I had the pleasure of taking Jake and Heather fishing today. I have taken Jake’s brother Scott and his nephews on a couple of trips over the past few years. They hammered the smallies on those late spring trips but the fishing over the past few weeks has been challenging. I shared that with Jack because I knew his expectations were high due to the past successes I have had with his relatives. He understood what we were up against and decided to give it shot. TVA was still running heavy current at Douglas Dam. Today’s water temperature was seventy-six degrees and the water was stained. We started drifting below the dam where two days ago you probably could have walked from one bank to the other on the backs of all of the Skipjacks that were stacked up there. What a difference forty-eight hours can make in the game of fishing. They only caught a few skipjacks, one catfish, two walleyes, and one drum before we decided to head downstream to fish for some smallies. As predicted the fishing was tough but they did manage to scratch out five smallies. Jake caught a real nice 18 ½” smallie. A picture of Jake proudly displaying that fish is included in this report. Heather had the big fish of the day. A hard fighting drum that tipped the scales at six pounds. Jake and Heather were really nice couple and a lot of fun to guide.
River Smallie Adventures Fishing Report September 16, 2022
