Fishing Forum

I had the honor of being asked to guide and entertain Gil, an outdoor writer, and a cameraman (videographer??) for Tennessee Wildside (and I'm ashamed to say my brain has misplaced his name) on a fishing excursion this morning. I discovered that I was teamed up with Gil since he ain't exactly right either..............<br /><br />I went out yesterday to try to find fish and it was HORRIBLE. I didn't land the first fish, although I had a couple of really nice skipjack come off while jumping. I wondered what I was going to do today.<br /><br />I shouldn't have worried. Gil is an absolute hoot and can entertain himself and anyone around him. Catching fish wasn't a priority - enjoying the day and company was! We started at the nuke discharge and I threw the cast net in various geometric shapes such as figure eights and stars until we had a good handful of big threadfin shad. I hope we got the one good throw on film.<br /><br />We tried for catfish first, and although he had a couple of little bites, Gil couldn't stick one. I managed two blues in the 3 pound range and Gil decided to kiss one for the audience. I wonder if he ever got the slime off of his lips??? (ptuii) I had wondered if the bass were starting to come off of the beds even though it is really early in the season. We worked the channel edge with the shad - along with 4 other boats - but only managed 2 or 3 largemouth of about 3 pounds, so it hasn't really even begun yet. At least Gil managed to catch a bass, and when he kissed that one he didn't have to spit and wipe his lips.<br /><br />The weather stayed cold all morning and the wind was a bit higher than I expected, but I'm convinced that the low river flow (normal while the reservoirs fill) was part of the problem. We saw a fair amount of topwater action by fish chasing tiny shad or minnows, but didn't have any luck on small spoons today either. Still, it was a fun day and I made a new friend. Can't ask for much more than that!<br /><br />