practice they weren ’ t , the first two days of the tournament they weren ’ t , but somehow , I don ’ t know who ’ s controlling the dam and releases at the TVA , but there were two hours on Saturday that I could have caught them like that .
If that would have happened Day 1 , Day 2 and Day 3 , I ’ m pretty confident I would ’ ve had close to 70 pounds . Thank goodness it happened on Day 3 , because that was all I needed .
You burned about 45 minutes of that stretch on the run from Counce to the Wilson Dam , but you pretty much started exactly on the right spot , right ?
There ’ s three or four places I could do that , but it just so happened I pulled up to the one place and I didn ’ t have to go to the other places . My co-angler said , ‘ How many do you think are here ?’ and I said , ‘ All of them .’ I got an hour of perfect conditions . I don ’ t think I ’ ve ever sat at one spot like that and got that many bites . It couldn ’ t have come at a better time .
A lot of times it seems like a swimbait is the deal in those tailraces , not a topwater . Why did you pick up the wake bait ?
I ’ ve caught more fish up there on a swimbait than anything . If the swimbait bite is on , I want a lot of current . They were up there the whole time ; everybody in the tournament went up in practice and they didn ’ t bite . I went up there every day and they just wouldn ’ t bite . It wasn ’ t like they weren ’ t up there because they didn ’ t swim up to that spot overnight . But what happened with the lower current was the water level dropped . I think I had my boat in 3 1 / 2 or 4 feet of water the whole time .
Coming from 10th to first on your home water on the final day is pretty epic . How does being the champ feel ?
I don ’ t think that I ’ ve had anything but a smile on my face since ( then ). I haven ’ t spent a dime , and I don ’ t have plans to buy anything , other than I think I ’ m going to replace my grill . I ’ ve heard from so many people – friends , co-anglers , my clients – everybody has reached out to tell me congratulations . It ’ s been cool to hear from so many people . Some of my friends are more excited about it than I am .
You guide on the Tennessee River and have been fishing the tailraces for a long time . How did you get so into it ?
I ’ ve done it almost my entire fishing life . When I was young , going with my neighbor before I had a boat , we used to drift live bait in the fall below Wheeler Dam and Wilson Dam . When you ’ re catching big smallmouth , it doesn ’ t matter if it ’ s on live bait or topwater or whatever , it ’ s awesome . And we ’ re blessed to have two of the best smallmouth lakes in the country in Wilson and Pickwick . As I started guiding , that ’ s just always been some of the most fun fishing you can do . I don ’ t think there ’ s anything like catching 5- and 6-pound smallmouth . I ’ d rather catch a 5- or 6-pound smallmouth than a 10-pound largemouth any day .
What ’ s the best you ’ ve seen it below the dams ?
I had a day yesterday that was unbelievable . My client and I were just giggling like schoolgirls . I ’ m really fortunate to be where I am , because the fishing below those dams is special . When it turns on , it is just unbelievable .
I ’ ve caught several ( 6-pound smallies ), but they ’ re mostly like 6-even , 6-2 . I caught a 6.54 one year . We call the place “ Smallie World ” sometimes . When it ’ s Smallie World , it ’ s unbelievable . In one week , my boat record got broken three times . Somebody caught a 6-5 , the next client caught a 6-6 , and the next one caught a 6-8 . It was just craziness .
How does the final day of the Toyota Series Championship stack up ?
It ’ s obviously first . Really , it ’ s the best hour , I think . For a full day , it doesn ’ t even compare , because they only bit for an hour . I caught three 6-pounders one day . A lot of times you catch largemouth up there , and I ’ ve had days where you catch 25 pounds of largemouth the first 30 minutes of the day . But overall , taking everything into consideration , it ’ s the best day ever .
What ’ s the secret to getting good in the current there ? It seems like the kind of fishing that ’ s hard for the uninitiated to pick up .
For me , it ’ s been experience . I ’ m way better today than I was five years ago and way , way better than I was 10 years ago . You can have a place , whether it be a hump or a gravel bar or a point , and there ’ s a group of fish there basically all the time , but they ’ re never in the same place . It depends on the amount of flow and the water level , and experience and experimentation helps you find them . Garmin LiveScope helps a lot , but sometimes they ’ re so tight to the bottom you can look and not see any .
What I do in the fall with live bait has helped me so much with current fishing . You can read and watch videos and think you understand , but in the last few years , I ’ ve really learned a lot more about it . It ’ s a lot easier with live bait because then they bite all the time . If you have a theory , and you drop a shad down there , they bite it and confirm your theory .
The people-watching below the dams is great . You ’ ve got all sorts trying to catch fish , and the way everyone drifts around must lend itself to some craziness . What ’ s the wildest thing you ’ ve ever seen ?
We were drifting ( below Wheeler Dam ) one day , and there ’ s a guy in a Bass Tracker , maybe 70 years old . This guy is sitting up on the front edge of his seat , and probably his daughter with him . We pulled up nearby to make a drift , and he ’ s bowed up and winching on something .
It was hot . It was September , and he ’ s just pulling his rod like he ’ s fighting a whale . We were on the edge of the current , so we fish slowly by him , and I ’ m looking , and looking , and he ’ s hung up . We go by , and he ’ s like , “ Boy it ’ s a biggun !” and I say , “ Looks like it !” He ’ s working hard — like , hard .
We drift way down , and come back , and it ’ s like 15 minutes later and he ’ s still doing it . The girl runs up and hands him a bottle of water and he takes one hand off the rod and takes a big swig and then starts fighting again . At this point , I ’ m not going to tell him ; he ’ s obviously enjoying this way too much and I ’ m not gonna spoil it for him .
Well , we drift way down — I swear it ’ s 30 minutes — and we come back up and he ’ s still there fighting . I ’ ll never forget that .
DECEMBER-JANUARY 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 89