Best Bad Night of fishing ever
Jan 2, 2020 09:47:58 #
True story of the best bad night I've ever had. Fishing a small club tournament on Pickwick lake part of the Tennessee river impoundments can have it's challenges. The ramp at Florence Alabama’s McFarland Park is about a half mile down river from Wilson Dam. Water releases from Wilson can really get the current going at times so this one particular night my partner and I decided to run down river to start our 12 hour Smallmouth only tournament and fish some of the slower current areas. I fish out of a 20FT. Bumble Bee bass boat and was headed to our first spot a few miles down river when I either hit something or one blade of my prop broke off. Somehow I got the boat shut down without any other damage but now was miles down river from the ramp with heavy current and only a trolling motor to get back to the ramp. As we started our slow troll back up river I pulled up close to a rock pile and made a cast. A tick on the line to and a hook set brought a nice 3 pound Smallmouth to the boat. Wanting to save as much battery for the Trolling motor I dropped the fish in the live well and didn’t put the pumps on told my partner we’ll keep a close eye on the fish to watch for stress. I picked up my rod and headed back to the front of the boat and walked directly off the front of the boat and fell head first into the river. I came up with Rod in one hand my hat still on my head and a toothpick in my mouth. My partner ask if I was ok then began his round of laughter, telling my it was illegal to get out of the boat to fish, he helped me back in the boat and I found a change of cloths and continued our long troll back up river. About an hour in I remembered the fish in the live well and ask my partner to take a look and see how it was fairing. He opened the live well lid and my nice 3 pound Smallmouth took his chance and jumped out of the live well. Now I said it jumped out but I mean it jumped out of the well and never touched anything but water. This fish must have been doing laps around the Live Well to get that kind of air because It jumped out of the boat never touching anything crushing my only chance of maybe weighing in a fish at weigh in time. My partner and I just stood there looking at each other, dumbfounded at our bad luck.
Not long after the great fish escape the dam shut the current off so we figured at least we’ll get back to the ramp and knowing a couple good spots just across from the ramp we got back with about 45 minutes to fish till weigh in time. The spot I stopped on was a pile of rocks close to a bluff that held some good fish at times so we decided to spend our last few minutes there. I cast a jig out and picked up line and thump, hook set BIG rock. Breaking this jig off thinking this night will never end I tied on another and made another cast to the rock pile. Jig hit the bottom and I started working it back through the rocks I turned to my partner and said “man it feel fishy down there”. The words just out of my mouth another thump but this time a hook set revealed I had a nice one, then it got bigger and started pulling harder, a big fish broke the water and jumped about 3 foot up before falling back in with a splash that sounded like someone threw a large dog in the river. The battle was on, the fish ran under the boat and started peeling line off my spinning gear. Suddenly there was a loud splash 20 feet or so on the other side of my boat. My partner ask what that was and I followed with MY fish. Somehow I led the fish back around the front of the boat and after a couple more hard runs and another epic jump we led the fish up to the boat when I realized we didn’t have a net. I made my way to the drivers seat and lipped this big smallmouth finally ending the fight. I was astounded at the size of this fish but with little time left we dropped it in the live well and got back to fishing. I swung the boat around and my partner made one last cast to the rock pile and bam he was hooked up. After landing his really nice fish we were out of time and had to get to the ramp for weigh in. Ended up the fish my partner landed went 5 pounds 2 ounces and mine tipped the scales at 7 pounds 4 ounces my personal best. To end the story our combined weight 12 pounds and 6 ounces was just enough to win first place in the tournament and my 7,4 was enough to net us the big fish pot. All in all this just proves don’t give up on fishing till the bell rings cause there just may be a pay off at the last few minutes.
Not long after the great fish escape the dam shut the current off so we figured at least we’ll get back to the ramp and knowing a couple good spots just across from the ramp we got back with about 45 minutes to fish till weigh in time. The spot I stopped on was a pile of rocks close to a bluff that held some good fish at times so we decided to spend our last few minutes there. I cast a jig out and picked up line and thump, hook set BIG rock. Breaking this jig off thinking this night will never end I tied on another and made another cast to the rock pile. Jig hit the bottom and I started working it back through the rocks I turned to my partner and said “man it feel fishy down there”. The words just out of my mouth another thump but this time a hook set revealed I had a nice one, then it got bigger and started pulling harder, a big fish broke the water and jumped about 3 foot up before falling back in with a splash that sounded like someone threw a large dog in the river. The battle was on, the fish ran under the boat and started peeling line off my spinning gear. Suddenly there was a loud splash 20 feet or so on the other side of my boat. My partner ask what that was and I followed with MY fish. Somehow I led the fish back around the front of the boat and after a couple more hard runs and another epic jump we led the fish up to the boat when I realized we didn’t have a net. I made my way to the drivers seat and lipped this big smallmouth finally ending the fight. I was astounded at the size of this fish but with little time left we dropped it in the live well and got back to fishing. I swung the boat around and my partner made one last cast to the rock pile and bam he was hooked up. After landing his really nice fish we were out of time and had to get to the ramp for weigh in. Ended up the fish my partner landed went 5 pounds 2 ounces and mine tipped the scales at 7 pounds 4 ounces my personal best. To end the story our combined weight 12 pounds and 6 ounces was just enough to win first place in the tournament and my 7,4 was enough to net us the big fish pot. All in all this just proves don’t give up on fishing till the bell rings cause there just may be a pay off at the last few minutes.
Jan 2, 2020 10:13:18 #
Jan 2, 2020 10:18:56 #
Jan 2, 2020 10:28:51 #
Nice story Ivey. Your as much of a writer as you are a fisherman. Welcome aboard.
Jan 2, 2020 17:16:38 #
Did figure out how to post photos, here's the two fish that didn't jump out of the boat. The big guy next to me was my partner in this debacle nicknamed Redneck. I'll let you guys where he got that name.
Jan 2, 2020 17:19:48 #
A little better shot of that big fish. Just to let you guys know this fish was released alive and well back into Pickwick Lake.
Jan 2, 2020 18:18:59 #
Ivey wrote:
A little better shot of that big fish. Just to let you guys know this fish was released alive and well back into Pickwick Lake.
Nice fish. What city is Pickwick lake near. My brother in law bass fishes in a lot of night tournaments. He lives in Sparta.
Jan 2, 2020 18:43:33 #
Ron620DVS
Loc: Guntersville Alabama
Great fishing experiences are never forgotten, Grate fishing story...
Jan 2, 2020 18:52:31 #
Pickwick lake is about 60 miles long and runs through 3 states, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. The majority of the lake is in Alabama, the upper end starts just below Wilson Dam at Florence Al. That's where I like to Fish. Pickwick Dam is at Pickwick Landing TN. in south west TN. Sparta is closer to the middle of the state so if he's fishing Pickwick He's driving a good ways, which is not unusual for Pickwick. People drive from all over the country to fish there. There are several other lakes closer to him but they would be on a different river system.
Jan 2, 2020 19:18:59 #
Ivey wrote:
Pickwick lake is about 60 miles long and runs thro... (show quote)
I dont think he goes that far. Must be closer lakes
Jan 2, 2020 19:23:53 #
Yea Sparta is right in the middle of about 5 really good lakes
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.