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Author Topic: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness  (Read 5576 times)

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TimM

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10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« on: October 05, 2006, 09:02:04 AM »
I'd hoped to make it back to the Carthage area y'day but got tied up in a meeting later than expected on Tuesday night so I wound up back below Cheatham. Fished from about 10 to 5, H20 temp was 70.5 +/-, they ran 2 units all day up till about 3 when the third unit came on. Overall things were much slower than what I've seen in the recent past...and Ron wasn't even with me!   ;)  Managed to scratch out 10 little stripers from about 2 to 5 lbs +/-. Oh well, I was using lighter spinning tackle and at least they stretched my string! I don't know about you guys but I don't think I've ever had much success with "zebras" during the daytime when there is a full, or nearly full moon.

Having said that it was definitely a weird day...at one point I was standing on the back deck of the boat when for no apparent the right lens of my glasses popped out and into the river....a little later when I reeled in my line there was a small treble hook with about 6" of line attached hooked in the back of my bait just like I'd put it there as a stinger...it hadn't been in the water long... ??? ... then literally on the next cast I was reeling in the bait when the line suddenly got heavy and had clearly snagged something...it turned out to be this:



My hook was caught in a guide on this rod& reel complete with hook, line and sinker. It wasn't snagged on anything and no line was really let out at all. It had been in the water long enough that stuff was growing on the reel and I didn't fool with it much but the reel seemed to work just fine.

A couple of weeks ago when Ron went with me to Cheatham he made a comment about having some baits cut in half and wondering how that came to be as he'd never seen it anywhere else. I made a smart a$$ comment about the elusive barracuda/striper hybrid. Yesterday while fishing from a dead boat with the bait on the bottom I felt a hit completely consistent with the others I'd had that turned out to be stripers. This fish did not get hooked though and this is what I found when I reeled in the bait....



This the "phenomena" that Ron was referring to in his post. Any ideas how this happens and why we don't see it below the other dams on el Rio  Cumberlos?

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RonS

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2006, 09:45:31 AM »
Congrats on your new rod and reel!! Is that an Abu-Garcia reel? If so a good cleaning and that baby will last another hundred years. I really like those reels. Dependable workhorses, not toooooo pricey.

Glad to know someone else is getting bites from the Stripercudda below that dam. Sure would love to get a picture of one, maybe nake a necklace out of his teeth. ;D

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Yesterday, I was at the bottom. I was at the bottom of a valley, in the river. Then my eyes hiked up the mountains to the snow capped peaks. I thought, "When I am at this lowest place I can be, standing in a river, everything is looking up."

TimM

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2006, 02:43:42 PM »
It's definitely not just you Mr Snow..it had happened to me before, I just never really thought anything about it....'course I don't think it ever happened to me as much as I saw it happen to you that day either. ;)

I almost think it could be small stripers that just grab the fish about the middle of the body and don't let go when you pull. Then again with circle hooks the whole bait might be in their mouths and you just get the front half out because circle hooks mostly slide at first...


I forgot to mention earlier another random event that happened..which really was the coolest thing all day. I saw what was definitely either a golden or immature bald eagle chasing an adult osprey around the river. They actually stayed in the area for a while which was cool to watch.   ;) The osprey eventually left and the eagle went back to hunting and disappeared. Later I saw a pair of Osprey as well as a pair of red tail hawks hunting the river area around the dam. I was hoping that one of them would light on something close enough for me to get a picture but it was not to be. Still cool to see!:-)   

I thought about the irony of Leo's post the other day ...timing-wise that is. I wonder if this is some sort of seasonal migration of these raptors and that's why there seems to be so many around right now? I know I saw lots and lots of osprey on the Hull in April along with eagles. I also saw multiple adult bald eagles on the river in early june too. It is all the Cumberland river after all. I dunno...doesn't matter...it's still cool to see!

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dleo6446

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2006, 02:49:23 PM »
hmmm...looks almost like you had a hit from a turtle!!!  I have seen them do that to fish on stringers even...
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TimM

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2006, 02:51:52 PM »
Quote from: dleo6446 on October 05, 2006, 02:49:23 PM
hmmm...looks almost like you had a hit from a turtle!!!  I have seen them do that to fish on stringers even...

You know I had that thought too. The thing is though that I cannot recall seeing even one turtle surface below the dam. Also where most of Ron's StriperCuda hits happened was in VERY swift water. I'm no turtle expert but that's not where you'd expect them to be is it?

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MikeA

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2006, 07:28:54 PM »
:o It looks like a Bull Shark bite to me. You’re gonna need a bigger boat.

Really though I am going to guess that it's a Catfish, Flathead or Blue most likely. They have some very powerful jaws easily capable of doing that kind of carnage and they both love live Shad/Skipjack. The reason you don't see it other places could be the lack of the big schools of YOY Skipjack. However,  I have seen on many occasions below CH Dam and on Priest very large Cats rise to take a Shad. I would study the area and target these guys if it were me. I love me some big Catfish on the end of a rod.

Here's a small Flathead on I caught on the fly.


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dleo6446

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2006, 07:48:24 AM »
We have seen several pretty good sized turtles from the Dam all the way down river.  they certainly are in there and some of them  pretty big too.  my grandson and I saw one that must have been over a foot in diameter about a year ago.  Another thing that might be "biting" them in half like that is Walleye...

Grumpy and I shared some water with a pretty nice sized turtle a couple of weeks ago fishing just below the dam...
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bd

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2006, 06:17:12 PM »
Looks like the work of a big longnose gar to me.  Flesh is ripped, bait was grabbed around mid-body, and there are some huge gar in the area where you were fishing.

bd
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TimM

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2006, 01:49:40 PM »
It may well have been gar, turtles, cats, dogs or maybe the lochness monster!!!  ;D

I dunno...I realize that gar and turtles are all up and down the river...and have seen lots of gars in the calmer water below the dam everytime I've been there...but I really don't remember seeing them right up in the really, really swift water, which is where this happened. Don't they tend to prefer slower current? I have on the other hand caught cats in the same places doing the same thing now and then. Oh well, no matter, it was just a curiosity.
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bd

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2006, 02:06:23 PM »
I've never seen turtles up in a tailrace area.  On the other hand, I have seen big gar gulping air and hitting bait right in the boils before.

bd
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RonS

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #10 on: November 03, 2006, 10:04:35 AM »
Never thought about a gar. Could be.  Wish I'd have thought of that, I'da sunk a fray of rope and checked it out. Maybe next time.
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Yesterday, I was at the bottom. I was at the bottom of a valley, in the river. Then my eyes hiked up the mountains to the snow capped peaks. I thought, "When I am at this lowest place I can be, standing in a river, everything is looking up."

TimM

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2006, 12:14:08 PM »
The fish in these pics are facing upstream under a current break right where the water flows into the tank. Originally I just thought it was just kinda neat how many stripers were crammed up in that little space. The other day though I realized that there are a bunch of gar right in there with the stripers and remembered this thread.....



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MikeA

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2006, 02:35:38 PM »
Neat.
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In the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced nor cried aloud,/Under the bludgeonings of chance/My head is bloody, but unbowed.

troutwag

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #13 on: January 10, 2007, 10:55:10 PM »
I vote gar as well.  I hung and lost a monster below the dam in Louisville one time while sauger fishing.  The small ones I have managed to catch have needle sharp teeth!  Nice reel by the way.  Want to sell it?!
Best of Weirdness to you!
John
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TimM

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Re: 10/4 - A day of Random weirdness
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2007, 09:57:17 AM »
Quote from: troutwag on January 10, 2007, 10:55:10 PM
  Nice reel by the way.  Want to sell it?!
Best of Weirdness to you!
John

Hi John, somehow I missed your post here...anyhoo..sure I'd like to sell it...it's just taking up space in the garage. Make me an offer!  ;)
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