31airborne, Cherokee, FoM reginoal championship, LM, SM, spotted bass, 24-29 SEP 2018

[FishNews]

Gonna cram all of this together - practice and the TX - into one report. I could've broken it up and submitted reports day by day but we all know the deal. Had to protect what little I had going on. Must say up front that it was great being back. Jefferson County Chamber went out of their way to show what Tennessee hospitality is all about. The weather was a mixed bag but the rain didn't slow things down too much. <br /><br />Practice (TUES-THUR): My plan was to break the lake up in two - I started up in the river then planned to work downlake on the final practice day. After TUES's practice I decided to give the uplake region some more time in an attempt to expand on what I'd seen/learned. I made a trip down in late AUG and spent almost all of that midlake and down. While water conditions and level wouldn't translate I saw enough to give me a bit more confidence there than in the river. I spent THUR over maps (as I watched the rain fall) finalizing my plan for FRI and prepping gear. That time over the map ended up being key: having a plan going in (vc making it up as I went) helped keep me focused on what I'd learned in practice and what I was seeing on my electronix. <br /><br />On my first stop on TUES I found a wad of fish holding on large, natural chunk rock on and near points. I had one of the better topwater mornings I'd experienced recently. The strikes were vicious and explosive. SM, LM, and spots all wanted a piece of my Spook Jr. When that played out I switched to a squarebill crankbait. That bite was equally explosive, with fish after fish throating the bait. I bounced from place to place, hitting 20+ spots with the same sort of layout (no shortage of these on Cherokee). As the moving bait died off I switched to jigs and c-rigs. Plenty of fish willing to eat those in just about every place I went. I had a dead period each day, usually between noon and 2, where nothing seemed to be interested in biting. I threw everything I had at them without a sniff. This would be something I would struggle with in the TX. <br /><br />TX day 1 - I made the run up into the river and as I made the turn into my first planned I saw a boat on it. No worries. I pulled hard right and onto another spot adjacent to it. I started off w/ the spook, working it on and around the rocks. Not sure what caused me to do it but at some point I slowed the cadence on the retrieve a good bit. I got bit on the first cast w/ the modified retrieve. Keeper #1 - a chunky 16+ LM - in box. Keeper #2 - a barely 15" LM - came a few mins later. Managed a couple short LM after that. My second stop was a place where the creek channel necks down to a very narrow passage before opening up into a large, flat bay. I started off w/ the squarebill here and was rewarded on my first cast w/ a feisty 16" SM. Got one of those hunches that said, "throw the c-rig," so I did. Was rewarded on the second cast w/ keeper #3 (another solid 16+" keeper). Keeper #4 came a few mins later on the same bait. It's now 9 AM. I continued to work this area hard with the c-rig, a jig, and a fluke. All produced but none of the fish measured. From there I bounced from spot to spot, just as I'd laid out on my map during practice. I caught fish at every stop but none helped. I finished day 1 w/ 4 for 7.15. <br /><br />TX day 2 - I made the same run up into the river. My plan was to start on FRI's second spot. I suspected it would be covered up by another boat since the SAT crowd didn't disappoint. I pulled in and was surprised to see no boats anywhere near it. No takers on top. No takers on the squarebill. No takers on the c-rig. I picked up the jig and got bit on the first cast, a chunky 16" SM. All totaled I ended up catching a dozen or more SM off of that spot, all of them 15-16". I made a short run to a place I'd visited in practice. It was a stretch of creek shoreline where the rock was the same size as my previous stops but a little more scattered. This place held fish in good numbers during practice. My sonar showed they were still there on TX day 2. After a pass w/ the squarebill I spun around to make a return run w/ deeper diving crankbait. As I'm about to cast I see fish chasing bait right up on the edge of the water. I picked up the fluke and started working it ~parallel to the water line. I got bit right away, this time by a short spotted bass. This scenario played out several more times until I reached the end of that stretch of bank. As I was reeling in my fluke a fish came up from deeper water to eat it. The rod doubled over and the drag started squeaking at me. I knew it was a good one. The fish came up out of the water about half way back to the boat - it was a good SM, about as dark and mean as I've ever seen. Boated her and could tell it was gonna be close. Nope. She measured 17 5/8". The rest of the day played out just like this. I would make a pass w/ the crankbait, then follow up on a pass w/ the fluke. There was only one spot where I didn't catch a fish and, oddly, that was a place I spent a lot of time on. Go figure. By noon I'd made my way to a series of points/spots in the midlake area. I hooked up on keeper #1 (a fat 13" spot that had killed my fluke). Keeper #2 followed shortly thereafter, this one a little over 12". Keeper #3 followed a few minutes later. I had keeper #4 in the boat momentarily. I had lipped it so I could put it in the livewell. As I opened the lid the fish started wiggling. It managed to free itself from my hand and flopped off the side of the boat. I sat there dumbfounded, trying to understand how I wasn't strong enough to hold a small fish. Then reality sank in: I'd had surgery on that same hand in June. While it was pain-free and I had full range of motion the strength was maybe 70%. After 4 days of hard fishing it was spent. I made two more stops and missed fish due to weak hooksets. It would be convenient to blame it on the hand but the truth is overall execution had more to do w/ missing those fish than anything. With that I called it a day. I had no interest in re-injuring the hand so, erring on the side of health and safety, I trailered the sled. I didn't weigh the three I had but would guess they would've given me another ~3 lbs. <br /><br />Observations: 1) The lake was down about 12' from what I saw in late AUG. Much of that was driven by TVA's prep for the recent hurricane. As the rain progressed throughout the week the water level came up ~2' (SAT). 2) Water temps started off about where you'd expect for this time of year - 79 at launch, 80-82 by midday. After THUR's rain temps dropped by 2+ degrees. I saw 76 in a couple places uplake on SAT. 3) The water was stained uplake. The further up you went the more stained it became but it was all fishable. The areas I visited had 3' of viz easily. Midlake and down the water was its usual Cherokee clear. The mudline (such as it was) was about at the 25E bridge by SAT. 4) All kinds of bait back in the creeks. Pods in all shapes and sizes, running at all depths in the water column. I saw lots of schooling activity. Many on our TX reported catching schoolers for their bags. All of my bites occurred where I saw bait. I never got bit any place where I didn't see bait. 5) If you don't own any of the SK KVD 1.5 deep divers you need to make a trip to BPS or TW. Just sayin' . . . 6) Nothing fancy on plastics - greens w/ a little chartreuse dye on the tail. Same-same for jigs. If you had a little orange in the skirt it didn't hurt. 7) That slower cadence on the spook was the real deal for me. It is something I learned while living in AR. I use it often when more rapid retrieves don't draw strikes. Think about how your clock goes tick-tock-tick-tock every second. I was using a MED/moderate rod for my spook presentation. That flippy stick allowed me to make long casts and work long stretches of shoreline or rock. I had it spooled w/ 20# braid. That combination worked to perfection. I never lost a topwater fish. The rod had enuff backbone to play the fish I hooked up on. 8) Like any other managed reservoir or river system you have to track current. When they're pulling water hard the fish tend to go to ground, hunker down on the deck. A slower pull can sometimes cause fish to go into a feeding mode. Absence of current is never good. The lesson here: use the online tools available to you to get an idea of when water will be moving and how much. Plan around that accordingly. 9) My journals from the time I lived in Kingsport were invaluable. Many (many) of the notes I'd made 7+ years ago paid off big time as I began my practice. I've posted on this topic in here several times - there's simply no way the human brain can retain everything we see over multiple trips to any given lake or river. If you don't, start carrying a small notebook w/ you when you go out. Little details like water temps, clarity, weather conditions, current conditions, bait, and how fish are relating to cover or structure are important details you can use to avoid guessing and enable informed decision-making. 10) Trust what you see/learn in practice. Electronix don't lie. People study history, fish don't. Fish study food. <br /><br />My parting shot: This could've been a decent showing had I executed. Yeah, the hand wasn't 100% and it's the hand I rely on most for hooksets, but the fact is I failed to execute. I didn't account for bow in my line or check for knicks in my line. Casting accuracy does matter, esp when you're throwing a moving bait. I had several fish break off on me. I had several more shake free because they weren't stuck very well. The last item is focus - you gotta pay attention all the time, every time. You never know when a fish will bite so you have to pay attention to every cast, every turn of the handle, every bump/tick, or drag you feel along the way. If you don't you should expect a result commensurate w/ your level of interest/attention. Not hard on a one-day event. Harder on a 2-day gig. Now think about the big boys - they fish 3- and 4-day events. Focus, focus, focus, doods. It's what separates the winners from everyone else.<br /><br />peace,<br />B <br />