Pacemaker Fishing Forum

First time getting Emerson on the new boat that has not sold yet.  After a shaky start with some items I forgot (long rope for launching and better boat plug), and the crew team launching also, we got off.  Emerson was a big help and kept me from getting wet.  Got boat started and ran past mid river hump with the TM to avoid any issues with lower water.  Boat ran good and I let Em drive part of the way to the first stop.

It did not take long to get the skunk out of the boat with catches on a fluke rigged on the hover rig and a 2.8 Keitech swimbait on a 1/16 oz jig head.  We took a lot of pictures, but not even every fish.  I will post highlights.







There was a boat competing for our first spot, so we ran further upriver.  We thought we had a pattern when me and Em caught fish back to back on a white grub, but that died.  The water color was green to clear and there was a lot of muck algea balls floating along with some grass to deal with.  Clouds and wind were occasional respite when the temps got hot.

We tried lots of lures.  The white grub and a Z-Man Big TRD in Coppertreuse were the biggest producers.  We had fun.  I worked hard to keep him focused and a rod with a fixed lure in his hand.  We were competing and I was up 3 or 4 to 2 when he started catching up.  Most fish were small, but we had a couple 14-15 inch.  I caught one one a chatterbait mini-max, which was cool.  Once we came back to our first spot, the other boat was gone, but it was hot and we were both feeling it.  We did manage to get tied up at 5 apiece.  Then I got busy netting his fish, unhooking some and getting the lures straight.











We had to hopscotch the guys that were fishing near us going back.  I decided to just run back past them.  Em said we both have to catch one more fish.  He had 9 and I had 5.  We got to one area I knew had some flow and deeper spots.  I was throwing a watermelon grub with a chartreuse dipped tail and Em had been on a tear with the TRD.  Seemed the do nothing was his style.  Anyway, I hooked a decent fish and Em missed one.  Then he tossed out and before I could turn around, he said he had a fish.  I could see he had a bigger fish and when he got it closer, I could see it was a big smallie.  HE fought it well and I was able to net it and it was heavy.  I grabbed the fish and it was big.  I unhooked it and wet the trough.  It was 19 inches!  I got a pic with him and asked him to get the scale.  After he took a minute to find it, I decided to give the fish a breath.  I dunked it in the water and it thrashed hard and got out of my hand.





We were pumped!  It was 2pm, which we said would be our cutoff, so we headed to the ramp with the final tally 10-6.  Right before we got to the ramp, I was adjusting the motor to land and someone called to us.  A guy on a jet ski was stranded just down from the ramp.  We were able to pull him back without incident.  Em even helped me land by pulling the car back a bit and driving up the ramp so I did not have to get wet.  Great day and successful for getting Em some fish and a big one!