By Marty Dixon/Staff Correspondent
To on one’s surprise, my week of fishing has been another exercise in futility – small catches, or even worse, nothing at all. My trend of being mostly useless continued. If I had a winning lottery ticket, I would lose it. About all I can say is that it is hot and tough on the river right now. I still have not fell out of the boat or broke another rod, so I’ve got that going for me.
The bass bite is still slow, and what few fish I‘ve been catching have been from a mixed bag of lures and areas. It’s been more flipping than anything else, both on the river and off in pockets. I’ve caught a few off the docks one day and then off crankbaits on a point the next. Whatever you choose to use, it’s been a tough bite.
Brother Butch saved our bacon this past week by putting enough fish in the boat for us to finally collect some money in Tuesday evening’s tournament. We finished second, along with the big fish. My main contribution was as the net man.
You would think that I would be able to accidently hit a fish in the head with a lure and make it mad enough to bite. If I fished in an aquarium right now, I would find a way to break off or miss the entire facility. What I am currently excelling at is hanging up, backlashing and providing a constant roll of profanity. I appear to be performing at a professional level while accomplishing those things.
For our next project, Butch and I are working on starting up a YouTube channel and Facebook feed. The test run is on bass junky 256. This should be an entertaining adventure if we get it going. My segments most likely will deal with issues such as how to get unhung from a tree or how to cut out a backlash.
For what it’s worth, my fishing advice of the week is to throw everything you have as much as you can; perhaps you’ll hit a fish right in the mush. Quite honestly, I’ve thrown a little bit of everything short of the end rig on the sissy stick. I’ve been looking for the banjo minnow so that I can try it next.
I do want to mention the river will be invaded by the ABT tournament trail this weekend. I was told it has a full field of 225 but I’m not completely sure. Combine those numbers with the pontoons and jet skis, and it should be a wild ride on the river.
My advice for Saturday fishing would be to wait at least until late afternoon but by then, of course, every fish in the river will have seen every lure known to mankind thrown at them or been washed ashore by the sheer number of boat wakes.
Tuesday tournament results: first place went to Terry Tucker with 7.41l pounds; second place went to Marty and Butch Dixon (all Butch, by the way) with 5.91 pounds and a big fish of 3.73 pounds; and third place went to Joseph and James with 4.81 pounds.
Wednesday tournament results: first place went to Brandon and Tracy with 8.52 pounds and a big fish of 3.60 pounds; second went to Austin and Wilson with 7.95 pounds; and and third place went to Joseph and James with 7.14 pounds. Both nights had 20-plus boats participating.
Until next time, tight lines and air conditioning!
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.