TOPIC:

While all of you were out trolling for the big 5 and having a great time up there the fishing bug got the better of me and I went down below the Mason-Dixon line to fish Barkley. Caught a lot kept a limit of great whites , a couple of smelly cats, and some football shaped black bass. Hot and mu









ggy and now my once clean Trophy looks like it needs a trip through a car wash. White bass love to crap in your boat when you bring them in. I think they believe they are getting even.

NICE and good job. I am heading down to Kentucky Lake end of July for Vacation. I hope to I can do 1/2 that good and get a few nice ones. What were you using for the bass? I have never had good luck on Kentucky but I also generally go earlier and end up there during the mayfly hatch and nothing will bite. Thanks for the report for down south - gives me hope for next month.

Also just noticed you mentioned you have the trophy - I just got a competitor 175 in Oct last year. Nice boat - I love mine so far. As far as the fish crap - I got two black matts from Menards for like $25 each (I think). two side by side I had to do some cutting but keeps the carpet clean when the salmon are bleeding all over the place and their scales. It would be good for the fish revenge as well. Minor investment to help keep the new boat clean.

This time of year is deep diving crank bait season. All the fish were taken on the same Tennessee Shad colored model 6A Bomber. Look for the edges of drop offs in the river channels. The thermocline has set up and they are holding next to cooler moving water. These all came in 13 to 18 fow. Good luck on your trip, if you don't catch try Barkley between Eddy creek and Prizer's point. Lots of edges in the Cumberland there.

Nice work - I'm Jealous

You know for most people it is fun to catch pan fish like these, but the thrill of fighting kings and steelhead have just flat ruined it for me for the most part. I just can't get a fill of it. So much to learn yet, so many places to try and troll have kept this new and exciting to me. I plan to come up this weekend!

This is my first year out on the big lake and only hooked one king so far and let my son fight it in (lost it as the boat). But just the Coho have ruined me. I went out bass fishing Saturday and it just does not have the appeal it used to after being out on the big lake. I just hope the salmon fishing does not die out on Lake Michigan; all the stories about how much worse it is lately kind of worries me a bit.

There are some salmon out there but it is not easy to get them anymore. All the old salmon fishers I have spoken to say it is just a shadow of what it used to be. Still I catch a few and I am both happy and grateful to do it. Like you I am still kind of a greenhorn, but that is what makes it fun.

It is definitely not as easy as it used to be but that just means we have to be smarter and more tactile. Easier said than done but.........there is nowhere else around here you can catch fish of a lifetime like on LM. I think plenty of challenges lie ahead of us, but ultimately its going to make us all better anglers and be well worth it.

Way to go Don!! Good catch, and looks like you had some fun.