Friday afternoon I found myself seeking shelter in town creek tunnel below Ft. Loudon dam, waiting for the rain and lightning to stop. It was not the first time I’ve had to wait out an afternoon thunder storm. I am usually with others boaters doing the same in this large tunnel that can hold several boats and many a good stories have been traded there. I began to wonder why I did not bring my expensive rain suit which I have forgotten so many times before.
I was fishing with Chris Smith from Kingston, who was new to the turbulent water below the dam. You can always tell when the newbie’s are uncomfortable because they look over their shoulder, watching the turbulent water more than the area that we are trying to fish. But after we hauled in 10 or 15 large white bass on twister tail grubs, he was good to go. We ended up catching more than 35 white bass, a couple catfish, and one drum before the rain moved in. The rockfish started breaking on the surface as we where leaving. I will be back to give them a try.
Saturday afternoon I found myself sitting in one of the many duck blinds with my brother on Chickamauga Lake (he always brings his rain suit), waiting for the rain and lightning to stop. I wonder why my rain suit was still at home. The rain stopped and we were on the hunt for shell crackers. We located and caught several large bream and a few war mouths (goggle eye) before finding some bedding shell crackers. We ended up catching 20 nice shell crackers out of this hole, which was about 18 inches deep.
Take someone fishing, Greg