Sweet Home Alabama with a side of Tennessee and Kentucky

Fishing Time:  Monday-Friday (September 25-30)

Weather:  Mostly Sunny, T-80s, H-65%, (Exception was at Old Hickory Dam where it rained all day)

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Water Temp: 80-81 degrees

Locations: Percy Priest Lake TN, Cumberland River KY, Old Hickory TN, Wheeler Lake AL, Wilson Lake AL

Best Baits: Percy Priest – Live Shad and Kietech Swimbaits, Old hickory- sabiki rig, Wheeler and Wilson- Cut bait (skipjack)

Who Went: Bobber John, Sean Mitchell, Catfish Hunter (Rich), Dunc

My best fishing buddy, Bobber John, moved to Bowling Green Kentucky last year and I’ve been itching to get over there to see him.   Finally made the trip and our plans included fishing for hybrid bass and monster catfish.  The trip turned out just as planned and my PB (personal best) for both species were achieved.  I also got the opportunity to catch another species that I have never caught before, freshwater skipjack. 

Bobber John picked me up from the Nashville Airport the evening of September 25^th with boat in tow and we made our way to a hotel near Percy Priest Lake.  That night we decided to take a drive over to the Old Hickory Dam to cast a line and see if any skipjack were willing to bite.  We caught a few and the trip had officially started.  It was non-stop fishing for the next 5 days.

The first lake we fished was Percy Priest and John’s buddy Sean Mitchell, who I have previously fished with at Lake Powell, met us at the ramp.  We also met our fishing guide we hired for the day, and I was immediately intrigued when the guide pulled out his cast net and began catching us live bait.  Later in the trip I got my chance with the cast net and it’s almost as fun as catching fish on rod and reel.

We had a slow day with the guide, but luckily right at dusk the bite turned on and we all got into a few Hybrid Bass.  The fight on these fish is unreal and the size was bigger than any I’ve ever caught.  Every bass was between 7-9 pounds.  They would hit so hard you couldn’t get the rod out of the rod holder! It was a great start to the trip.

                      

The next day we fished the Cumberland River on Bobber Johns new Tracker Pro V.  We were hunting for big stripers.  John had never fished this river, but he reached out to his contacts and got some good intel.  We started by throwing the cast net and this time we were looking for Gizzard Shad, which are much larger and better bait for big stripers.  We managed to catch a few good ones and set out to fish the river.  We never did see anything on the fish finder or live scope that looked like stripers, and after a few hours of dragging bait around we chalked up the river fishing as a fail.  I did land one smallmouth bass casting a swim jig towards shore.

We loaded the boat and made our way back to Percy Priest.  We went to the same spot where we did well the night before and started casting the net around to get bait.  It didn’t take long, and we had enough bait to go fishing.  We then proceeded to have one of the greatest nights of fishing ever!  We caught over 20 hybrid bass, all between 7-10 pounds.  On one run, we had five fish on at one time, and it was total chaos.  I was fighting two, John was fighting two, and the other we cranked down and hoped it stayed on, but it didn’t.  We managed to get 3 of the 5 in the boat and one ended up being a true striper. 

The weather was perfect, and the fishing was incredible.  It will definitely go down as one of the best evenings of fishing I’ve ever had.

The following day we had strict orders from the catfish hunter to catch some bait for our trip to Alabama.  Supposedly, fresh skipjack is the best bait you can use for big Blue Cats.  The day started off eventful as I launched Bobber into the water on the Cumberland River below Old Hickory Dam.  It started pouring rain and never stopped!  Then followed the thunder and lightning.  I won’t lie it was a bit scary at times and we spent about an hour hiding from the worst of it under the dam in a generator cubby.  This was also scary as they can turn them on at anytime and I had never seen it, so I wondered if we would die!

We pushed through the rain in our rain suits and were able to catch 25-30 skipjack.  We put them on ice, and got off the river soaking wet.  It was cool watching the big barges go through the lock near the dam.  When they let the water out of the lock it would come right at us and again, I wondered if we would live!  It was quite the adventure, but nice to change into dry clothes. 

We met up with Catfish Hunter (Rich) and jumped into his rig and headed toward the Tennessee river in northern Alabama.  

We arrived around 10 pm and went straight to wheeler lake, where we launched and soaked bait at a couple of Rich’s best spots.  The big kitties didn’t want to play the first night, but the weather was incredible and just sitting out on the big Tennessee River at midnight was more than enjoyable.  Perfect weather, no wind, no bugs, and quiet with no people.  We fished right next to a Nuclear Power Plant which was kinda cool.

On my final day we drove further south in Alabama to Wilson Lake, which is also on the Tennessee River.  This lake was gorgeous and known to have big largemouth bass along with monster blue cats.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t dream about fishing for bass along some of the shorelines and docks, we were passing, but the day was all about catching a big Blue Catfish.  We cut up the skipjack and started setting out lines. 

I was amazed at how many lines we setup, with 3 planer boards on each side, three down rods out the back of the boat, and one down rod on each side of the boat, for a total of 11 baited rods dragging the bottom.  It was a lot of work when a rod became snagged, they all had to be brought in, rebaited, and set back out.  With six planer boards this was not a small task and it felt like that’s all we did all day long.  It paid off though when one of the side down rods went bendo and we knew it was a good one.  I grabbed the rod, and the fight began.  It ended up being another personal best for me and probably the biggest freshwater fish I’ve ever caught at 43 pounds!  An incredible experience to reel in a fish that big.

Then only 20 minutes later we went bendo again on a down rod out the back of the boat and Bobber reeled in his personal best Blue Cat at 52 pounds!  A true monster! 

We continued slow trolling and must have caught close to 10 more blue cats in the 10–15-pound range. 

We kept at it until almost 10 PM.  It was a fun day, but I was exhausted.  I had no idea catfishing would be so much work!

We made the long drive back to Kentucky where I crashed on Bobbers couch at around 3:30 AM.  The next morning, I was greeted by their new pet, Sammy the snapping turtle.  Bobber told me it has never tried to bite, but immediately after placing him in my hands he took a nip at the sleeve of my shirt.  It was awesome!  Apparently, after not eating for a week, my shirt looked appetizing.  

Bobber and his family drove me back down to Nashville and I jumped on a plane home.  Truly an incredible trip and I was amazed at the size of the rivers in the area.  Makes me realize just how limited we are here in Utah with water.