By Marty Dixon/Staff Correspondent
This past week brought a mixed bag of fishing. Over the weekend I managed to catch a few flipping pocket grass with plastics. I was forced to fish in the pockets due to the large number of boats going up and down the river. I could not stay on the river with all the boat and jet ski wakes, so I found a place to fish out of the way and managed to catch a few. My brother Butch found a few fish over the weekend swimming a jig. All of this took place in the mid-river area. I can still use some fishing reports from the upper and lower parts of the lake.
I had planned to fish the tournament last Tuesday, but boat trouble cancelled those plans. Lee Brown of Browns Outboards now has the aluminum bass savage working on my boat. With any luck, I can be back out in it fishing soon. Butch and I fished from his boat on Wednesday evening to no avail.
We both caught some fish over the weekend and during end of the week but only managed to land some shorties on Wednesday. As always, we had a good time complaining and telling stories about useless things. I hope that we’ll manage to win a tournament before long, even if we have to sponsor it and not allow anyone to fish but us.
I will admit that we hit a stump while trolling along, which almost threw me to the bottom of the boat. I do that quite often, so I suppose I should fish out deeper so I can’t hit anything. I’ve little doubt, however, that I’d most likely find a way to throw myself off the boat out there as well.
Just a random question that has bothered the crap out of me lately: am I the only one that can find a few fish on my own but can’t get anything to bite but the dang mosquitoes during a tournament? I swear we thought we had good location to go to, but we couldn’t get anything to cooperate when the chips were down. Judging by the weights of the Wednesday tournament, though, it looked like most people struggled. I think I’ll blame it on the weather that moved in while we blasted off, which is as good an excuse as any.
With any luck, we can locate some fish next week, provided that the power company can leave the water level alone. The water level has been jumping up and down like a kid on a trampoline, and with all the rain and weird spring weather, everything on the lake seems to be a little bit behind. But the grass is really starting grow, and we did have a willow fly hatch this past weekend. I found one in my boat house and had to break out the leaf blower to move them out. a This usually signals that fishing is picking up (the willow flies, not the leaf blower). I look for another hatch up and down the river in the near future.
If I can get my boat up and running again, I’ll have more to write about next week. If that does not happen, I guess I’ll be sponging off my brother for a boat to go fishing.
Otherwise, next week’s column might be a dry article, perhaps about how I tried to build or fix something at home.
If you stop by and find me staining my pier, that likely means I don’t have my boat back. One thing that I think I’ll do is work on training the fish around my pier to come out when I walk on the pier to feed them. Perhaps I’ll use a Pavlov’s Dog technique – stomp the pier, then throw some food so they’ll they appear so Anna and Zailyn can look at them from the pier.
Tuesday tournament results: first place was Brett with 9.69 pounds, second place was Sonny and Walter with 9.47 pounds and third place was Brandon with 9.33 pounds. It was a large field close for the top three places.
Wednesday tournament results: first place was Chad and Donnie with 8.16 pounds and second place was Tracy and Harrison with 7.54 pounds. With only 12 boats participating, only two places were paid out. Fast-moving bad weather may have been a factor for the low turnout.
Just a quick reminder that we have back to back BFL tournaments next weekend on June 13 and 14, with more than likely an excess of 100 boats each day. We also have the City of Gadsden Super Tournament co-ming up on June 20. It is an open team tournament and you can pick up an application at Coosa Landing or search for one online.
Until next week, wet a hook and enjoy our river.
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.