Thread: Gills, A Cracker and A Spot

Cold weather is coming, the Northern Boys need to shut that door and keep the Polar Vortex up there. Today however was the calm before the storm and we enjoyed 60 degree weather in E TN. So after work I grabbed the Shimano Soare UL and headed off to the creek with some new buggy looking baits I found at the Fishing Expo in Knoxville. First up on the Dollar Table I found a pack of Northland Tackle Mayfly larvae in a natural color. First couple casts and I hook up with Moby Dicks freshwater friend. On 2.3lb Ester the fight did not last long until the hook came out and I was left with this.
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A large orange tipped scale and some slime, Bugle Mouth Bass is my guess. Next couple casts a few pecks then BAM, my first Redear of the year. Shellcracker is the more common name and this one definitely had the large snout and mouth of a mollusk crusher.
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I wished we had more of these in Cherokee/Douglas. Norris Lake has a good population I just do not fish over there very often. I caught a few more small gills.
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I then switched to a 13 Fishing Crab looking thing a promptly whacked a couple more nice gills, and they were swallowing the Crabby looking thing deep, even with the super sensitive line and rod.
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Two casts later another freight train took my bait for a ride and never returned. Must have been the Donkey Sauce! I do not use a shock leader, never have, but maybe I need to. I see Alphahawk using one and speaking about it, and maybe it would keep me from having as many break offs. Most time when a large fish hits and makes that initial run is when I loose him, and most of the time it is a break off. I am using a nice 2018 JDM Diawa Gekabijin MX LT reel with a super smooth drag but I seem to break off at least one fish each trip. A question/discussion for another day. Back to the creek, my last bait selection of the night has become my favorite, and I purchased them from our Board Sponsor Fish USA. A Lunkerhunt Spade grub tipped with a white larvae from the same company fished on a 1/48 jig head, it seems to be outfishing the Bison Trout Magnet...oh my.
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First fish after the lure change, a nice Spotted Bass, considered by some as a Panfish in TN as the creel limit is 15 on these scrappy fighters.
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A great way to end the day. Low temps next few days are supposed to be in the single digits with even lower wind chill, I think I will wait a few days before the next trip. Stay warm and safe.


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Nice mixed bag of fish. I liked my Shimano Soare so much that I bought a second one which I keep under the back seat in my truck. Tried the 2.3 lb Ester line but didn't care for it so I went back to the Maxima 2 and 3lb test bulk spools. I really like it. The Lunkerhunt May bug in the olive color is the only plastic I used regularly last year that produced with any consistency. I cut 2-3 segments off so it was only about an inch long and panfish and channels really liked it. Tiny hand ties with #10- #12 sickles were killers from March through October. -5 F here now with wind chill of -25 F. Won't be fishing today. Crazy weather, supposed to be 60 F by the weekend.