Fishing at Big Dude’s

I do enjoy a bit of fishing…especially from the comfort of Big Dude’s party dock!  (http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/) There is shade if needed and I almost always catch something, plus there are plenty of chairs for comfort, room for more tackle than I’d ever be able to use…and there’s the peace and solitude! 

Big Dude and Bev’s dock is located on a private cove on Tellico Lake...which has hundreds of miles of shoreline.  This is an early spring view looking past a deserted dock…never used…up toward the head of the cove.

This is the view out towards the lake itself…or rather a large bay off of the main lake.  Things were just starting to ‘green up’…

The most common fish I’ve caught off the dock and elsewhere in the lake is a Brim or Crappie.  Around these parts, bluegill, crappie, sunfish, rock bass, etc. seem to be generally referred to as ‘Brim’…

I’m not good at identifying Bass species.  I suspect that this is a Smallmouth Bass…but hey!  Any bass is fun to catch.  They really put up a nice fight.  This is the second most frequent fish I’ve encountered via my fishing efforts in Tellico Lake.

I’ve identified this ugly fish as a Freshwater Drum.  He’s not pretty, that’s for sure!  FYI… I don’t keep any of the fish that I catch.  I release them so they have a chance to grow up and give me a bigger high when I catch them the following season!

After consulting the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s website and Angler’s Guide, (http://www.tn.gov/twra/pdfs/anglersguide.pdf), I learned that this is a Yellow Bass.  I’ve also caught Shad, Bluegills, Sunfish and Rock Bass from the lake.  There are some enormous Carp hanging around as well…but all they do is break my line and mess up my gear.

Another frequent catch are Channel Catfish.  They fight like a Bass and they go for the same bait that I generally use…minnows.  With their barbs, I am a bit cautious when I take my hook out…usually with needle nose pliers.

During my second trip to the dock for the season, about a week after my first fishing trip, it had greened up a little bit but the water level was still way down...

Still…it was a nice sunny day…cool in the morning but it was shirtsleeve weather by Noon!

This is how the cove looked the last time I stopped by for a bit of fishing… The water was up and everything was green…and very private!

This is the view up toward the end of the cove… One neighbor did cruise up past the dock in his bass boat, trying to see what he could rustle up fish-wise.  He wasn’t much luckier than I was on this trip.  I suspect that the lack of results was caused by the muddy water from over 4 inches of rain 2 days earlier…combined with all the food that had washed into the lake.  I only caught 1 small brim or crappie…  I saw at least 3 large bass just below the surface but they weren’t interested in anything that I threw at them.  Still, they were between 15 – 18 inches long and it gave me hope for a successful future morning on Big Dude and Bev’s dock! 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and spending a few hours of peace and relaxation down in the cove...

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave