Ol’ Black Water

[ET Fish]

Keep on rolling! The Doobie Brothers might have been referring to the Mighty Mississippi, but the song described the TN River yesterday! TVA was pulling, the water was muddy, and we finally had a chance to fish for the first time in a month. As we slid the Lund into the chocolate milk, eager to get fishing, we were greeted with a dead starting battery! No problem, as I am prepared with jumper cables on the boat. Jumper cables that have rusted to the point of not getting a good connection! This is one of many reasons that I love where I live! The only two guys around the launch both jumped into action to retrieve their cables! A quick hook up to a trolling battery, and we’re up and running! Many thanks to strangers who are quick to assist!
First run is to some docks, a longer run to allow the battery to charge. As a precaution, we turned off our electronics to make sure we didn’t drain our charge. The rule for muddy water is dark jigs, right! Black and chartreuse should fit that description. Drop, cast, shoot, swim, deep, shallow, and pendulum. Finally, I saw the line swimming away! Oh yeah! I don’t get cheated on hook sets, so after “crossing his eyes” it was on! 4 lb test on an ultralight, and the rod is bent double as the fish ran under the boat. It felt great, but this can’t be a Crappie.?

Nope! Lots of fun, but not what we’re after. Time to move, and the boat cranks strong! We scan a marina, but don’t find anything of interest, except for a couple of sunken trees that I wasn’t aware of. Mark a waypoint, and off to a known brushpile on the main channel, out of the current. We marked some fish, but couldn’t garner any interest in our offerings. An observation. The water temp in the marina cove was 54. Out in the main channel, it’s 51. Hmmm! After exploring a couple more coves and not seeing anything that got me excited, we made a run down lake to a top secret cove that holds a giant brushpile! I love having these “secret” spots, that every fisherman that fishes the area knows about! Yeah, I talked to a spider rigger who told me how many fish he had caught off this pile over the years! Today though, he was fishless. And he was using minnows! We’re going to fish it anyway.
After a few minutes, our best angler hooks into a good one. T.A.R.P.!

A touch over 14”! Maybe we’ve found a few? This brush is in 18ish FOW, and they were approximately 12 ft down. Now don’t misunderstand. We didn’t catch em hand over fist. You had to work, drift, move, change lures, and change presentations. Today they wanted the lure moving slightly, and seemed to prefer a smaller jig. The Crappie Magnet was the most successful. Bison and a color that is dark blue with some sparkle. Midnight blue, maybe? As she put her fourth fish in the box, I released yet another yellow bass! It took a while, but after I switched to the blue Magnet, I got to play! Sunset made it kind of cold, so we cranked the motor with the now charged battery, and ran hard toward the truck!
We didn’t slay em. It wasn’t a banner day. We got out of the house, it wasn’t raining, and we were able to shake off some of the winter cobwebs. And a bonus, we’re going to eat some fresh, cold water crappie! It was such a needed trip that I left the boat hooked to the truck for a possible return!



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