Photos Of Today's Catch

July 4th

Percy Priest

Back out early this morning at 5am and it's time to get started early with this heat. Grabbed a few bait at the dock and took off to Suggs creek looking for the surface bite. By the time we arrived it had ended and all the fish were in the 15-20 foot range. I noticed Mike Walker on the right side of the entrance of the cove. I also noticed several birds working the area. As soon as we stoped about 100 yards from the red bouy at the mouth of Suggs. The boat was in 50 foot and we were surrounded! It took no time to go through the 40 bait and everyone got a fish with the younger boys catching the most. We took off leaving them bitting to get bait at the YMCA cove and for some reason was pretty easy only taking 2 cast to get 50-60 good size bait. Fired up the G3 and took off for Suggs creek again. We were lucky Walker was still in the area and so were the fish! After another 20-25 Hybrids it did slow. The biggest was close if not right at 10 pounds. It ended up being the best spot all day after moving over to elm Hill marina and checked my humps to the right and over at Raccoon and Bear island and not finding much. Suggs creek is where you want to be in the morning and I'd bet 4 they will be in there and on the surface at 5am. If you have some topwater lures ready and wait for the the fish to show themselves you will catch some big ones!I'd worry about bait after the first light bite and surface bite ends. I always miss that bite too busy catching bait. And I wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July and express how much I appreciate your continuing support.

July 1st 

Percy Priest

What a hot day on the lake with the fishing even hotter! We started at 6am out of Four Corners and again bait has not been hard to catch if you get started early in the marina. I've been able to get several by staring at 5:15am with low light conditions. I did use my green light to help keep the bait around the boat and I also turned the light on and waited a few minuites to start casting my net. After getting 50-60 bait we headed to the no wake zone hoping to find them on the point right outside the no wake. The wer not and not even a mark when we scanned it. Made the move over to 3rd cut and again nothing on the Garmin. Took off to my most productive spot at Elm Hill marina. Pulled up on the right side of the entrance on the big hump and marked a few. I wasn't very patient here and moved after just 15 min with no fish. Run all over this area and even checked the hump at the dam with no luck. Decided to go back to Elm Hill and put out 6 rods. This worked and we ended up catching several big fish here!It wasn't crazy but steady and we did have a couple doubles hit our set up. The biggest was close to 10 pounds and we caught close to 20 fish here over a 2 hour period. It started really getting hot by 10am so we headed back and along the way we run into a big school of White Bass feeding on the surface on Hamilton point. The water was boiling from the point all the way to the campground ramp. They were all small fish but  a lot of fun. I had a couple small Bink's spoons tied on and we had a ball casting and fast retrieving it back. The fish were eating everything in the area and it was almost every cast. They have really showed up this year and I've heard stories of big hybrids in the jumps in this area. 

June 26th 

Percy Priest

It's been a great last couple of mornings from first light to last light! The lake is almost up to summer pool and these fish have grouped back up. They are also back out in front of Four Corners no wake zone. Just to the left as you get out and on or near the hump in 25-35 foot of water. So many fish in this area it's hard to believe and two other boats were also catching several fish. We had to catch bait two different times on a four hour trip! The bait is still in the marina and ive had to start running them down. I did get to the lake early last sat adn used a green light even after the sun had come up and caught plenty of bait near the boat ramp.I've only been putting 50-60 shad at a time to keep them alive. I'm also waiting till the morning to fill my tank. It will be much cooler and that will help keep my bait alive. I've also got two 2 liters in the freezer to add in the morning. 

Took my girls out after they got in yesterday evening for some Bass fishing. Tied on a small spook and a Texas rig worm Yum dinger and stoped at Lamar Hill. we started fishing on the point when you enter the cove and the boat was in 10 foot. Lots of grass up near the bank and several smaller bass feeding on the many shad in the area. My daughter caught a couple nice Bass on the worm and I picked up 3 on the top water. None were keepers but so much fun and the father we got back to the ramp the shallower it got and the fish stopped bitting. Moved over to the Fate Sanders bridge and cast a few times at the bridge pillion. I caught a couple Kentucky Bass on top water here even with people jumping off the bridge. Our best spot was the covee to the right of Fare Sanders. It's called Sistas cove on the map. This is one of my go to for Bass fishing. Again the top water spook worked great an on the flat in the back where the gass line runs it was on! We both caught some 17-18 inch Smallmouth here on the surface. Felt good to chase something different for a change. I'm looking forword to chasing Hybrids in the morning. Be sure to come join me if you see me whacking them.

June 19th

Percy Priest

This week the lake is back up almost to summer pool and the water temp in the low 80s. The bait has been more difficult to catch and the fish have been scattered. I always loose them when we have water fluctuation and it seems to scatter the big schools. That being said I've had to work to load the boat last couple of trips. I've found big numbers around Bear island both on the suggs creek side and in between raccoon and  bear. My first stop has been the green buoy looking for top water action and it's happened a few times. Seems to end as soon as the sun gets up and they scatter. My next stop will be hump 69 and on the hump out in front of elm hill marina. The fish are here in big numbers and I'll use every bait in the tank here. Not lots of big fish but tons of fun with several striper in this area. The big fish spot has been to the right of the dam and last trip we lost a couple double didget fish. They just fight different and made it tough to land. If you can get nait in the morning youll be good. I've had to allow on hour in the morning to get enough. 

The bass fishing has been even better with big numbers being caught. Night fishing with spinnerbaits and texas rigged worms is my favorite. My buddy Tony has been winning all the night tournaments with a black and blue Colorado blade one ounce hoppys spinnerbait. He likes to have a trailer and a stinger hook this time of year. We went out Wednesday night just playing around out of fate sanders. Our best spot was in Lamar hill boat ramp area. We run past the ramp and started fishing all the way back in the cove. Lost count on how many bass I caught on my go to ring fry. Lake fork makes them and my favorite color isd pumpkin pepper. You can texas rig it and it also make a great bait Carolina rigged. Super stinky with garlic and tough enough to catch several fish on one bait. Tony caught just as many as me on the spinnerbait and his were bigger. The spinnerbait will catch bigger fish if you can throw it all night. 

Looking forward to this weekend and hoping to put some dads on some good fish. 

June 7th 

Percy Priest

What a great day of fishing on Percy Priest! It all started at 6am catching bait at the dock. Just past the boat ramp you will find all the bait. Made my way about half-way down the row and found a big school of small gizzard in 15 foot. Had to make 10-15 cast to get the 50-60 bait for the tank. Piked up my guys at 6:45am and took off looking for some action. I did notice lots of small white bass up in the jumps in the no wake zone. Nothing big but would be great for someone from the bank. A small top water is the best way to catch them and a spoon or rooster tail will work great. I had big boy bait so we went looking for something bigger. We found them at every stop but no real numbers so I kept looking. We didn't fish for the first 45 min looking for numbers. We checked Bear and Suggs and when we moved over by Goose it was void of fish also. My guys were looking sad until we pulled up on old hump 69! My guys had a ball here and we ended up going through several bait and landed close to 50 fish without moving! They wanted a gizzard shad over a small thread fin shad and I'm sorry if you have bluegill because they won't eat it now. Live bait thread fin and gizzard will out fish every other method now! Be sure to salt heavy and bring some out on the boat. You can add after several hours I like to add a cup. It will keep your bait from stressing and getting all red nosed. Be sure to not settle for a few fish on the graph either be confident in your electronics and go find some numbers. When we find numbers they seem to grow once we start thumping and adding bait to the water. It's gonna be a great summer for catching Hybrids and I'd love to have you guys out on the boat. 

June 5th

Percy Priest

Getting ready for the weekend and filming with Southern Woods and Water! I've purchased a new action camera to get some good footage and how to videos. I'm gonna give you guys first access to all content and info. Hope this will help with anyone who is signed up for my reports. The last few trips have been not great and my trip Wednesday afternoon was just plain awful! We started at 3pm and out of Four Corners. My guest had driven all the way from Indiana and were expecting to catch something. Bait was not hard to catch in the marina close to the ramp in 15 foot of water. After catching 40-50 bait thread fin we started looking for fish. We run all the way to the dam looking and the only fish we caught was at my point to the west of Goose Island. It was on the edge of the point in 32 foot and this is where we should have stayed. I moved after 20-30 min with no action. Hit all my spots too and the only other spot we found fish was on the back side of Pig Island. This has been the best spot on the lake in the morning! The fish were here but not interested in our baits. Mornings have been your best chance to catch fish and I'm sure all the rainfall and water level rising moved our fish around. I usually loose them after a big rain and the lake jumps up. I'm more confident about this weekend and going early. Plan on starting at 5am in the morning and we may start at the green buoy at Suggs creek. You can catch both Bass and Hybrid here and on topwater! Be sure to salt your bait tank if you're coming out. I had trouble keepoing my shad alive last trip because I had run out of salt. I use pool salt from Lowes and one whole cup per 10 gallon of water. This will keep your bait all day and if you notice them acting sick just add another cup of pool salt. Good luck everyone be sure to text me if you come out. Your welcome to follow me around and fish together. 

May 22nd 

Percy Priest

Getting ready for my trip in the morning and I wanted to do a report on where you guys should start this weekend. The bait has been stacked in the no wake zone of four corners marina. And the fish have not been far just outside the no wake on the first point you find on the left. What gave the fish away last trip was all the cormorants sitting in this area. There is lots of trees in this area so you will need to find a spot not directly under standing timber. I've found several spots on that point to get away from the trees. The thumper has been very inportant and has worked wonders for getting them under the boat and keeping them. My last two trips we never moved from this area until we ran out of bait. They will move away when you move and I've yet to get them back thick after the morning bite. My next best spot is n the gas line at Pig island and in 30-35 foot. This is a highway area for the Hybrids anf the bigger fish have been here at Pig. Not sure what all this rain will do to my bait and fish but I plan on trying these same areas in the morning. I know if we can get some threadfin or small gizzard we will catch fish! When you guys are catching bait what has helped me be successful iss looking for the shimmer of the threadfin on my screen. They also will be moving so if you see lots of small targets on the scope they will be small yellows and crappie. I've had to weed through several while catching bait. 

May 12th

Percy Priest

What a great day on the water with new guest! Got started at 5:30am this morning and out of Four Corners and already had a bucket full of bluegill from Big Charlie's. On the way over to the marina to pick up my guest and noticed several thread fin shad near the bottom in 14 foot.Grabbed my cast net and was blessed with so many bait! It was foggy so I delayed the trip another 15 minites to get enough bait. They are all up and down in between the slips and you really have to watch your cast not to carch any structure. I'd make short accurate cast and be sure to start taking up my slack line to keep it off the bottom. I was pumped when my guest got on the boat and assured them they were in for a treat! I did not disappoint as the first stop was my hump to the west of Goose. It was on and we smacked them here and even had a couple big catfish on the shad. It died down after about an hour so we moved around some and when we landed on Raccoon and Bear it was on again! We lost count here on smaller fish 2-4 pound range actually left them bitting looking for more fish and boy did we find them at the 3rd cut! We sit right at the bend in the river channel with the front of the boat in 25 and the back was in 50 foot. I like to straddle the drop off and the thumper rreally worked wonders today. After a few minutes of thumpping we were surrounded. Finished the trip here and all the bait in the tank! I'm so happy that we've found the baitfish and it will help catch more fish. My plan is to bring my green submersible light before sunrise and see if that gets them closer together. 

May 10th 

Percy Priest

This weekend was another great one and all four of my trips caught fish! Saturday we started at 6am and I'd already visited Big Charlie's that morning and purchased two pounds of bluegill. I hate to spend $50 every trip but the thread fin have been so difficult to catch. The small bluegill are working so it's hard not to have some in the boat. They have worked best early and late evening and we wore them out again on the point just to the west of Goose island. We sit right at the edge of the point sitting ib 30 foot of water. The fish were zooming across the bopttom so we put our baits a foot above the bottom. The fish would eat it but not great with lots of up close and false charges at the bluegill. We managed a limit here and a couple of nice channel catfish and ten we moved over to my spot at hole in the wall island. They were here also and we did catch a fewe bigger fish with one close to 7 pounds. After my first trip I had a couple hours to burn while waiting so I went looking for bait. Found some big clouds of big thread fin in the no wake zone at four corners! Made close to 50 cast and managed 20 perfect bait. It took two hours and I was soaked and wore out! But what a differance they made on the second trip. Picked up my guy Joe and his grandsons and went straight to Racoon and Bear island. Put the boat out in front of the two islands in 30 foot andf close to a road bed. As we lowered the bait down it was unbelievable how the Hybrids would come zooming off the bottom and devour the thread fin! We went trough the 20 baits in no time and ended up having a great trip! This tells me I've got to get back to catching thread fin if I want to have great trips. Gonna get the green light out and see if that will help before daylight. 

May 4th

Percy Priest

I've got a better report for you today after a pretty good morning trip yesterday. Got started at 6:30am and we could've started at 6am because we had enough daylight. After my report from some random kayaker I took his word and started out on the point between Goose and Hamilton Island and I'm so glad we did! I'd went by Big Charlies the day before and had 1 pound of bluegill and 1 pound of shinners. The Shinners were not as affective as the bluegill. We went trough the pound in about an hour! We sit in 30 foot right at the edge of the point and had our baits at 15-20 foot. The Hybrids were moving fast and the thumper did help slow them down and keep in the area. My guys caught 15-20 nice Hybrids with the biggest close to 5 pounds. We did catch 6 species here and all on the Bink's Pro Spoon! After we went through the live bait so quick I had to do something else. Pulled out a pink 1/2 and a chrtruce 1/2 spoon and my guys had a blast! The biggest fish was a 10-12 pound channel catfish and we also had 3 smaller Smallmouth on the piont. Eventually we had to make a move and found a big flock of blue herons all young birds and they were chasing the cormorant looking for a feed. This time of year the young birds get kicked out of the nest and the only way they can try eat is to harass the smaller birds. When you find this you will have lots of bait in the area. We found close tp 50 young herons all lined up on the back side of hole in the wall and very close to the cormorant. I spot locked the boat again in 30 foot and fired up the thumper and Boom! We caught more fish here than we did at Goose. I ended up fishing all day and the evening was much slower. If I was gonna go this week it be early and I'd have a couple of pounds of bluegill from my girl Marla at Big Charlies. If you go buy bait ther be sure to tell them I sent ya. Look for all the birds both churn and cormorant and you'll find the fish!

May 2nd 

Percy Priest

Got up this morning planing on fishing the Merv Striper tournament and was let down with motor issues. My boat has been in the shop all week with routine maintenance. Thought she was ready but it just wasn't meant to be today. It ended up taking only 13 pounds to win and everyone I talked to struggled. The fish are still on the move and could be in 10-50 foot of water and that's a lot of territory. I did get a good report from a buddy that the Hybrids were in between Goose and Hermitage island and in 20 foot of water. He was in a kayak and using a spoon off the bottom and had several on his graph. I've got a trip in the morning and plan on starting in the Goose island area and I'm gonna look shallow. I've still got my bait from today some blue gills from big Charlies and some big Shiners. I've got a couple of ultra light rods set up to catch bait if we run out. My go to bait is meal worms and a small hook #8 or #10 is perfect for the small bluegill. The lake is covered up with small gills and anywhere you find rock you'll have fish. I like to set my small bobber 1-2 foot deep and use a small split shot to get it down. I like to use a small piece of the meal worm and after a few cast and a few fish you will have the area chummed up and catching bait will be easy. I'm gonna stick to the bluegill as long as possible because of how good they stay alive in captivity and howe easy to catch.

April 22nd

Percy Priest

Fishing is starting to improve and the Hybrids have shown back up! The lake is still low and in the lower 70's and the fish seem to be in a summertime pattern. Live bait from Big Charlies has worked great both shiners and blue gill have produced fish. The hot spot has been Suggs creek and still scattered and moving fast. I fished Sunday morning and first light we had birds working the area and some top water action! We caught some smaller Hybrids just on the other side of the hump at Suggs creek. The green buoy by the bluff wall is the spot and we were sitting in the channel on the deeper side. The other hot spot is the red buoy when you come in the mouth of Suggs all the way to the road bed out front. This is where the Hybrid tournament was won last week on live bait. I'd have a top water tied on and a pound or two of shiners if I was fishing this week. 

I did get to fish the Friday night tournament out of Fate Sanders and that was a lot of fun! They had a big turnout and paying some good money out. It's sponsored by some good people this year and I plan on fishing more. We started at 7pm and I run to the next cove over Sistas cove and went all the way back. I knew the fish would be shallow andI had confidence in the rattle trap. Picked up a few small fish on the trap casting up near the bank and burning it back. My partner had a small spook top water on and caught a nice Smallmouth just not long enough. That was how our night went and Smallmouth were all we caught! They were all 17 inches and non keepers but so much fun! The other spot we caught several bass was the back side of Ponderosa and again up shallow. It was close to 10pm and we had changed over to a Texas rig worm. Caught one keeper Largemouth on the worm and 5 more Smallmouth all too short. Fun night and they were eating the yum dinger green pumpkin with 1/4 bullet weight. 

April 12th

Percy Priest

I wish that my report was a good one but it's been a tough weekend! Fished hard the last two days and 12 hours yesterday with no Hybrids. Everyone I've talked to is having the same problem locating any fish. The only report I've gotten is my buddy Brian has caught a few trolling Thunder sticks at 3.2 mph all around Suggs creek and by the boat ramp at 7 points staying in 25-30 foot. The A rigs have stoped working and the live bait are very hard to catch. I did try several times Saturday to catch bait with no luck. This transition of spring time and warmer water has the fish moving a lot and up shallow trying to spawn. They are much easier to locate when out in deeper water and with so much shallow real estate now it's anybody guess where the fish are. Last year I purchased several of the small and large Thunder sticks made by Berkley and did try some trolling with no luck in the Suggs creek area. What did work this morning was a small 1/4 rattle trap natural color. While up in Suggs we went shallow and all over Cable island and did catch some nice Bass! My guest Mike lost a giant Largemouth in 3 foot of water on the left side of the island. Thought it was snagged and then ole big girl come out and threw the trap back at the boat. He was sick but that told me the trap would work and they were very shallow. We both caught some smaller bass on the trap on points in Suggs creek and I looked for the shallower water on my graph and focesed on the points. This time of year I love A rattle trap when shallow I like the smaller one. We did hang up some and the Timmy Horten money pole saved me a lot of money retrieving my baits.As far as the Crappie they have been slow also and the few fish I cleaned this weekend the females were full of very runny eggs. This tells me they are laying out and they will be tight lipped foe a bit. After the spawn they will pull out in deeper water and if we ever get our lake up to Summer pool they will get all over stake beds. We need several days of rain before that will happen. This dry spell has had the lake at a consistent water level and has helped with the spawn! 

April 5th

Percy Priest

Good morning everyone and Happy Easter! I'm enjoying the weekend off and spending time with family. I did want to do a report on the Crappie and on how shallow the fish are now. I learned something Friday afternoon/evening after watching another fisherman from the bank. I was at Fate Sanders marina fishing in the back past the slips when I witnessed a guy right on the bank up close to the slips catching big crappie. He had a minnow and bobber with it set at 12-13 inches and not casting just dropping the bobber 2-3 foot off the bank just enough for the line to not be on bottom. The fish are up cruising and absolutely eating the minnows and after talking to him he let me know the smaller the minnow the better. We did exactly what he was doing up and down the bank and ended up with several nice fish. The were very black from all the sun and shallow water and most were very big 12-13 inches. This will work all over the lake and surly every marina will hold fish and the up shallow tecqnique will load the boat this time of year. We've only got another week or two bbefore thee water will be at summer pool so get it while you can. 

My guy Josh Jones had another great Bass trip yesterday before the weather moved in. He's a crank bait fishermasn and his go to now is a shallow running bearkly crawfih color or red. He's in Suggs creek most of the time and cable island was the place to be with a mix of largemouth and smallmouth. He's always on fish and has a very nice Falcon boat. I'd highly reccomend a trip to learn some shallow cranking for bass. 

April 2nd 

Percy Priest

Charlie and I snuck out to look for some fish yesterday evening around 3:30pm. With all the wind I've stayed off the lake and canceled last few trips. I can't remember it ever being this dry or warm this time of year and the high winds. The lake is up a little and will be up at summer pool by the 15th of this month. Water temp was 62 when we put in at Four corners and had good clarity. I'd heard the Crappie were up in the slips last couple of days and several had been caught. I searched the area and couldn't find any big numbers so they had moved out. The water temp dropping had to have something to do with it. All the marinas are loaded with pre spawn and active spawning black crappie. The hot spot has been Fate Sanders and again up in the slips! Limits being caught daily and on a bobber and a jig. I'm sure a minnow will work also and all the marinas will be on fire this next week or two. Four Corners may be back on today with this 80 degree day warming it back up in the mid 60"s. Hamilton Creek marina will also be a great place to hit and Nashville Shores marina will be loaded with Crappie. My buddy Tony has had limits all this week and been very quiet about the bite. And to be honest Charlie and I went out looking for Tony and found him in the back of Fate Sanders with a boat full!

While we were cruising looking for fish we passed several bank fisherman on the bluff wall at Bryant's Grove. I shut it down and fired up the thumper and tried to spoon for Hybrid with no luck. I did see a few fish swim by and I'm certain if we'd had live bait they'd bite. On that note I did stumble on a huge mass of thread fin shad just to the right of the boat ramp at the bluff. Ton's of bait from ramp all the way to Smallmouth cove. I plan on fishing tomorrow evening and putting in at Stewart's creek and focusing on Crappie but I'll have the bluff wall at Bryant's grove in my back pocket. The live bait tank is back on the boat and will help catch these picky fast moving fish. 

March 24th

Percy Priest

This afternoon was a tough bite for me with the Crappie. Told one of my regulars we should try up in the creek for Crappie and struck out. We looked in Stewart's and Lamar Hill area and couldn't find anything. My buddy William was in the back of the creek and pulling slip bobbers and small jigs in shallow water. He ended up with 15 keepers in the back of Stewart's creek and they did turn on better later in the day. This weekend they were all staged at the mouth of the creek in the channel but these warmer days have them moving up to spawn. All the rest of the month you should be able to be sucsesfull shallow and around any brush you can find. My favorite way is with a bobber set at 10-12 inches with a small jig 1/16 any color. As the lake comes up to summer pool the crappie will just go shallower. It's so close to busting loose and if I had some time to fish next week will be prime time!

The Hybrid and Striper did help save our trip after making the move to Hong Kong island! First thing we noticed was all the bird life and the gulls were diving out in front og the no wake zone at Hong Kong. Pulled out5 the scope and we were surrounded with fast moving fish. We caught a couple nice fish here before they moved on both Hybrid and Striper were in the school. Our biggest was close to 7 pounds and could not believe the  number of fish under the boat. One of the bigger schools I've marked this year and you can bet they will be in this area till they bring the water up. Bink's pro spoon worked great both 1/2 and 3/4 firtre tuger or chartruce color with the stained water. If we'd had better water color my guest would have caught even more and I'd use a more natural color like a white or blue. The rest of the week looks great then this weekend back cold again! It should'nt affect the Hybrids but it may pull the crappie back out in deeper water. If you guys are out this weekend be sure to message me or call to see where werer at and if they are bitting. 615-806-0814

March 19th

Percy Priest

Had a really good trip this evening from 3-7pm with a dad and his young son.  They were visiting from Ohio and loved to fish back home. They were familiar with Hybrids and they called them Wipers. I ask them on the way out of the no-wake zone if they'd ever spooned and used a live scope? They had yet to experience either and what a great Hybrid lake they had landed on! Left Four Corners and run straight to the Bryant's grove area and before we made it past One tree cove I shut her down. We had gulls working the area and and I had the boat in 50 foot of water to start. My graph lit up with fish when we were lined up with the lone cypress tree in the channel. Started the thumper up and hit anchor lock on the trolling motor. My guest did have a bit of a learning curve and it took a while for them to pick it up. When I could get them to slow the bounce down and start setting the hook proper they would catch fish. The young boy figured it out and put a whooping on his dad catching twice as many. We had 7 nice 20 inch Striper and close to 50 Hybrids in the 3-4 pound range in 4 hours! This pattern will work great this weekend and the back side of Ponderosa will be the spot to be! We caught fish from Long Hunter all the way to Bryant's Grove cove. Stay close to the channel and look for the birds. The thumper worked and you need one if you don't already have one. I've got a guy that makes them if you want one. You will need 1/2 Bink's Pro Spoons any bright color with the stained water color in the area. We wore them out on a 3/4 black and chartreuse with a slow bounce. 

Got a good report for you Bass guys from a fellow guide. He's using a lipp less crank bait. Rattle trap red or crawfish color. The fish will be shallow and on the wind blow banks. Suggs creek has been the spot and again look for the wind blown areas. Were supposed to have some pretty good winds this weekend. It's been a nice mixture of Smallmouth and Largemouth. One trick that has helped him catch more fis is a yo yo retrieve back to the boat. Get the bait off the bank out of the shallow and then start to pause your retieve letting the trap fall a few feet then get back to cranking. The live scope has shown these fish have a hard time not eating the bait when he'd add the yo yo method. Good luck everyone I hope this report helps you catch this weekend. If you see me come join us I'll be on em!

March 15th 

Stones River

Got out early this morning before the storms and high winds hit and change everything. Put in at West Fork and started fishing at the ramp with so much brush it's hard to pass it up. It was just me and the dog this morning and I was just trying to get a mess of Crappie for my dad. Had 5 keepers directly across from the ramp on a big lay down on 1/16th ounce crappie magnet black and chartreuse. Made my way down the river to the east fork split and found some stumps on the left close to the channel in 15 foot. It was loaded and most were small 8-9 inch range with lots of blue gill . This area is where we did so well a couple of weeks ago. Kept going down river and found warmer water and more stumps that had fish. Had a hard time casting and being accurate as the wind had done got up. Run back to the boat ramp and hit the tree I found the keepers on and it did have a few more on it. Really didn't want to eat for me today and ended up with 9 keepers to clean for my old man. The cooler weather will help extend the crappie spawn and will cool the water temps back down. Next weekend it should bust loose on the river and on the lake. As soon as they bring the water up you need to start fishing the marked stake beds. They will pile up and can be caught best on a minnow and bobber really good. Also any wood jams in the back of pockets will hold fish. I can still remember catching a limit a few years back in the cove behind billy goat bluff. The wind will help and if you can find a wind blown pocket with brush its on!

March14th

Percy Priest

Back on my home lake today and I should've went to Woods! Priest can be so good sometimes and so tough other days. We started at 7am and it was cool with light winds and we started looking around Bryants Grove. First thing I noticed was the lake of birds. Found several guys trolling the boat ramp area all the way to Hong Kong. No one was really catching anything so I kept looking and run all the way past Fate Sanders marina and found birds! Also found some smaller Hybrids from Stewerts creek boat ramp all the way past thge fate sanders bridge. Birds were diving and we caught a few 3-4 pond fish here on the Binks pro spoon. We cast at the birds and let it go to the bottom and slow bounced it back. Caught a bunch of White bass on spoons here also the 1/2 white many shad worked best for us. My guest lost a nice striper on an A-rig right at the boat. We did use my forward facing live scope to cast to the Hybrids. This time of year we will get away from trolling and use the spoon more and it won't be long before the live bait bite will be back. 

March 8th

Woods Reservoir

Decided to try a different lake today after getting a good review from a buddy. He said the Crappie were on fire and that he'd got a limit the day before. I've never fished the lake and had no clue where to go. He said that to put in at Morris Ferry ramp and go straight all the way back to where the channel makes a right hand turn. It's less than a mile from the ramp and easy to find where it makes a hard right turn and gets very skinny in the channel. That whole pocket on the left where the channel swing is loaded with lay downs and with fish! It didn't take long to catch several black crappie on both 1/16 jigs and a minnow and bobber. The fish were stacked on any brush you could find and we had our bobbers set at 12 inches and casting up in 2/-3 foot. The crappie did not mess around and jumped on the minnow if we got anywhere near the tree. I did use the live scoe and caught several fish that were just out in the water colum on no brush. We had a group of 40=50 fish just 10 foot in front of the boat. and we had our way dropping our jigs down in the big groups and getting bit every time! We had 45 keeper crappie and 50 big yellow belly in about 5 hours of fishing. One of my best trips ever and I plan on going back soon.

March 1st

Percy Priest

What a difference a day can make on this lake! Today was a tough one to say the least and I was sure we'd catch some fish with the clouds. Even went as far as to let my guest know it be good on the way out. Boy was I wrong and I've got to stop doing that because we only landed two fish in 4 hours. They have moved from the Bryant's Grove area and we really never marked any fish. My young guest did loose a big Striper right at the boat. It was big and only got a glance of it and it was on a plainer board. I put out a double fluke rig with 1/4 jig heads on each bait. We were near the channel close to Rock Island on the pump house side. Both keeper fish come from this area and were barely keepers. Covered lots of water looking for signs of life. School House was a ghost town and so was Drummond Creek. Water temp was in the mid 50's and stained past Long Hunter State Park. We should've went to the river and Crappie fished. All my buddies had fish tthat were up in Jefferson Springs area. Fishing brush with 1/16 ounce jigs natural color. Danny never leaves sight of Jefferson boat ramp so its loaded with structure and fish. 

February 28th 

Percy Priest

Had two trips Friday and one this morning and both were pretty good and very similar to my last trip. We did start at 7am and probably should have started at 6:30am because we missed the best action. My buddy Mike was out early and caught some really nice fish up shallow. On a spoon and casting it out and slow bounce and retrieve back to the boat. He's using a 1 ounce gold spoon and had a couple over 10 pounds! When we arrived to Bryants Grove at 7:30am it was over and the fish had moved. The hot spot was the cove at Pooles Knob and on the point as you come in. We had pretty good luck trolling this area and one thing that I did today that helped us catch more fish was speed up. On one of my turns I speed up to 2 mph and kept it and started catching more fish! It seemed like they wanted it fast and I'm not sure if they were higher in the water colum or my baits just looked and were behaving differently. We had boats all around us trolling the same thing and mine out fished everyone else. Sometimes little things like that will produce more fish. If you can get out tomorrow you should and the place to be is Bryant's Grove. I'll be in the area all morning chasing Hybrids then change over to Crappie after lunch. They are still up in the river and from Spring Creek all the wat to Jefferson Pike. 

February 22nd

Percy Priest

Pretty good day of fishing even with post front conditions and blue bird skys. Had two trips and started at 7am out of Four Corners. The water was stained and my Garmin read 48 degrees. Run to Bryant’s Grove and started scanning the channel. We marked fish in 25-35 foot of water and on the edge of the channel swings. Put out the A rigs and before I could sit down we had a Hybrid on the line! We caught 9 nice Hybrid on our first troll from the mouth of the cove to the no wake zone at Hong Kong. I noticed we caught more fish trolling with the wind. The fish sometimes face into the wind and will feed better one direction than the other. We had one rod that out fished the others and it was a yum money light wire rig. I had some six sense rigs out also and they never caught a fish. It might have been a fluke but the yum rig is a bit smaller and that might of made all the difference. Great first trip and our biggest was close to 5 pounds! Picked up my second trip at lunch and they wanted to Bass fish. I grew up Bass fishing Priest with my step dad and the creeks have always been a great place to Bass fish. We run all the way back to Spring creek and I tied everyone on a gold rattle trap. The bass were on th wind blow points and up shallow. My guys caught a handful of smaller bass all up and down spring creek. When we got about halfway back my live scope showed a big group of Crappie on some brush so we quickly picked up the jigs and staatted catching something we could eat. Every fish we could get the jig close to would bite but it was a light bite. We caught a half dozen keepers before the wind got so bad we had to call it. This week will be good for Crappie and the creeks will start to fill up with fish looking to spawn.

February 14th

Percy Priest

What a great day back out on the lake after a long break. We started at 8am hoping it warm up some and it was nice when we launched. Water was clear at Four Corners and temp was 42 with light winds. Started at Rock island just pass Bryants Grove cove and the water color had changed a bit. Not muddy but stained and I like that and it didn't takr long to catch our first fish. Trolling A-Rigs worked great and we kept the boat in the channel or just off the channel and at 1.3mph. All my rigs had white 3 inch swim baits all my tails were dipped in chartreuse bait dye. We caught a couple nice Hybrid closer to Bryants grove boat ramp and marked several more. We did make a long troll heading toward Hong Kong island and before we made it to the no wake zone right in the middle of the channel we hooked a giant! I knew it was a big one when the drag started screaming and it shot up to the surface. It showed us how long it was and that it was a Striper from the first bite! This fish pulled my G3 backwards and gave us a heck of a fight. It almost didn't fit in my net and was close to 20 pounds! She was released safely and hopefully get even bigger. This was one of four Striper we caught this morning that were all released. We left them bitting and marked so many fish on the way in we stopped by the Youth Camp bluff and Smallmouth cove. Walker was reeling one in when we went by and seemed like they were smaller fish but more numbers. All this rain will change things but shouldn't move the fish too far.

February 11th

Percy Priest

Sorry for the lack of reports, but I’ve been broken down with my Chevy and unable to fish. My transmission went out and the dealerships had it for five weeks. I’m looking forward to getting it back this week and getting back on the water this weekend. I’ll have you a better report soon but I did get a call from a guide buddy. He had a great trip yesterday despite the high winds they whacked the Hybrids! Trolling A rigs out in front of Bryants grove boat ramp and Hong Kong island. He did have to use a drift sock to slow him down to the perfect speed 1.2-1.3 mph. Big fish in big numbers so make sure to have your drag set right. The majority of Hybrids are in this area and most are stacked just off the channel. Watch for trees and when you see one speed your trolling motor up to get above the trees. The lake is cold and temps in the low 40s but this rain should help warm it back up. The rivers will be warmer with the west fork having temps in the 50s. The crappie will be stacked on structure looking to spawn in all the warmer water. Jigs are my favorite way to catch them this time of year 1/16 with any natural color.

January 17th

Percy Priest

Today was a really good day on Priest! We started at 8am on the first trip and I'd got a tip that the mouth of Bryant's grove cove had lots of fish and that trolling a rigs was working. We found lots of birds working in between mouse tail island and ponderosa island in the channel. The fish were closer to the third cut and on the move so trolling worked great. I had four rods out and it was crazy the first two hours with mutiple hook ups and one pass all 4 rods had fish on! We stayed in this area for the majority of the trip. We did go around Ponderosa and found even more fish and bigger ones too. We ended up with 26 Hybrids the first trip and all trolling. Picked up my second trip and headed right back to Bryant's grove and by this time the wind had gotten up some. This made trolling a bit more difficult but my lithiumn battiries held up along side the Garmin trolling motor. We had a great first troll out of the cove heading to Hong Kong island. This is where we caught our double didget fish! It was close to 12 pounds and recked all my lines! After retying my setup we got back to and again stayed in this area the whole time and had close to 30 Hybrids trolling. My guest wanted to try the live scope so I put up the rigs and got out the smaller rods and Bink's spoon. I had 1/4 pink and white and 1/4 chartreuse color tied on and started at the no wake zone at Hong Kong. We found more bait here than I've seen in one spot and caught a couple nice catfish here in the middle of the bait. Great trip and even better confidence building trip! 

January 2nd 

Stones River

After struggling on the lake fishing for Hybrids we decided to change thins up. We put in at West Fork river ramp and at 7am. This is a great ramp that is accecable all year. It is steep and can be slick this time of year but you can put in here and go right to fishing. Tons of trees and stumps in the west and east fork. I can't tell you how many small white bass we caught but we had 40 keeper Crappie. All caught on jigs and making long cast to brush and stumps. Natural color worked best and the 1/16th ounce jig was the trick. I like to slow roll as slow as possible. Most of the strikes just got heavy and that is hard to descibe but the jig just gets heavy sometimes and that's a Crappie. I set the hook when I feel that weight on my retrieve. It dosent hurt to be watching the fish eat your jig on the live scope either. I'm gonna stay up in the river till this bite goes away. It's not the easiest way to catch em but it's very productive when done right. Make sure to have good light line 2 or 4 pound stren mono is what I prefer. One thing I did notice that helped u