08-08-2010, 09:00 AM
Had a Friday night off and my son in law Topwater23 had hooked a blue earlier in the week at a spot where I had never fished. He called me at work, he was out of breath, I couldn&#39;t understand nothing he was saying, I thought the worst &amp; finally I made out that &quot;I had my hands on her&quot;. At that point, I thought he was talking about another big LM and waited for the &quot;rest of the story&quot;. After he calmed down a little, he started describing something I like to hear about. Wrestling a very large cat. He was jig fishing a new spot he has discovered a mile or so above the hiway 30 bridge. He hooked in to a monster. He described it as would reach from above his elbo to the ground and big around as his 36&quot; waste. He got it to the top a couple times, wraped his armes around it once &amp; it flopped and down it went again. Got it up one more time &amp; about the same thing happened. No net &amp; by himslef is a bad combination to be in. I have been there. He guessed it at 80 plus. I will say, he was pretty tore up.<br /><br />Now, that was probably Tuesday so him, my daughter &amp; I hit the area about 4:00 Friday with hopes of loading up on some very large cats. We caught several that were less than 10 lbs but no river monster that evening. We rode up to Watts Bar dam to try to catch something up there. I will be honest, I have no clue how to fish that strong water below the dams but am willing to go with one of you DAM experts &amp; learn how it is done. We got a few hits on some crank baits &amp; jigs but nothing bit hard enough to hook.<br /><br />It was a great evening to be on the water with my daughter &amp; son in law. UNTIL, we took my daughter to the Meigs Co side of the 30 bridge where we put in so she could go home while we did a little more drift fishing. His truck was parked about 50 feet from mine and some SOB had broken out his window and ransacked their truck. Luckily for me, they didn&#39;t mess with mine. It was parked a little closer to the river &amp; a little more in plain sight. You wont see me on the lake unless I am packing. It probably was best I didn&#39;t catch them. I hold a pretty decent pattern. <br /><br />If someone comes across some unbelievable deals on some rod &amp; real combos around Decatur, I would like to know about them. He filed a report with Meigs Co Sheriff&#39;s department. Not many times do these things every get solved. Let the thieves be warned, your playing with your sorry thieving lives when your busting out someone&#39;s window. Your luck will run out &amp; you could very easily meet your maker. <br /><br />Anyway, a great evening turned sour for us for sure. I despise a thief.