Christmas Day

[Champ188]

Illness in the family forced the postponement of our Christmas gathering, so Donna and I spent our Christmas Day in the second-best way possible ... chasing those green, spotted and brown critters around the Shell Knob area.

We stayed within 3-4 miles either way of the bridge and enjoyed a nice day, boating about 25 fish. While we only had 5 keepers for 12-13 pounds, several others were very close to 15 inches. I called it a successful trip given the east wind and high pressure.

Ned, jerk bait and swim bait were the ticket, both fished on 45-degree banks with chunk rock ... the bigger the chunks, the better. Seemed to be a few LM on wood, too, but nothing real strong.

Probably could have doubled our numbers if we had stayed with the Ned exclusively, but we both wanted to catch some jerk bait/swim bait fish so we sacrificed numbers for catching them the way we wanted.

Did catch one of our keepers on a Rock Crawler off a main-lake point.

[m&m]

Champ, you guys know how to make lemonade out of lemons. Thanks for the report. 

Mike

[merc1997 Bo]

certainly is a great way to spend the day enjoying what was created for us.

bo

[Champ188]

3 minutes ago, m&m said:

Champ, you guys know how to make lemonade out of lemons. Thanks for the report. 

Mike

Thanks, Mike. Like Bo preaches all the time, you gotta stay alert to what the fish are telling you and be able to adjust ... sometimes several times a day. That's a big part of what I enjoy about fishing these days ... figuring them out ... and then watching Donna catch them.

[Quillback]

Very nice, love those chunky spots!

[96 CHAMP]

Sorry to here about your Christmas gathering,  looks like you & your wife had a good day of fishing champ, it maybe a while before you all get back out with all this rain they are calling for. 

[176champion]

Very nice fish Champ and sorry to hear about your Christmas gathering...

They calling for sleet rain or snow on Monday here and up to 10 inches of rain locally for a total and by looking at the weather for the next couple weeks it's gona be to cold for me to be out there.

[Sore Thumbs]

Good Job Champ. I am chomping at the bit to get out. Getting my trailer fixed so I am grounded. Until then I can live vicariously through my fellow forum brothers and sisters. Hopefully it's a double bonus with getting to fish and everyone being ok. Have a great Holiday and thanks for the report.