By Marty Dixon/Staff Correspondent
It’s been a few weeks since last we spoke. I’ve done a little bit of fishing and a lot of rehab for my leg.
I did manage to break the frame of one of those pop-up patio awnings amidst all the rain we had on Tuesday night. The local tournament still went on, however.
Tuesday night’s flood and lightning derby was won by Lynn Johnson and Sticks with 7.85 pounds, second place was Kenny and Jamin with 7.79 pounds and third went to Jake and Willy D. Twenty-three boats braved the monsoon. I myself stayed put and watched on the screen porch. From everything I’ve heard, most everyone ran for cover as much as possible and departed with a boat full of water.
Wednesday night’s tournament was a little better, as the rain held off until the very end. Eli and Noah took home the bacon with a 9.67-pound sack of fish, with Christian weighing in a five-plus pounder for The Big Fish. It turned out to be a winner-take-all battle royal. Unfortunately, I was thrown out of the ring early on before the rain hit and went home empty-handed. As usual, many thanks to The Chief for running the show, rain or shine, and even if he does not fish. It takes a special guy to do all that he does just because he enjoys fishing.
The BFL tournament will be coming out of Coosa Landing this Saturday (June 11). Just so you can plan ahead, this tournament usually has at least 1000 boats.
The river is dirty from all the flash floods and thunderstorms we had early in the week. I ran into a few fish this past weekend and earlier in the week. I didn’t catch many fish, but the size was much better. I had 4.9 pounds as my big fish. Everything pretty much came off the Frog lure. I caught the fish out of shady grass. I also had reports that some good fish were caught throwing the frog around the willow fly hatches that have been taking place over the last two weeks. I’m sure the rain this past week knocked that down for a few days. I also received a report about a few decent fish caught flipping river wood with plastic creature type baits.
All in all, it’s been a decent couple of weeks. The grandkids had a good time staying over at the house for several days. I made a ball pit from a medium size inflatable pool and some cheap plastic balls from Amazon. Hurricane Anna and The Finster spent more time in that contraption than the kiddie pool. We watched the Tuesday night’s monsoon tournament from the ball pit out on the porch. We got both of the girls out on the boat for trip to Southside on Sunday evening. Anna enjoyed running over all the wakes created by the pleasure boaters and wake boats. Her Pops was less enthusiastic.
That’s about it from Peg Leg Pops for this week. Tight lines and safe boating to everyone!
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.