rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Skipjack, Stripe, Smallies and BIG Cat, 8-27-2015, solo

[FishNews]

I'm heading to Florida Saturday and needed some skipjack to take for shark bait/chum. Headed below the Dam at sunrise-thirty. Things started slow, but as generators settled out, skipjack turned on -- although cool weather has them slowed down some as well. <br /><br />Strangest thing... when I'm after skipjack I often let a Sabiki rig just trail behind the boat in the current, with the rod sitting in a rod holder, while I'm casting. I catch a lot of skips that way. I use a half-ounce white hair jig as a terminal weight for casting the Sabiki rig. Lo and behold, TWO times this morning while the rig was just sitting still in the current, I had smallmouth load up on the half-ounce white jair jig. One was a nice one.<br /><br />I was also catching some stripe. I went up close to the boils and tossed my Foley spoon into one particular turbine hole near the boils. Lo and behold, that turbine hole must have been solid with stripe. I am certain I caught 50, almost in consecutive casts. It was the most fun I've ever had catching stripe below Chickamauga in my life. Also caught 3 or 4 bass. I couldn't believe how they had loaded up in one key little spot.<br /><br />Later, after the sun got up and the stripe & skipjack slowed down, I headed downstream to sacrifice one skippie to try for a catfish. I was drifting one hole, which actually doesn't usually produce a lot for me, when "Bam!" At first I didn't think it was that big because I was able to move him with a heavy spinning rod, but the longer I had him on... the madder he got! I was doing some shuckin' and jivin', running around the boat in circles and trying to control the trolling motor to stay on top of the brute.<br /><br />Of course, I'd left the big net in the truck so I had to "fight this one to the finish." He was 46 inches long with a 29.5 inch girth, which puts him at an even 50 pounds. That was a good way to end my morning outing. BTW, you can see a little video of the final part of the fight on my Facebook page. If you want, Friend me and Follow me while you're there. emoGrouphug <br /><br />