duckydoty

Fog during the summer nights is generally the biggest issue

In 1990 while in the Army at MOS training Ft. Gordon, Georgia, I became friends with one of my roommates, Cumby L. Freeman. We went to Airborne Jump School together, we were both assigned to Bravo Company, 82nd Signal Battalion at Ft. Bragg and then we were both deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Gulf War 1. Cumby L. completed his commitment to the regular Army in 92, and I in 93. We stayed in contact over the years with a phone call every now and then and via FaceBook always wanting to meet up but life getting in the way. Last February, I received a phone call with an invite to hunt Rio turkeys in the Hill Country of Texas with my long time brother in combat, Cumby L. Freeman. I made a commitment to make it happen! After 26 years of staying in touch and a 12 hour drive, my wife, MonaChari and I were in the Hill Country of Doss, Texas where I had the honor to introduce her to my Army buddy that she had only heard about. The next morning we got up early for a short drive to the Antlers Ridge Ranch in persuit of a Rio. Shortly after setting up and making a few scratches on the slate, gobbles started thundering through the hills. Deer were catching wind of us, snorting and blowing, but still a hen came right in after sunrise and busted us. It was not long before the birds stopped talking and we called it quits for the mornings hunt. That afternoon, Cumby and I went to another blind location for a quick sit in the woods before a dinner date with his mom, who vigantly prayed for our safety and provided many a care packages while deployed to the Gulf War. We only had one hen come in and hang out for a while during that short sit before having to head back to the truck parked on one of the ranch trails. As we got back to the truck, opened the doors and started to unload the guns, I spotted a tom about 80 yards out behind a cedar tree coming up the trail towards us in full strut. I told Cumby to freeze as I tried to reload my shotgun as quietly as possible and while doing so a hen popped out of the bend in the trail 20 yards away between us and the tom. Of course she spotted us and spooked right away, but the tom had just worked his way into to bend and was still heading in the direction he last saw the hen. In what seemed like 20 minutes, the tom finally stepped out from the bend 20 yards away in full strut and I slowly squeezed the trigger to drop my first Rio. That evening, we all celebrated our 26 year reunion, our first hunt together, and successfully taking my first Rio. Cumby’s step father also just happens to have the worlds largest Texas Rangers badge, pistol and paraphernalia collection in the world and we thoroughly enjoyed our private viewing of the amazing collection. We have decided to make this an annual event and both of us were ashamed it took 26 years to make it happen.

Two more pets this morning The CAM is a real fun tourney to fish for a great cause. Thank you for hosting it, Phil.

I used that method 3 winters ago and did well. Whites and bass on the a rig part, crappie and walleye on the flicker shad. Put a 2 foot peice of tippet on Center arm to flicker shad.

I could not see a few photos on the new hobby thread. Did u notice Phil changed my avatar? My photos were just a bunch of big brown pictures from this morning. Nothing special, Marty.

We got into them again this morning dragging crank baits. The group of us boated 4 browns with one being 21 1/2 inches and another 23 3/4 inches. Picked up a couple decent rainbows too.

We started throwing jerk baits in the eddies up by the cable and only boated 3 bass and two rainbows in the first hour. Drug crankbaits on the bottom from the cable to the river right Island above Lookout with out a bite. Got in behind the Island over the grass flats and found some that wanted to play. Fished there and the Eddie in front of Point Royal with our new 1/16 ounce sculpin and peach jigs and boated over 40 in 2 1/2 hours. Drug cranks again down through the narrows and picked up a 19 1/2 inch rainbow.

Start around Bridgeport and work your way up stream

If you can get out in a boat you’ll have more access to where the fish are. That’s a pretty good stretch of water where you’ll be staying. The creeks are holding a few fish right now too. Watch Phil’s One Cast for daily updates on the bite and water conditions

LOL! Yup that was fun!

Yeah, I’m kinda on the fence about this. Wouldn’t hurt my feelings not to sell it.

Ok guys, I’ve decided to let the duck machine go. It is a 13 foot 8 inch long by 48 inch wide modified John boat with 212 cc mud motor on home made trailer. I modified the bench seats in the John boat so that you can lay out in it. The motor is strong enough to push the boat and two men over brush and all kinds of stuff. Only need about 3 inches of water to run in. Wood in transom will need to be replaced but still strong enough to run it now. Pretty neat boat to duck hunt out of if you have a place to hunt that has ducks. Haven’t been any numbers of ducks to hunt in my area for a few years now and started chasing the walleye instead. asking $750

Well, I guess I’ll give me my own update.... fished KDock to Beaver from 9 am to 4 pm. Jerk baited roll offs all the way up and only one smelly fish. Jigged brush piles and bluffs all the way back down with only one keeper crappie. Water temps 39.5 in the morning and 42 when we quit. Wind out of the east and cold all day.

Good water depth. Stay a little closer to the bluff sides. Reel good bluff just down from there that I’ve seen a lot of bass caught on this time of year.

Still wondering?

He still lives in the area and chimes in on FB every now and then. Does a lot of traveling with his job.

Well, how’d you do?

I caught 8 of them stinking bass and 6 crappie today throwing mega bass 110+1’s looking for Walters. Stayed in 22-27 fow and threw up on the edge of the flats. Caught fish around k dock, snapp, and Beaver. 6-8 seconds between twitches.

Most were caught on jigs. Mega bass caught more fish on Monday than Tuesday, but the jig out fished it big time. I believe the 20 inch brown down by Monkey was caught on a pink power worm.

I use mega bass 110+1’s. I work my way up stream slowly. Very slow! I stay in 27-30 feet of water and cast up on to the flat fishing the roll off of the old river channel. Concentrate on the upper and lower ends of the small creek cuts. Work like rps said. Phil audio recorded and posted on here a walleye seminar with Buster Loving a few years ago on walleye fishing Upper Bull Shoals. Lots of good info there. I’ve been trying to dial it in 4 years now. I have good days and bad days but I’ve been starting to have more good than bad.

Tinsel in a white or grey and white jig can help sometimes. You never really need more than an 1/8th ounce jig unless flood gates are open. In that case we do double up on 1/8th jigs. Straight line jig fishing can put great numbers in the boat. Below the trophy area, the pink power worm on a 1/100th ounce jig head under a float can put a lot of numbers in the boat too. With higher flow rates, try a jerk bait. It can be fun.

I fished it yesterday in a 17.5 foot aluminum G3. Big waves in areas. A good spot lock on the trolling motor was the only thing that made it possible. Getting boat back on trailer in the waves was a little challenging. Had one chance to get it right.

I got out with an old buddy from high school and his son this morning while the snow was falling. It was chilly but not quite as cold as yesterday morning. We were the only ones on the water for quite some time and had the trophy area to ourselves except one fella at outlet two and another on the south side. Threw grey and white 1/8th ounce jigs with 3 units of water running and caught all the fish you could shake a stick at. I love fishing Taney in the snow. Peaceful, quiet and the fish were biting. Most rainbows were in the 14-15 inch range with a few bigger and a good showing of silver bullets. It’s always an adventure and a day filled with laughs from crazy stories from the past when fishing with my buddy Jack and his boys. This post has been promoted to an article