Take 3 fish off my bucket list!

[catman529]

I fished the Cumberland below Old Hickory all day yesterday from sunrise to dark.

It was my first time taking my boat onto the cumberland - trolling motor battery lasted all day with some juice left at the end. And I used it a good bit too.

During the morning I was on the water with friends- eyeseeker and his wife but they had to leave by noon.

After they left is when I started catching fish other than skipjack. lol... but thanks Nick for the advice on walleye/sauger since the cumberland is fairly new to me.

Now for the 3 species I caught for the first time. The first, on cut skipjack, in the mouth of Mansker Creek -

Camera was fogged from condensation (put in the cooler so it wouldn't get hot in the sun. lol) Fish escaped before I could get a better pic without the landing net.

But then a little while later, I caught another one.

This one was a little bigger, 5 1/2 pounds.

I have always wanted to catch a bowfin. They are some cool looking fish and fight hard.

I also caught four of these hideous beauties in the creek mouth -

Then I trolled back up to the dam, and caught these two dragging a shad rap behind the boat -

That's the other two fish that I had not caught before. On my way downstream in the morning, I had caught trolling 1 drum, 4 or 5 sticks, and a tangled mess of line, sticks, bank sinkers and lures. But on the way up around 530 pm is when the good fish were caught.

Also, around midday, I was up in mansker creek looking for rough fish. I saw a melanistic spotted or shortnose gar sitting up near the bank. Got a Crappie Magnet jig in his face and he took it, I hooked and got him right on the edge of the water before he came off. I was bummed because I have always wanted to catch and hold a black gar. I also saw a small bowfin in the creek before catching the two at the mouth - that got me interested right away but I didn't expect to catch those two that I did.

Man I could spend all day out there anytime though. If it weren't for the drive, or more specifically, the gas. Next fish on the list I need to catch out there is a rockfish. Watched a guy on a boat catch a nice one right in front of the spillway while I sat a short distance away.

 

[Baxter83]

That's awesome man! I've never caught a bowfin or a sauger. You got me on those two :D

Oh, and whatever that golden colored thing is, I've never even seen one of those, but it looks tasty :) :D

 

[RUGER]

Very cool.

 

[easy45]

Awesome, walleye is on my never caught list

 

[ImThere]

Looks like a good day fishing! Catch and release?

 

[catman529]

Looks like a good day fishing! Catch and release?

Mostly catch and release.

I hear grinnel only tastes good if you prepare it a certain way.... lol

 

[Andy S.]

:cool:

 

[spitndrum]

Right on

 

[buckhorn40]

:cool:

 

[4onaside]

Looks like a good day fishing! Catch and release?

Mostly catch and release.

I hear grinnel only tastes good if you prepare it a certain way.... lol

Give Troy Landry a holler for some recipes. To hear them tell it, Choupique is the fish of preference in the swamps

 

[bowriter]

I have lived and eaten in Troy's country and nevr, ever heard of chopique being a fish of preference.

cat-I can tell you how to catch a rockfish but it is dangerous. Go to Cheatham dam when they have a little generation going. On the right side of the dam, against the high wall, the shad run. Net some and keep about 6 of the medium size. BE SURE AND WEAR YOUR LJ AT ALL TIMES.The using a slip sinker and a 3/0 hook about 18" below the sinker, cast into the edge of the boils and let the boat drift back with the sinker just off the bottom. You will hang up a lot but you shuld catch a fish. But as I said, it is dangerous in your small boat with no gas motor. Personally, I would not do it. However, we have caught as many as eight in an hour like that.

 

[Winchester]

Sounds like fun, congrats!

 

[CATCHDAWG]

I wish I still had your dedication! I don't think I could fish from daylight till dark any longer. It definitely payed off for you, nice catches!

 

[catman529]

I have lived and eaten in Troy's country and nevr, ever heard of chopique being a fish of preference.

cat-I can tell you how to catch a rockfish but it is dangerous. Go to Cheatham dam when they have a little generation going. On the right side of the dam, against the high wall, the shad run. Net some and keep about 6 of the medium size. BE SURE AND WEAR YOUR LJ AT ALL TIMES.The using a slip sinker and a 3/0 hook about 18" below the sinker, cast into the edge of the boils and let the boat drift back with the sinker just off the bottom. You will hang up a lot but you shuld catch a fish. But as I said, it is dangerous in your small boat with no gas motor. Personally, I would not do it. However, we have caught as many as eight in an hour like that.

I would have done the exact same thing yesterday below old hickory, but I could not find the shad and threw the cast net well over a dozen times. I think most of the shad were in the white water below the spill that had the most water running through it. People had boats either anchored or someone driving the boat constantly to hold their place in the rough water. With a trolling motor and no anchor, I had to stay right in the eddies next to the rough water, out of reach of the shad. Hopefully I can find a few next time, because I could easily get perfect casting distance from the spillway.

 

[4onaside]

Show business Sloan. None of this, swamp people is for real. Landry is one helluva entrepreneur, owns trucking company, etc. Chopique patties sounds good to those of us suckers who watch. Anyone who thinks grinnel is a preference anywhere has never been anywhere! Although there was a professor at Jackson State CC that I met who thought that it was better than most other fish.

 

[catman529]

so the question is, what does grinnel taste like?

 

[R Crabtree]

The color on that sauger is pretty....nice pics.

 

[jakeway]

I've caught 14 different species of fish below Old Hickory Dam, all between the dam and the mouth of Masker Creek, fishng on the Hendersonville bank.

This is my best one, though I had a couple big rockfish or cats break my line while casting for stripe (white bass)

 

[CATCHDAWG]

I've caught 14 different species of fish below Old Hickory Dam, all between the dam and the mouth of Masker Creek, fishng on the Hendersonville bank.

This is my best one, though I had a couple big rockfish or cats break my line while casting for stripe (white bass)

That's a hoss sure nuff!

 

[catman529]

that's a heck of a walleye. How often did you hook into rockfish from the bank? I see people fishing for them from the bank, but you always hear they are up by the spillway chasing baitfish.

 

[Headhunter]

These came from below old hickory. On top, using a Hogy.

 

[jakeway]

that's a heck of a walleye. How often did you hook into rockfish from the bank? I see people fishing for them from the bank, but you always hear they are up by the spillway chasing baitfish.

I never actually caught a striper from the bank there. A couple times while casting small jigs or spinners for stripe I had something grab my lure and snap 10 lb line in a second. I assume striped, catfish, or possibly paddlefish.

 

[Viper (tp)]

Yea I have caught a dump truck load of the Bowfins (aka grinnel) in my part of the country. I fish alot of back waters, briar pit, slus, them rascals will wear your bass plugs out. They are like a mean small mouth with teeth!! :whistle:

 

[Viper (tp)]

Yea I have caught a dump truck load of the Bowfins (aka grinnel) in my part of the country. I fish alot of back waters, briar pit, slus, them rascals will wear your bass plugs out. They are like a mean small mouth with teeth!! :whistle:

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

nice fish