Fishtales
Jim Pope with the biggest bass caught on our trip to Wedowee. It hit one of his hand tied "Granddaddy's Jigs" on a point we fished without a strike and where we watched other boats fish without catching anything. When we started using his jigs we - uh, they, - started catching fish like this.
April 13, 1998
Jim Pope, Ron Brooks and I had an enjoyable day fishing at Wedowee in Alabama. This is my column, reprinted from the Griffin Daily News and appeared there on April 6.
Griffin Daily News
GEORGIA'S GREAT OUTDOORS
April 6, 1998
Ronnie Garrison
Last Saturday was an interesting experience for me. I met Ron Brooks and Jim Pope at Wedowee and spent a great day fishing with them. We all caught some bass and, even though they beat my brains out, I still had a good time. What made this trip unusual was I had never met either Ron or Jim and had never even talked with them on the phone until Friday night. We met on the internet through the fishing site I run. Ron and Jim have both written several "Fishtales" for me and we have exchanged email and visited in my chat room for months. The trip was a result of three months planning.
Ron lives in Douglasville and Jim lives in Tennessee. They are first cousins and have fished together for many years. Both are fine gentlemen and good fishermen. I finished the day wiser and richer in many ways, including richer in hand-tied bucktail jigs. Jim makes bucktail jigs for fishing the tailwaters of Pickwick Lake in his home state. They work. We started fishing the point where my partner and I had caught over 30 bass three weeks earlier - and did not get a strike. We worked on down to some riprap and Jim said he was going to try one of his home-made jigs. He started catching fish immediately. Jim shared his jigs with me and Ron but they both knew how to fish them. They got many more strikes and caught a lot more fish than I did.
We worked back to the first point and Jim and Ron both caught fish on it. I tried several other lures and never had a strike. During the day we watched several other boats pull up to the point, the fishermen make some casts, not catch anything and leave. Every time we went back Ron and Jim caught fish. I even caught one on a bucktail there. At the end of the day Jim gave me several dozen jigs in varying weights. I will learn to fish them since I know they work. Jim and Ron caught about sixteen bass that day and I ended up with two!
You meet the nicest people on the internet - at least at fishing sites! If you would like to read some of Ron's and Jim's "Fishtales," go to http://fishing.about.com and click on the link to them.
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Looking for a good fishing trip next Saturday, one that will help out a worthy cause? The Butts Bass Busters Club is sponsoring a buddy tournament at Jackson. Funds raised will be used to give scholarships to college students. If you want to have a fun day fishing, have a chance at winning some money, and help out a good cause at the same time, call 770-229-9845, 770-464-3970 or be at Berry's Marina early Saturday morning.
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Tom Perdue decided to try West Point Sunday. He and a son- in-law arrived and started fishing around 11:00. Although there was a Red Man tournament going on, he found a place to fish in some muddy water. By the time he left, he had a bass weighing almost ten pounds, one that would have won the tournament big fish pot, and a couple of more bass that would have given him enough weight for first place. I haven't seen a bass that big in years, much less catching one. That is a great catch and this is the time of year for finding bass like that. Congratulations, Tom.
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Sunday afternoon I had a red neck visitor in my back yard. A male Ruby Throated Hummingbird visited my feeder, the first one I have seen this year. They must be migrating back for the summer. If you have a feeder, fill it up and get it out!
Till next time, Gone Fishin'!
