By Marty Dixon/Staff Correspondent
I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. Judging by the number of boaters on the Coosa River, many of you did. With extra boat traffic, it is important that we are even more aware while out on the water. The river from the Minnesota Bend north is narrow, so we have to watch out for each other.
There were several close calls out there this past holiday weekend. When the river is crowded with boats, we can’t fly up and down, especially in the narrow areas. We have to share the space and err on the side of caution.
Brother Butch and I fished a tournament last Saturday. We just could not get into a groove and get anything going. We did catch several fish on Friday. That seems to be how it goes sometimes – you think you’ve found a few fish, who then hide in the air conditioning on tournament day.
I was not brave enough to get out on the water until Wednesday evening to fish the Chief’s Derby. We had the bites but could not get the good ones to the boat. In full disclosure, I could even not get them in the boat. I hooked up on eight or nine pounds of fish over the last 30 minutes of the tournament, only to have said fish spit the lure back in my face. Butch had already put two keepers in the boat, and I could not close the deal for us. Instead, all I did was duck in order to keep from getting hit in the face with a flying lure.
The bites have gotten tougher with water temperatures in the upper 80’s and low 90’s. The morning bite and the bite right before dark seems to be the ticket. The last two or three times Butch and I have been out, most of our fish have come in the last hour of the tournament at dusk. Flipping the grass as well as paralleling the grass with a crankbait worked well. The frog bite has worked off and on. If you can get a couple of bites on the frog, you can usually catch a kicker.
I’d like to thank Cliff Tucker of Tucker Construction for tearing out and building me a new porch this past week. The company do good work, so if you need a new porch, deck or pier resurfaced, give them a call. We are well pleased with what they did for us at a fair price.
I now I must get back to work on resurfacing my pier, as the new porch makes the pier look bad. I’ve been working on it a few boards at a time. That’s about all I can take with this heat, as well as only being able to get a few boards in the back of my small truck. I need a trailer for hauling but I’m too cheap to buy one. With a little luck and a lot of sweat, the plan is to finish up by the end of the month.
In Tuesday night’s local tournament, Bryan and Joe took first place with 8.65 pounds and a Big Fish of 4.57 pounds, second went to Jamie and his son Fisher with 7.87 pounds and Thursday went to The Chief with 7.43 pounds. I did not have Wednesday’s results as of this writing.
A shout out to Sparks Rehab once more for the good work getting my knee going. Daniel, Sam and Logan have taken good care of me. I’m finished up at their office and must do the remainder of the rehab on my own until the next doctor’s visit.
Until next time, wishing you tight lines and no wake boats above The Bend.
Marty Dixon is a 1982 Sardis High School graduate and retired high school educator and coach. He was head coach of the Gadsden State women’s basketball team from 2015 to 2019. He and his wife Texann live in Gadsden. He can be contacted at fishn4funin02@yahoo.com and the Neely Henry Bass Fishing page on Facebook.