Seth

Has anybody actually been to the spring itself to see what it's like? I know a lot of times the spring branch will stay relatively clear and you will have a mud line below the bridge where it meets the actual river. That usually makes for some fun fishing.

I didn't realize he was using a lure. I do a reel set depending on what type of lure I am using. If I'm fishing a wacky worm on a neko hook with a spinning rod, 15# braid and 6-10# leader then I will typically just do a "reel set". If punchin cover with a jig or texas rig with 20# fluorocarbon, then I crack em pretty good. Thin wire hooks don't take much to penetrate a fishes mouth, but a heavy wire hook built for stout tackle will require a lot more force to punch through a fishes mouth. I can tell you that I lose less fish on those light wire hooks and a "reel set" than I do cracking them with heavy tackle.

Sounds like he was using circle hooks. They are the deal when it comes to bait fishing.

I linked the pic from my Google Photos initially, but I guess the permissions aren't set for public viewing. It should show up now since I uploaded it to the forum and relinked it.

We only caught one brown during our Taneyfest stay. It was a giant too! 😁

While at Taneyfest, I met a couple guys staying at Lilleys that were having a tough time catching trout. The first time we met was Thursday evening when I was cleaning the trout that Les and I had caught. They were intrigued by my method of cleaning the fish so I did my best to try and show them how to clean them and let them give it a try. I also explained how we caught them on jigs up around Short Creek and tried to give them some pointers to try the next day in hopes that they would catch more trout. After fishing all day Friday with DJ, his buddy and Les, we came in for dinner. As I was about to walk up to the room, those same guys I met the day before asked how we did and I told them it was slow, but we still caught probably 60 for the boat. They had another tough day. Before I left the dock, the older gentleman asked if I could possibly go out with them for an hour or so and show them how to fish a jig and where to go in person. I could have easily said "No. I'm tired and hungry.", but I always try to jump at the opportunity to try and get others on fish. I ran up, told the others what I was doing and then went back and got in the pontoon with them. We went down to Monkey Island and hit the inside bend first. They caught several on their power eggs and I caught several while showing them how I fish a jig. The next spot I showed them was from Scotty's down to the big boat where we all caught a few more. They had been fishing from Fall down to Short Creek the previous couple of days and I wanted to show them how the current slows up down lake and makes controlling your drift much easier. As it got close to dark, we came back and they thanked me. Before I left, I told them about the forum and about One Cast and recommended they check both out as there is a wealth of information available. Later on while checking Facebook messenger, I noticed I had a message from somebody not on my friends list. One of the gentleman I took out found me on there and sent me this. As much as I enjoyed fishing and hanging out with DJ, Les, Phil, etc, I have to say that this was the highlight of my trip. A little bit of my time to make somebody's entire trip is definitely worth it!

We didn't get anything real big during Taneyfest. Fishing was pretty slow compared to what it's usually like. This one was caught the morning after the CAM tourney last April.

I've always been the same way, but I did keep some legs from a jake I got last spring and made some turkey and dumplings. They were freakin delicious! The fiance couldn't get over how dark the leg meat was though so I had it all to myself. 😁

I've made fish patties out of my trout the past few times I have had them. They were good. I just bake them in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes until they flake, mince them up, mix everything together and make patties. That works well for frozen trout too since they tend to get a bit mushy after being frozen. There are plenty of fish patty recipes out there. Just pic one and give it a whirl. I'm surprised so many dislike the taste of trout. My fiance isn't much of a fish eater and even she likes my baked trout. Olive oil, lemon pepper or Old Bay on both sides, slice of bacon on top of fillet, wrap in foil, bake at 350 for 15 minutes, open top of foil and broil till bacon is good and crispy. They are decent even without bacon, but of course as good as with.

Suckers and trout are the only fish I leave the skin on. The suckers don't fall apart after I score them with the skin on and the trout getting grilled keep their skin. I've ate fried fish with and without the skin and I can't tell any difference. Most of the flavor is coming from the breading anyways.

My buddy was up there yesterday and said they wore out the little whites, caught a pile of little dinker catfish and snagged several spoonbill by accident on blade baits and crankbaits. I don't think they tried for any crappie. A few guys I know have been up there doing well on the nice whites/hybrids. I'm pretty sure they are using a-rigs. Saw a pick on FB from Friday or Saturday of a 14-9 hybrid that somebody had caught.

I'll be there for the Masters, RAW and Elfrink.

They aren't much different than last year. - Win the Masters, RAW or Elfrink trout tournament - Break 20" on brown trout - Break 15" on crappie - Meet and fish with more OAF members - Break 4#/20" on smallmouth - Get down to Taneycomo with @JestersHK for a full night of wade fishing if the water cooperates

You just gotta know how to use a net and it works great! 🤣

We did yesterday but honestly did best below Fall Creek. We threw jigs everywhere. The mini brown came from the backside of the grass point just above Point Royale. The shallower gravel and grass lines were better than the bluff/rock stuff.

Not a whole lot to share but I caught a nice bow Thursday and a really pretty mini brown yesterday.

I'm in the same place I was 20 years ago....literally! I was an 8th grader at the school district that I currently work and my office is also located in that same 8th grade wing of that building in what used to be a computer lab. As for new years eve, I'm sure i was sitting on a computer talking to girls and friends on MSN messenger in between playing Starcraft or Ultima Online.

How many are going to be there for dinner Thursday? I can grab some sides to go with the turkey.

I am trying to find somebody to go down with me early Thursday so I can get in two days of fishing. I’ve got to roll out early Saturday though so I can be back in time for my families xmas dinner. Work schedules lead us to having it late this year. Was anybody else going to be down and staying at the resort Thursday night?

I think my family is doing their xmas dinner on January 4th this year. If I can worm my way out of that, I'll definitely go. I'm not sure why we are doing it so darn late this year anyways.

I'd say it was pushing the 2' mark and 5#. It was tail walking like a dolphin so we all got a good look at it. Never have I seen a big brown do that. All the big browns I've seen caught stayed down deep. It's a good thing I didn't have to pee when he went for the boat flip and broke it off or I might have just pissed my pants laughing. It wasn't as funny when he beat my walleye off at the boat. 😄

Didn’t win a winter tourney, but did place in the koney a few times. I did win CAM with over 700” of fish. No luck on getting the better half to fish a tourney. Didn’t float at all. Still not 20” brown but got to net three for others. No money fish in the fall BBB this year either.

Heck I watched people running up the White River in 28k CFS this weekend with 9.9’s! I think you will be ok either way. Water will be a lot slower the further down you go. Four units in the Fall Creek or Short Creek area is a lot faster than it is down around the Landing.

People are on it in kayaks all the time.

The Norfork was rough on all of us. Brett broke his Panoptix transducer bracket and had a dead trolling battery. We drifted through some rapids and drifted in to a rock hard enough to crease one of the outer ribs on the bottom of my hull. Almost went in the drink on that one. I looked like I was break dancing up on the front deck on that one. My trolling motor hit hard too and I thought I broke something for sure but all was well.