Waterwings
Well-known member
Well, not a lot to report, except for 3 small bass we caught (not worth pics). After a 1 hour drive to my buddy's house, arriving there around 0615, we loaded the gear into his rig and headed for Lake Mauzy, which was about 30-40 minutes away. Lake Mauzy is a nice recreational area with primitive campsites, porta-jons, and a boat ramp. Differing from the waters around here, you can launch a boat with an outboard on it you just can't lower it, and have use trolling motors or paddles. In my waters here, an outboard is not allowed on a boat, even if you keep it trimmed up all the way.
Anyway we launched the boat and it looked like we might get some rain, even though clear skies were predicted. My buddy knows this water real well, and it has structure, some slight drop-offs, plenty of vegetation, and some slight rip-rap along the dam. Used various lures, ranging from plastics (caught the first fish on a Smoke Shad Rage Tail Shad (on a 5/0 Gammy EWG hook), to crankbaits and spinner baits. The 3 fish we caught between us were all caught early morning, then the bite turned off. Talked to other boaters fishing and they caught a few bluegill. Slow day, but we caught-up on the latest news, solved most of the world problems, and got in some real good casting practice, lol. We spent probably 6.5 - 7 hours on the water.
One thing that caught our attention were a couple of boats that didn't look real safe. One small jon had about 4 people in it, and it didn't have much freeboard left above the water. The one that we both noticed immediately was a hefty fellow in what appeared to be about an 8' (maybe 10') jon. He was sittiing in the stern and the bow was raised fairly well up. There was maybe 4" of freeboard at the stern, and at times it looked like less. If the wind had picked up causing some waves he was gonna have some problems . Totally unsafe in my book. All he needed to do was add some type of weight (1, maybe 2 batteries in the bow to bring it on an even keel). Anyway had a good time yesterday being on the water!
After-thought:
1st Spotted bass: Caught on Strike King Rage Shad (Smoke Shad color) T-rigged weightless on a 5/0 Gammy EWG hook. Fished in the weeds near bank.
2nd Spotted bass: Caught on a Basssnacks Shakit worm (Redbug color), T-rigged on a 3/0 Gammy EWG hook, with a 1/4oz bullet weight. Fished in 7 fow.
Anyway we launched the boat and it looked like we might get some rain, even though clear skies were predicted. My buddy knows this water real well, and it has structure, some slight drop-offs, plenty of vegetation, and some slight rip-rap along the dam. Used various lures, ranging from plastics (caught the first fish on a Smoke Shad Rage Tail Shad (on a 5/0 Gammy EWG hook), to crankbaits and spinner baits. The 3 fish we caught between us were all caught early morning, then the bite turned off. Talked to other boaters fishing and they caught a few bluegill. Slow day, but we caught-up on the latest news, solved most of the world problems, and got in some real good casting practice, lol. We spent probably 6.5 - 7 hours on the water.
One thing that caught our attention were a couple of boats that didn't look real safe. One small jon had about 4 people in it, and it didn't have much freeboard left above the water. The one that we both noticed immediately was a hefty fellow in what appeared to be about an 8' (maybe 10') jon. He was sittiing in the stern and the bow was raised fairly well up. There was maybe 4" of freeboard at the stern, and at times it looked like less. If the wind had picked up causing some waves he was gonna have some problems . Totally unsafe in my book. All he needed to do was add some type of weight (1, maybe 2 batteries in the bow to bring it on an even keel). Anyway had a good time yesterday being on the water!
After-thought:
1st Spotted bass: Caught on Strike King Rage Shad (Smoke Shad color) T-rigged weightless on a 5/0 Gammy EWG hook. Fished in the weeds near bank.
2nd Spotted bass: Caught on a Basssnacks Shakit worm (Redbug color), T-rigged on a 3/0 Gammy EWG hook, with a 1/4oz bullet weight. Fished in 7 fow.