WLG, Chickamauga, Anything not frozen to the lake, 1-09-2010, Tony

[FishNews]

Yep you read it right...I got out today and went fishing!! Yes I am crazy...and I was almost the only crazy person on the lake, except for my good freind Tony Cheek..AKA "Cheeko". Back in the summer we went fishing and we kept saying...yep them big ones bite when it gets COOLLDDDD!! So for about a month he has been calling me...if it cold enough yet?? Well I finally gave in yesterday when he called. I said yep I think tommorow might just be the day for us!!! Well it was COLD!!!! It was a CRISP 8 degrees when we pulled into the ramp at skull island this morning. We poured a couple boxes of rock salt on the frozen ramp and in we went. The old Johnson was a little cold collared this morning but she fired up . We got on our blizzard proof coveralls..looked like homesick eskimo's!! LOL. Then we proceeded to break ice for about 1/4 mile with old blue ...almost to the main river channel. I took it VERY slow and kept a close eye on the hull of old blue as she broke on through to the other side. It sounded..REALLY BAD!!!!! I kept thinking about that movie Titanic...and how it wasnt gonna be good if the hull split down the middle in 36 degree water!! But we finally made it through and got to the top secret spot and proceeded to catch a bunch of hungry blue cats!! We boated a bunch...lost count but they were all little fellers....top two were 15 lbs each. Most were in the 4 to 5 lb range i guess...and had I downsized the tackle I could have loaded the boat with them Im sure. But I was searching for that One BIG Bite that just wasnt to be had today! The fish had moved from where I found them about 3 weeks ago ( BIG fish)!! emoBang I just could not locate the big bite at all today. But the eaters are there and in full force . We saw water temps from 36 up stream and 42 at the discharge. Not much Bird activity at the Nuke...but I did take out and put back in at wolfteiver ramp where there is all kind of bird activity. Marked a ton of fish there...but I suspect they were not catfish...probably them dang ol trash fish...like bass or rockfish!!! emoBig All in all it was a good day. We caught fish...broke a bunch of ice...ate good..stayed warm in the portable ice shanty....and most important of all....we STAYED IN THE BOAT!! Folks I cant stress enough...If you are gonna be crazy enough to fish this time of year...PLEASE keep your PFD on at ALL times!!! Thats my sermon for the day!.......WLG...OUT!!!