rsimms, Nickajack (Riverpark), Catfish, 8-10-2009, 3 Generations of Millers

[FishNews]

The Miller Family came to visit Chattanooga from Nashville and Arkansas. Gary, his son Scott and his son Ben are pretty serious fishermen who wanted a taste of the Tennessee River.<br /><br />I know my fishing reports pretty much read like broken records these days (which doesn't bother me as long as it includes fish). But what made today different was 8-year-old Ben. Many youngsters I fish with are a little quiet and shy. Don't count Ben among that group ... he came out of the truck at daylight, made a beeline across the parking lot and commenced to share nearly every fishing story he knew before I could get the straps off the boat. This young man was an absolute hoot.<br /><br />Remember the fish called "Walter" in the movie "Grumpy Old Men?" Well, after Gary mentioned him... we spent the majority of the day fishing for "Walter." Of course every fish Ben reeled in was either Walter, Walter's brother, Walter's son or Walter's long lost cousin. <br /><br />Gary, Ben's grandfather, is a really cool guy. It seemed that everytime he hooked a fish, his arm got tired and he'd have to ask Ben to reel in his fish. emoBig <br /><br />It was a fun, fun morning. But as for the fishing... we made the first drift of the day above the Dupont Intake and absolutely whacked 'em. I think we had six fish in the boat before we drifted 100 yards. We ran back up and drifted it again, and again... and NOTHING. It was bizarre. I've never seen a stretch of river go so quickly from feast to famine.<br /><br />But after a little searching we found them downstream and there really were very few "dead" periods throughout the morning... especially with Ben in the boat. And that means life is good and gettin' better every day.<br />