Crowded Coosa, frog bites and one that got away
This past weekend on the lake was interesting, for sure. We had two tournaments of over 100 boats each day as well as several smaller tournaments. It seemed as if the river was churning like a washing machine with all those boats, but it looked like a good time was had by all.
The bass appear to be starting to transition somewhat out of the pockets and the river grass is starting to pop up all over and turning a bright green. That does not matter to most people, but that is good news for bass fishermen. The fish will set up shop more and more as the river grass greens up and the water warms. The water temperature appears to be around the 70-degree mark, give or take a few degrees depending on your location. We are supposed to be at full pool sometime this month.
The frog bite should be starting to get going anytime now, and I love to fish when that happens. This is one of my favorite ways to catch bass. Fishing a hollow-bodied frog and making it walk across the top of the water around the grass is one of the most exciting was to fish. Watching a bass come up and smash a frog on top of the water keeps you coming back to fish.
When a bass smacks the frog hard, it sounds as if someone just threw a brick on top of your lure. I become addicted to this kind of fishing, so I’m glad to see this time of year roll around. About the only thing that is more fun is sitting with my granddaughter on the pier while she beats one of my fishing rods on the water and tells me to fish.
On a side note, no one managed to cut me off while I was fishing this week so that was positive. I ran into a guy fishing in an area where I was about to fish when my wife looked over and asked if I was going to cut him off.
“I won’t but let me show you the way to do this,” I told her.
I waved at him and pointed to where I wanted to go, and he politely waved me on. That is how it is done. We even ended up talking for a few minutes as we fished alongside each other.
However, something always seem go sideways when I fish. The fact that I ran all the line off the reel while driving my boat to the next fishing spot did not even top the list last Saturday. While fishing in the evening tournament with the worst partner ever (I usually fish alone), I lost a large fish while fighting off a bug in my ear. I mean, how does it that happen that the biggest fish of the day bites when a bug flies in my ear? All that I could do was watch the fish swim away.
On that note, I will ask you to get out on the lake and keep a hook wet. If you get the chance, take a kid fishing.
Marty Dixon is a 1982 Sardis High School graduate and retired high school teacher 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.