled in about 4 drum today as well. What a day!!

Big Wind, Big Waves, a Little Nauseous.

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Air Temperature: 32 - 37 during trip
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 552.23

Weather Conditions: Cold, windy, extremely cloudy. Winds N-NE- 15 MPH. Very tough conditions.

I set out today to see if the striped bass had moved in.  They have not... I was fishing jumbo shiners along the pipeline and using the spotlock to hold me.  Incredibly windy.  Caught 4-5 cats and 4-5 drum.  Very rough wind and waves to the point I was actually getting seasick.  But the spotlock trolling motor held me spot on.  

Family Fun - A Little Jug Fishing

Wheeler Lake

Time: 6:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Air Temperature: Low 63 - High 83
Water Temperature: 
Lake Level: 555.22

Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny and clear. Winds ESE- 6-10 MPH.

My wife and son joined me today for some family fun while jug fishing for catfish.  We wanted to give Thomas some introduction to fishing and jug fishing is a simple way to get out and catch some fish easily without any major skills needed.  Todd Whatley had give me some stand-up noodles jugs he built and today was the first day giving them a try.  They worked great and we had an awesome day!

Testing new trim unit and catching catfish

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 6:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Air Temperature: 66 - 84 degrees during trip
Water Temperature: 87 Degrees
Lake Level: 555.77

Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny and clear. Winds SSW- 7-9 MPH.

I'd like to start out by giving a shout out to Five Star Marine in Port Richey, FL.  I've been having progressing issues with my power trim unit for the past couple years.  After researching it, I found a new unit to be about $1,200.  I was watching a YouTube video on how to remove the trim on my boat and the video mentioned sending their unit off to Five Star for repair.  After doing some research, it was a no brainer.  I shipped my unit off and 10 days later received it back in the mail.  They charge a flat rate, depending on the model, for refurbishing plus whatever parts incurred during the refurb.  In the end.  I was $635 in including shipping and have a unit that is as good as new with a 2 year warranty.  They are excellent if you are in the market for a trim repair.

I headed over to the nuclear plant today for some catfish.  I launched right at daylight and noticed some threadfin popping the water at the the boat ramp (Cowford).  I decided to throw a net a few times and see what I could catch.  l was able to catch a few small shad around the ramp and a few more plus a couple small bluegill under the powerlines.  I brought frozen skipjack and some chicken gizzards too, but fresh bait is always good to have.

Once I got set up, I noticed someone has placed several marker buoys around the pipeline marking the drop off.  I have mixed feelings about this, but it definitely makes sighting the pipeline area easier.

As normal, I dropped down below the pipeline and immediately begin getting hits.  I noticed chicken gizzards we're performing very well.  I tried the live threadfin, but they too weren't doing fantastic.  Nothing today seemed to beat the cut skipjack.  

I putted around the area until about 11:00 and managed 18 blues.  Most were around 6 lbs on the average, but I caught a couple bigger.  It was an excellent morning and my trim performed perfect. 

Draggin' It Out

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 7:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Air Temperature: 76 - 81 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 555.81

Weather Conditions: Cloudy, windy. Winds N NE Sustained 8 MPH.

I decided to shake it up some today and try something I seldom do.  I put in at the Elk River landing and rode out to the channel with the intent of fishing deep and trolling/dragging.   I put out two bottom rigs and two suspend rigs and trolled around 0.7-1 MPH.  I started in about 45 FOW, but had no luck.  I could see a very strong thermocline about 35 feet deep and my guess is that was making things challenging.

I tried two more spots, but had no luck.

I finally headed over to the south back where I've had luck with trotlines and trolled about 30 FOW.  I got more bites here than anywhere else, but only landed one catfish weight about 12 lbs.  

Tough day.  I think my mistake was starting off too deep.  Need to brush up on this method and try again maybe when I get my new trolling motor.  

Summer Pattern

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 6:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Air Temperature: 78 - 87 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 555.72

Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny and clear. Winds SE- 5-8 MPH.

Slipped back out there this morning for a repeat of what I did last week.  Same place, same bait, same results.  Caught 17 in 3 hours this morning on chicken gizzards soaked in Kool-aid and cut shad over at the Nuclear Plant.  They've settled into a consistent summer pattern now.

COVID CATS

Wheeler Lake - Browns Ferry

Time: 7:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Air Temperature: 66 - 82 degrees during trip
Water Temperature:
Lake Level: 555.76 

Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny and clear. Winds N-NE- 5-9 MPH.

Well, it finally happened... After two plus years, I finally caught the Rona.  Figured it i was going to sit around, I might as well do it atop a swivel seat! I can't say I felt 100%, but didn't feel bad enough to sit out a fishing trip.

I headed out by my house to the Nuclear Plant this morning.  Fished with chicken gizzards soaked in Kool-aid and cut skipjack from the freezer.  Bounced bottom along the pipeline.  

It got hot and I figured I needed to rest some, so I left at 11:00 AM.  Caught 21 cats this morning.