Scenic City Cat Report 5/26 and 5/27/07
What a difference a week makes. After a super day last Sunday I thought the Chickamauga Lake (Chattanooga, TN) catfish were in a pattern. That's what I get for thinking. They're still there, and we're catching some fish. They were just finicky and mush-mouthed this weekend. I bet we missed 20 good bites Saturday. The fish just wouldn't hit like they meant it, either small and/or non-aggressive. On Saturday with Drew & Matt Downey from Knoxville/Pennsylvania I did a LOT of running around the lake looking for "hot" fish. We never found them, one fish here... one fish there. I sort of regretted running around when it was time to run from the Dam back to Sequoyah dodging cruisers and 3-foot swells. On Sunday me, Clayton Cornell along with his sons Addison and Marshall just hung in there on our fish and slugged it out. Those two young men are troopers. I don't see many youngsters their age ready and willing to hang in there when the bite is tough, but they sure did. We ended up putting a good bunch of fish in the boat, but only because we outlasted 'em! The highlight of the day for me was watching Addison wrestle a 12-pound fish out of 55-feet of water on light spinning tackle w/8 lb. test. Oh yea, he caught it on chicken breast. The moral of the story, you can catch some cats right now as long as you take your Patience Pills. Here's a few pics.
Richard Simms
Editor, CrappieNOW