By Marty Dixon/Staff Correspondent
With the recent cold wea-ther, my fishing trips have been few and short in duration. Old age does not mix well with cold mornings, or any other time for that matter.
Wednesday turned out to be a short hour and half trip with a giant catfish, but I managed to catch a good 3.7-pound spot on a jig before I had to return home and warm up.
Thursday was a non-fish day. I had the pleasure of ru-nning errands with my wife Texann most of the afternoon (she wrote this part). But Eric, otherwise known as The Alabama Hammer, was on fire and sent me some pictures of nice spots he caught that afternoon. As I figured, the day I’m unable to get on the lake is the day the bite is on good. Then again, it could be that The Hammer is just a good fisherman and I’m merely a killer of good fishing.
It was still a day well spent, however, as I bought a Minnie Mouse bed for Hurricane Anna that she seemed to like. There ain’t much that beats that smile when the grandkids are all excited about something you get them or when they are excited to see you.
Friday’s fishing was tough after the weather went through, with only a couple of small fish to speak of.
Saturday brought more cool weather as well as a high school fishing tournament. I stayed close but tried to stay out of the way. I heard that it took around 11 pounds to win the tournament.
Eric messaged with more fish pictures from below Southside; he managed to land five good ones as well as his own hat. I had to come in about the time Eric headed out. I kept The Hurricane right after lunch for the rest of the day and night. We had a good wrestling match, fed ducks at my mom and dad’s place and played with plastic animals.
Midday on Sunday before work, I pulled the boat out to get it ready to go to Lee Brown at Brown’s Outboard for some repairs. The boat’s motor was just not running smoothly, and with any luck I could be back on the water within a few days. That was Monday’s task, so fishing was not on the agenda that day.
On Tuesday, The Hammer carried me out on his boat for a few hours of fishing in the cold wind. I managed to kill his bite, of course. We each caught one fish running a multitude of rip rap banks from Southside up. The fishing was bad but the company was good. Fishing stories are always fun, either to tell or to hear.
On Wednesday, I get a call from Kade Kitchens, who wanted to borrow my scale. He’d caught a mondo spot and wanted to weigh the fish, but my scale was in my boat at Brown’s Outboard. Kade did provide a little insight on his pattern – he is throwing spinnerbait around some current seams. That is about all I can reveal due to The Fisherman’s Code. I also don’t want Kade to give me grief and call me a pot licker, which is the technical fishing term for those of you that don’t fish much.
Last and certainly not least is a quick crappie report from Jonathan “The Crappie Whisperer” Nix. He tells me that the crappie are still holding deep on the ledges like they’ve been over the past few weeks. Jonathan did mention that he discovered a few nice size crappie under deep docks with a 1/24-oz. jig using a slow retrieve. The key for Jonathan is his vast knowledge of electronics and how to use them to locate a school. He’s been throwing a pink jig some up under the piers, Bobby Garland jigs, I believe.
Next week’s review will either be very short or non-existent, depending on who shows pity and carries me fishing until I get my boat back. Stay warm and safe out on the water, and full live wells to all.
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 may be contacted at fishn4funin02@yahoo.com and the Neely Henry Bass Fishing page on Facebook.