Thread: Watts Bar Adventure 2009

Unfortunately, the weather was against us ... and all but rained us out on Saturday. SO ... our 2.5 day fishing trip (fri-sun) turned into a 1.2day fishing trip

We stayed at Piney Point, on this trip ... and had to fish some unfamiliar areas. Our "ace in the hole" spot was the only place that produced any fish, and luckily it was a short run from our camp. The Black Crappie, once again, did not get the memo that we were coming down, and to meet us at the usual deep water docks. Seems they were still out deep, hanging with their White Crappie buddies.

Friday was cool, but comfortable ... no wind (dead calm water). We managed to figure out that the docks were not going to produce, so we headed to our "honey hole" ... and managed to catch around 12 fish, with 6 nice keepers. But, even at the honey hole ... we were forced to fish in the 18-22ft depths. Fish were holding a couple of feet off the bottom. That's what I expected from the White Crappie ... but, we did have a couple of Black Crappie come from the same depths.
Fish were caught on weedless jigheads w/various plastic bodies (mostly tubes & Panfish Assassins) ... with Albino Shad & Popsicle being the more productive colors.

Sat - rain, heavy during the night ... and off/on thru most of the day. We hemmed & hawwed about just coming on home, but decided to give Sat afternoon a shot. We went back to the honey hole, and managed to scratch out a few more fish. But, they were not in a good mood. Finicky hits led to several missed fish. We managed to put 3 keepers in the boat, in about that many hours All of those fish came on jighead/minnow rigs. I did manage to stick a large catfish ... that gave my 4lb line & reel drag about all they wanted, pullage wise :D ... but, it came unbuttoned before I ever got it close enough to the surface to see how big it was. It put a serious bend in my 7ft IM8 Bionic Blade, and made me flip on the "fighing drag switch" on my Shimano Spirex 2000 (rear drag)

Sunday - blue bird skies & 15mph winds ... led us to pack our bags, trailer the boat, and head for the house

Kudos to Wayne & Jane, of Piney Point ... for making our stay enjoyable. Nice folks !!

Here's the pics :

Piney Point Office/Store


Fall colors


Looking out on the lake, over the launch road


Our cabin


Heading out after 'em Sat afternoon


Lunch break at the honey hole (Friday)


Partner Paul with a couple of his keepers


Me with my two slabs


A less fuzzy pic ... LOL !!


Tha-tha-tha-that's all folks !!

... cp