Old Hickory Lake Bass Fishing Reports

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 3-7-05



I fished two mid-lake creeks on Old Hickory today with mixed results. Total fish for the day was 27 with seven bass being keepers. (no camera worthy fish) Total weight for the best 5 somewhere between 10-12lbs max. I caught fish on a Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap and the new Luhr-Jensen Radar 10 in Bleeding Shad and Chartreuse/Blue. Water Temps today ranged from 49 to 51 degrees with the air temp reaching the mid to high 60's. Looks like the temperature is going to drop down into the low 30's tonight with the possibility of rain and snow flurries tomorrow....so it looks like it's going to be interesting......I will let you know how it go's tomorrow night........

Rick McFerrin

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 3-10-05




I had a good day with Kevin Stearman and Kevin Bell from Lebanon on Old Hickory today.  Rattle Traps-Chartreuse and Blue crankbaits  and Flukes did the trick with our 5 largest fish weighing in at 17lbs easy. Keeper ratio was very high at over 80%The creeks are warming up and with a little cooperation from mother nature action will continue to just get better and better as we move into the spring season.  We found water temperatures anywhere from 47.9 to almost 52 degrees in several areas in different parts of the lake and a variety of water colors.  Most of the fish we caught was in 5 feet to 8 feet of water and they just held on to the bait-no bone jarring hits like we have been experiencing  with the Smallmouth on Tim's Ford. This is the time of the year when we have fronts move in and out-and we experience dramatic temperature swings. It's also the time when you can be on fish one day and then they seem to have disappeared the next. Just remember...bass have one primary thing on their minds now and it's finding a place to spawn as soon as the conditions are right. When you catch some good fish in shallow water-just remember even with big fronts moving in and temperatures falling several degrees in a days time....these fish are not going to go very far. Stick with your plan-slow down and be very methodical in working the areas where you have had recent success.....Small moves on your part can pay off big time this time of the year......


Rick McFerrin


Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 3-18-05



I had a very solid day on Old Hickory today with Mark Menz and Mark Suiter.  Our day got started out fairly shaky when we lost 2 fish in the 5lb to 6lb category almost back to back...that's the type of stuff that can mess with your mind if your not careful...if you lose your focus it can be down hill from there....but fortunately we hung in there and had a very respectable day. We had some good fish with the keeper ration running well above the 50% range. Bull Creek water temperature at 5:30am was 48.7 degrees and we eventually found 51.7 degrees in various pockets in the creeks in the afternoon.  One good solid week of warm weather and Old Hickory should ramp up quickly. Most of our fish in the creeks were holding in the 4 foot to 6 foot range and you just had to slow down and work everything (from crankbaits to jigs) very very slowly. The only exception was one brief 5 minute segment when Mark Menz got  HOT and put 3 largemouth  that ranged from 2 1/2lb to 3lb in the boat almost back to back. I think it was on his 3rd consecutive fish that we decided not to help him...we caught fish in all but 2 of the areas we fished today and one particular spot was loaded...It's getting ready to happen...we should be seeing some heavy weights in the next couple weeks...


Mark & Mark...
your great to fish with.....



Rick McFerrin

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 3-25-05



I fished today with Mr. & Mrs. Larry Marshall from Memphis Tennessee. Larry-Clare and I fished together just about this time a year ago and I was happy to send the day with them again. This started out fairly slow this morning catching one fish here and one there. This was the warmest day that I have fished Old Hickory this year and as the water temperatures warmed as the day went along we began picking up several bass in two to three feet of water on shallow running crankbaits. We did manage to find 4 and lost one in one pocket but the remained of the 14 bass we caught today came one at a time. The water temperature this morning at daylight was 49.5 degrees and warmed in some of the creeks to almost 54 degrees by the time we left.  Larry and Clare it was good fishing with you both again and I look forward to fishing with you again this June...........

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides .com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 4-26-05




Sorry for the picture quality-I'll explain in a minute. I met Shane Scott at the ramp at 5:30am with over cast sky's, drizzling rain and cooler water temperatures. At our first stop we picked up two bass on our first two casts and the action stayed fairly constant until late morning and then it took a nose dive. Crank baits were the key for our early bite with very little happening on any type of jig-plastic, top water or jerk type baits. Truthfully we struggled for an hour or so until I found a pocket that had some active fish that would gladly take a shot at a Case Super Salty jerk bait. This is where perseverance and not giving up makes the difference between a good or bad day on the water. It would have been easy to put the boat on the trailer and say things just died and go on home........sometimes the action will die and you can't recover, there's no doubt about it...BUT...loading the boat and quitting is always my absolute last option. Shane is holding our best fish of the day....in total we caught and released 21 largemouth and Shane lost a legitimate 5 or 6 pound fish that jumped twice and threw the Super Salty back at him...Now back to the not so good pictures.....I started raining so hard you almost couldn't see. We had to get under the nearest bridge just to get pictures....the rain was coming down in sheet's that would leave a good sting on your face as we made our way back to the ramp......Shane I appreciate you hanging in there with me.....maybe our next trip will include some sunshine........

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 4-29-05



Brad Jolly and I met at the ramp at 5:30am with potential severe weather in the forecast. For most of the morning the weather remained fairly calm and Brad began picking up bass after bass on a 4 inch worm in our first two stops while I experimented with Case Super Salty's-Spinner baits-Crank baits and Buzz baits. We tried several other areas with very little results. We also tried a spot I fished two days ago where we had some good fish on top water but the area didn't produce either. We moved several times in various areas of the lake-Brad began catching fish again and I kept on experimenting ( you would have thought I would have got the message after he had caught at least 20) but nooo!  As the weather began to change the wind almost died and yes it was the clam before the storm as high winds up to 40mph-lightening and rain began moving in from Nashville toward the Gallatin area. We headed in for safety not a moment to soon! For the day we caught and released 30 or more largemouth. Brad is holding two of our larger fish.....Just a word of advice for those of you that might not be familiar with Old Hickory...the lake can get nasty in stormy weather, particularly if the wind is out of the west......Thankfully there are docks in many parts of the lake that you can use as cover if needed....most home owners understand as long as you leave their personal property alone......A very enjoyable day......

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Easter Seals Program 5-7-05

Yesterday we had the privilege of helping out at the annual Easter Seals Fishing event on Old Hickory Lake. This is a wonderful event to participate in and we had the opportunity again this year to meet and spend time with some very determined and courageous people.  This event is no small undertaking....from preparing the camp grounds and facilities to cooking 3 meals for 100-200 people to who knows how many planning meetings....the list go's on and on.....There was well over 200 volunteers-buddies and boaters involved yesterday and from my perspective it appears that everyone had a great time. Pictured above is Jon Simmons and Shay Doming with their campers....I had a young man named Zack Browder with Daniel (my youngest son) and I and he had a lot of fun  cranking in Bluegill and Shellcrackers....Thanks to my Tennessee Bass Guides Team....Bill Champion from Bass'n Buddies for their support....Rick McFerrin Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 5-14-05



I met the father and son team of Jim Arnett and Jim Arnett Jr. at the ramp at 5:15am this morning. Water temps remained up over night at almost 74 degrees and the wind was light at 5mph. We knew from the forecast that we had the likelihood of thunderstorms and high winds which hopefully would help us as the day progressed.  We didn't have to wait long to find out that the action was going to be very consistent and the quality and quantity of fish was going to be good. On our first stop we found allot of bait fish and the Large-mouth were actively feeding. Within 30 minutes we caught and released 10 or more from a stretch of bank no more than 30 yards long. These fish would nail the 1/8oz  Luhr-Jensen Bleeding Shiner crankbait that closely matched the color and size of the shad the fish were feeding on. As we moved on to other areas the bite switched from a crankbait to more of a Case Super Salty fluke type bite around docks. For the next 5 hours we caught fish after fish in and around docks in 3 completely different locations in the lake. Most of the fish were tucked way back in and under the dock so you had to skip the bait as far back as possible.....but when you got in there BAM!  For the day we caught 25-30 largemouth with the largest fish weighing near 5 pounds. We even had a 3 pound Smallmouth in the mix.....It was just a great day with two gentlemen that were fun to be out with.

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 5-20-05



Yesterday started out with me sitting in my Tahoe waiting for a thunderstorm to pass through the Gallatin area. As the lightening was striking the water around the boat ramp I could still see several fish chasing shad up and down the banks in front of me. All I could think of is "I sure wish I could get a Case Salty Shad in front of them....when the storm passed through those fish were gone but action in the grass/weed lines on Case Super Salty's heated up! I met Brad Jolly at another location and throughout the day we managed to put 32 Largemouth in the boat. We caught and released fish from three different creeks....all the fish were caught from grass in water depth that ranged from 1 to 3 feet.....many of these fish were all the way in the back edges of taller weeds and would hit when the bait fell in a open hole.....Brad was camera shy today so I got the honors posing with two of our larger fish.....

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 5-23-05



I met Charles Young and his neighbor Jim at the ramp at daylight this morning. Charles brother had given him a guide trip as a Christmas present. We had tried to get together this past winter but was iced out. So this was our second try and we finally was able to hook up. We launched the Strato's www.stratosboats.com and motored to out first stop where the action started out quickly. Within the first 30 minutes we caught and released 10 or 12 largemouth that would explode on a Case Super Salty www.madtom.com For those of you that haven't thrown this bait-your missing out. The Super Salty is a Fluke type bait but has the big advantage of being full of salt....not only will the salt help the fish hold on to the bait longer it also give it more weight for longer and easier casts. We caught the majority of our fish on the Perl Hologram color...although I don't think color played that much of a factor as aggressive as the fish were. After the quick early bite we fished 2 additional creeks and picked up fish in each of the on the same bait. The key locations was ANY STANDING WEEDS .........we simply motored in the creeks from patch to patch until we found active fish. We tried several other baits but the Super Salty was the best today by far. Total largemouth for the day was 27 and Charles is holding two of the larger fish we caught today.  I hope this helps you on your next trip to Old Hickory....

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 5-26-05

What a great day on the water with long time friend and fellow Woodburyian (Is that a word?) Mike Francis. It didn't take long for us to put the first keeper fish in the boat (5 minutes) and from there on out it was some fantastic Fluke action in the standup weeded areas that are finally beginning to sprout up in various creek locations.  This time last year many of these areas already have a full growth of weeds and grass and were producing heavily for me. The lake is running behind but the largemouth didn't know it today! To repeat myself from the 5-23-05 post...look for ANY STANDUP WEEDS and throw at them. you may hit 5 or 6 patches with no results and then, wham! You will pick up several fish out of an area half the size of your boat. Right now no patch is to small or to shallow or isolated. Let me say that this same pattern has held up from Big Cedar Creek all the way to Little Cedar Creek over the past couple weeks. All of our fish came out of less than 2 feet of water and many times less than that. Please keep in mind that today was a very bright almost 80 degree day and these fish were still in water that we could see the bottom. I think this is where many people get hung up on Old Hickory. Can you catch fish on the drops and deeper structure in hot weather on Old Hickory? Sure, and allot of them!  But you can also catch quality and quantity in these shallow water areas all summer long. Today Mike and I only fished 3 areas and caught 32 largemouth with the largest five weighing over 18 pounds total....plus we both lost a big fish apiece...woulda...coulda...shoulda....but either of the fish we lost would have tipped our best five to near 25 pounds easy....and once again all with the exception of the fish in the lower left hand picture was caught on a Case Sinking Super Salty (see our links page) in the pearl hologram color. This fish hit a pink floating worm.  Of the 32 largemouth today the keeper ratio held up strong with 16 being keeper fish-a nice 56% keeper ratio. It appears that maybe we are on the fringe of some normalcy on Old Hickory as far as patterns are concerned.  I hope this will help you on your next trip to Olds Hickory, stay tuned for additional posts on all area lakes as our team sends them to me.

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 5-31-05



True to it's nature Old Hickory was almost muddy due to all the holiday boat traffic that beat the lake for 3 days.  It almost looked like we had a big rain. I fished with Gilbert Graham today and found the bite to be a little tougher than last week. Gilbert is holding the largest bass we caught today a nice 6lb plus Largemouth that fell for a chartreuse buzz bait fished over a shallow hump adjacent to the main river channel.  We found fish almost immediately and should have stayed put for a longer period of time.  Here's a lesson for you younger bass fishermen. What's the old saying "Don't leave fish to find fish" Well that's exactly what I did and it was the bad call. We had active fish around us and I chose to move to the areas where all our big fish had come from the last two weeks. The only problem with that decision was they weren't there and we never really got back on a good bite again almost all day long.  We did manage to catch 20 or more largemouth and our best 5 would have weighed 12lbs or so but we had to work double time to catch them.  The grass bite today was soft but the majority of our fish were still caught on soft plastic jerk baits and the 4 inch worm soaked in JJ's Magic www.JJ'SMagic.com.  If you look close to the bass Gilbert is holding you can still see a faint red area on her tail from the spawn...she was in great shape and we released her back after a quick picture. I hope this helps you on your next trip to Old Hickory....

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides. com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-3-05



Jon Simmons is experiencing problems with his computer so I'm making this post for both of us. Thursday Jon and I were on Old Hickory at the same time but in separate boats. Jon was fishing by himself and I was with friend Brad Jolly. Unless Jon and I are doing a 2 boat guide trip together it has always been procedure to fish separate areas on the lake so that we don't fish over the top of one another. We talked Wednesday night and set our plans for the next day. On our first stop I hung and lost  a 3-4lb fish on a buzz bait then no then action.  We moved quickly to another area that had literally 1000's of shad busting everywhere and not one fish in them....I couldn't believe it...we worked this area hard for at least an hour or more and caught 3 little fish. We moved again in to an area that I have been catching some very good fish, again nothing to brag about......are you getting the picture? By this time it was well up into mid morning and in a completely different area of the lake Jon was on fish! Jon and I found a particular area a couple years ago that produces fantastic numbers and quality of fish in the hottest times of the summer. If I told you the total number of bass that we caught in this area last year you might not believe me. I checked this area out the first of the week with no results---Jon checked it out today and it was loaded with fish...Jon caught and released multiple limits of quality fish up to 4lbs.  Jon said that they were holding in a area about twice the size of his boat and if you threw outside of that area nothing!  When the action died Jon checked out 4 other areas and had the same results that Brad and I was experiencing which was thin. Back at the ramp I talked with 4 other boats that was pre fishing for a tournament Saturday and only one of them had keeper fish.......One 40 by 20 area full of fish.....Right place at the right time.....that's why they call it fishing.....

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-13-05

Jon Simmons and I had the pleasure of fishing today with three great guys on Old Hickory Lake. Jon and I met Mr. Scott Turner, Mr. Freddie Robertson and Mr. Tobe Bradsham at the ramp at 5:00am to get a jump on the top water bite and get ahead of the heat for a while (Which didn't last long) Within just a few minutes our two boats had landed and released 10 or twelve largemouth. This was the beginning of a 60 fish day with the majority of the fish being caught on Case Sinking Salty Shads-Luhr-Jensen Speed Traps www.luhrjensen.com and a four inch June bug worm soaked in JJ's Magic  www.jjsmagic.com  Between the two baots we had 15 keeper fish with Freddie holding the largest of the day. We had a good cloud cover early on and a moderate wind which helped things greatly.....when the wind died and the cloud cover diminished it got HOT!! At that point I'm not sure if the fish slowed down or the heat began to take it's toll on the four of us. At any rate Jon and I had a great day with these gentlemen and we are already planning a late fall early winter Smallmouth trip to Tim's Ford. Scott-Freddie-Tobe...Jon and I thank you for as very good day on the water with you......

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-14-05

I fished today with Mr. John Edens on Old Hickory Lake. This is the 5th time that I have had the pleasure to fish with Jon and as always not only did we find a few fish but we just had an enjoyable day as well. Our day on the lake began as usual 5:00am and by noon the heat had kicked in so we were ready to pack it up and call it a day. During that 7 hours we managed to catch and release 27 Largemouth.....none of the fish today we real big fish (Jon was broke off one time) but we did have a great keeper ratio. 12 of the 27 Largemouth or 44% of our fish were just good solid keepers. I guess the best 5 would have weighed somewhere around 10 to 11 pounds and were caught on Luhr-Jensen Speed Traps www.luhrjensen.com Case Sinking Salty Shad and a 4 inch June Bug worm once again soaked in JJ's Magic www.jjsmagic.com....I'm taking the day off today but will be back on Old Hickory this Thursday and Friday....I'll post our trip results each day.......

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-16-05

Have you ever met someone that it wasn't long before you felt like you had known them for a long time? Well that was my experience today with Dan and Angie Wagner from Levittown New York.  The Wagner's trip to the Nashville area was two fold. First they are huge country music fans so they were here to attend fan fair. Secondly they have recently purchased retirement property in a cove near the 231 bridge and wanted to find it from the water. So our agenda for the day was about 40% site seeing and 60% fishing. Our day started out quickly with a good early morning bite on the Case Sinking Salty Shad and Luhr Jensen 1/8th oz Speed Traps in Bleeding Shiner and Sliver and Black. The early bite was good again but truthfully stayed fairly steady although our fish were still scattered.  I'm still ouching from a 6-7lb largemouth that I missed on the Sinking Shad in no more than two feet of water. I saw the fish coming-he took a huge swipe at the bait and missed it...I could see the red in his gills-the kill in his eyes and everything...I'm going to have to take some PM's tonight just to be able to sleep after that......For the day 25 bass with the keeper ratio still staying right up in to 40% plus range. Dan and Angie, folks like you make my job a pleasure...I look forward to fishing with you again next year.

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-17-05

I fished today with Marshall's from Memphis Tennessee. This is the 4th time that I have fished with Larry and Clare and as always we had a great time together and put some good fish in the boat as well.  This was another day of catching a couple here and there BUT by the end of the day we managed 26 largemouth for the day, with our largest 5 fishing weighing 19lbs easy....big fish for the day was a tad over 6 pounds and all the fish except 2 were caught on a Case Sinking Salty Shad soaked in JJ'S Magic www.jjsmagic.com  All of these fish would unload on the Salty Shad and almost hooked themselves. Another astounding fact for this week is our keeper ratio today was still at 40% with 11 of of the 26 being exceptional keeper fish today. Here's the totals for the 4 trips this week....Monday 60...Tuesday 27...Thursday 25...Friday 26 for a total of 138 Largemouth...with 39 or 36% being keeper fish.  (see post below for details)  Larry-Clare and I are going to give the Smallmouth a try in December on Tim's...I'm looking forward to seeing them again....

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-20-05

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever caught 22 bass with 12 being keeper fish and your best 5 weighing in somewhere around 17lbs in one day and went home feeling just so so about it? Well that's what happened to me today on Old Hickory. I met Mr. Steve Stillwell at the ramp about fifteen minutes before daylight and within the next hour we caught 15 of our 22 largemouth and four of our larger fish.

I can hear someone saying Rick What's the problem, I would love to catch 22 bass in one day! The problem was that for the next seven hours we managed only 7 more fish. Can you say IT DIED! Steve and I fished 3 different creeks with the whole gambit of structure that was in them with all the baits that has been hot for us over the past several weeks and found it to be tough as nails....maybe I'm just whining....................Steve thanks for hanging in there with me today....great 60 minutes of action.........

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-23-05

Daniel and I fished with my best friend and his adopted uncle Leo Light today on Old Hickory. Leo and I have been fishing together for years and have planned this trip for months and months. Our intentions was to fish only NEW WATER on Old Hickory and have a laid back, take it easy, don't get to excited about anything trip, if you catch some great if not that's ok too, and I think we achieved our goal.  When we arrived at the lake the fog was so thick that you couldn't hardly see from one end of the boat to the other and it hung on like that until almost 8:30am. To make matters worse the lake was a slick as glass and there was no sight of any fish moving or bait fish anywhere. We fished until noon then loaded the boat a headed to Cracker Barrel for lunch and 3 gallons of sweet tea.  For the day we caught 5 Sauger like the one Daniel is holding in the picture to the left (all caught on crank baits) and 12 Kentucky's which were all about the same size.  We found these KY's on a main river channel bluff and all were caught on the 4 inch worm.  Sometimes it's just good to go and enjoy your self and be with someone that your as close to like Leo (and of course Daniel). A lot of fun for water that we have never fished on Old Hickory.......

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

6-24-05

This will be a report that covers the past two days on Old Hickory Lake.  On the 24th I fished with Brad Jolley keying on the lower end of the lake. We caught and released 18 Largemouth with the largest being the bass I'm holding in the picture to the left. We focused on fishing the drops in that end of the lake with marginal success. We finally found some good fish in various grass patches that would try to destroy a Secret Weapon Black Buzz Bait www.secretweaponlures.com ...This is a great new buzz bait that will be a valuable addition to the Secret Weapon family of lures. ...I'm currently working on a lure review on this bait and should have up in the next week or so.  Today 6-25-05 I fished with a great young couple from Jackson Tennessee Justin and Dusti Moody. Currently Tennessee Bass Guides has been participating with the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in a series of sales contests set up for their salesmen. The winners in the various divisions win a full day guide trip on Old Hickory Lake. Truthfully today was a fairly tough day for us with no wind and no current and no bait fish. We fished up lake today trying to avoid the Saturday traffic and struggled until we found a section of creek that gave up several fish in a short period of time. Justin is holding the big fish of the day, weighing in right at 5lbs. Of the 12 largemouth we caught today 6 were keeper fish...5 about the size that Dusti is holding. All of our fish today were caught on either a Case Sinking Salty Shad or a Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap www.luhrjensen.com in a Bleeding Shiner finish. The only real aggressive fish we had all day was the big one and he blasted the Salty Shad when it was pulled over a log in about 3 feet of water. As I have mentioned in prior posts, I'm not sure who the heat is effecting more......me or the fish. All I know is the air conditioner in the Tahoe sure feels good on the way home..Justin and Dusti you both are great to fish with it was a pleasure........

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 6-28-05

I had a late cancellation on a trip today so Daniel and I decided to take advantage of it and look for more "New Water" on Old Hickory lake. We took our time getting up and getting to the lake today arriving at the Davis Corner ramp at 6:00am. (This is about 1 1/2 hours later than normal.) I must admit it felt good not getting up at 2:00am this morning. We put the  Stratos in the water and headed down lake. We concentrated on as many channel points between Spencer Creek and Blue Grass as possible and found most of them dry until we hit the right one when we back tracked late in the day. In just a matter of a few minutes we caught and released 7 bass on a Luhr-Jensen 1/2 ounce Brilliant Silver Hologram Blue Shad Hot Lips with Daniel holding the largest of the 7. Later we caught 2 more bass for a total of nine for the day with 4 of the nine being good fish.  This 1/2 ounce size Hot Lips will dive 15-18 feet on 10lb test....the thing I like about this bait is that it dives straight down from the get go.......and has a great wobble that you can feel all the way back to the boat. By 1:00am Daniel was begging for a Grilled Cheese from Sonic-so we loaded the boat-pigged out at Sonic and headed back to Woodbury. A short trip but it was fun being with Daniel and just looking around. I hope this will help you on your next trip.

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 7-1-05

I had a short 1/2 day trip today with Mr. Tom Donaldson and his son Ray on Old Hickory Lake. We met at Flippers at 4:30am and headed out to our first stop. It didn't take Tom long to catch one on a Secret Weapon Buzz Bait and we missed two others. The buzz bait bite died quickly so we headed to another area where we have been catching some good fish on crankbaits. Our first cast with a Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap yielded a good 3lb fish and several smaller ones over the next 45 minutes. With the clock ticking we made one other short move that gave us our biggest fish of the day that Ray is holding...and lost 3 other good fish.  Our largest 5 fish would have weighed 11`lbs or so. I enjoyed fishing with Tom and Ray today. Ray is a very polite young man and is going to be a good fisherman.  I've never hid my feelings about my sons. I have a great time with them every time we are out together and I could see the same thing between Tom and Ray......Take time to take your kids fishing.......you will build memories that will last forever...........

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 7-2-05

Some time ago Mr. Koji Nakayama contacted me to book a trip on Old Hickory lake for himself and a good friend and co-worker Mr. Kentarou Yasui. Koji and Ken work for the Bridgestone corporation. Koji (right) works in Chicago as a Engineering Manager and Ken (left) in the  Budget and Finance Department in Tokyo. Both are avid bass fishermen and this was Ken's first trip to the United States to fish. We planned to meet at Flippers at 4:30am.....When I arrived at 4:15am Koji and Ken was already there getting their tackle ready for the day. I found out that Koji's plane was delayed in Chicago and he didn't arrive in Nashville until Mid-Night...to make matters worse the airlines left all his rods in Chicago and he had to make a mad dash to Wal-Mart to buy a couple for the day. I'm telling you these two gentlemen wanted to fish.....and it didn't take long to discover that they were very good at bass fishing. Other than the increased traffic on the lake,  today was a carbon copy of yesterday....a fish here and there....We finally made our way to an area where we have been catching some good fish and had two big fish on...Koji lost his right at the boat ( a good 4-5lb fish) and I lost one on a  Case Sinking Salty Shad-all I saw was the flash coming out of the weeds but it felt like a heavy fish.  We had a great time and I enjoyed fishing with Ken and Koji....I look forward to their next trip to Nashville-we are planning to fish together again. 16 for the day....Ken and Koji are holding 3 of our larger fish......

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides.com

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 8-12-05

This was my first day back on the water since returning from my Alaska trip and it was HOT! I met Mr. Ray Meyer (left) and Mr. Paul Merrick (right) from Alton Bay New Hampshire at the ramp at 5:00am and we had our first fish in the boat by 5:15am...We caught fish today on the Case Sinking Salty Shad-Lure Jensen Chrome and Blue Sugar Shad and Bleeding Shiner Speed Trap www.luhrjensen.com. Action stayed fairly constant all the way up to noon and then it died quickly. Every fish we caught came out of water no more than 3 feet deep or less...some on shallow docks-some on grass and some in the jumps.  All three of us lost as many or more fish than we caught but still managed to hoist 15 or so over the rail.......Old Hickory still will give up decent shallow fish even in this hot weather if you are persistent in your approach. It's like anything else that is worthwhile doing....if you don't prepare a plan in advance-and then put it into action at the lake you will most likely go home disappointed.......The #1 ingredient for Old Hickory as far as I'm concerned is Persistence and keeping good trip records from prior years. It will make allot of difference..............Ray-Paul you were great to fish with, I hope our paths cross again.....

Rick McFerrin

Tennessee Bass Guides.com

Note: You can see a full line of Case Baits at Murfreesboro Outdoors....Randy and his team will be happy to help you if you have any questions....Phone 615-896-4745 for directions.

[MotherNature]

Old Hickory 8-25-05

I fished with Mr. Warren of Mt. Juliet today on Old Hickory and for the most part we had a fairly steady day on the water. We met at 5:15am at the ramp and left immediately to get a jump on the daylight. Water temps on Old Hickory had fallen to 81.6 degrees at 5:00am and the water color is in good shape. As we have talked about in prior posts the lake is full...no let me say it this way FULL of shad...It almost looks like you could get out of the boat and walk across the top of them and never get your feet wet. For anyone that chases bass you know that there is an upside and a downside to shad populations...we saw fish busting in shad pods almost in every area of the lake we fished today....but most of the schooling was short lived and sporadic at best. We did manage to catch 16 good largemouth and countless stripes on a variety of baits from Luhr-Jensen Radar 10 and Sugar Shad  crank baits to the old reliable shallow shad rap. The Sinking Salty Shad bite was off some, I think we only caught two fish on them today. Most of our fish were scattered catching one here and there....We did have one stop where we caught 4 off a slopping rock wall that dropped off into about five feet of water.......Over all not a banner day....but not a bad one either............Warren is a good fisherman and a great person to share your boat with...It will get better on Old Hickory as the water temps cool and we move (soon I hope) into the fall season....I hope this helps....

Rick McFerrin
Tennessee Bass Guides.com