Tennessee Fishing Reports

Nice Strippers

Billy Harris — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:38:00 GMT

Pictured are some nice stripers caught by HuiDong Wang - these were caught during this past winter i think. Either way they are nice ones.

great job - maybe you can tackle some largemouth or smallmouth bass next.

Custom Hand Tied Jigs

Billy Harris — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:59:00 GMT

Hi,
Recently I came to a situation where I could not get the football jigs in the colors I wanted. I had only a few days until my Old Hickory tournament. So I decided to get some skirts and hand tie some jigs for myself. I am pretty happy how they turned out. I used Green pumkin candy, watermelons and purples. I won the tournament with these jigs. I hand tied them with some thread after I came up with the pattern I wanted. I have been using them for 2 weeks now and have not had a single skirt come apart or off the shank of the jig.

What do you think?

shoot me an email with your thoughts. billy@billyharrisfishing.com

F-3 Bassmasters Old Hickory

Billy Harris — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:07:00 GMT

6-27 F-3 had our 3rd tournament of the year and I was a little behind Rob and Tim going in. I missed the last tournament on Priest and was nearly 20 lbs behind. I figured I needed to play catch up a little bit.
Thursday I went out and practiced some. I had heard the ledges were heating up a bit with numbers but the size is still hard to find. Also not all the normal ledges were holding fish. No grass is growing on the flats next to the ledges and much of the trees and brush piles were washed away due to some big flooding that happen down here in April and May. So I headed out to my usual june and july holes. Stop one on my 3rd cast produced a nice 19" bass that I guessed at near 4lbs. Within 20 minutes I had a quick limit of probably 9 lbs. My jig was the ticket but it wasn't just any jig but a color I had tied on and hand tied for Chickamuaga and well it works here too. I am not going to give out too much I have a Bassmaster/ABA Regional qualifier here in September. Sorry
My second spot was not too far way. Within a few minutes of stopping I hooked a very nice 22" largemouth on my jig. I am guessing she was about 6lbs or so. So it was a big upgrade. A few cast later I landed a nice 19" big head. So I am now estimating I had 16lbs
or so. I then decided to flip a little bit. The current was rolling so I decided to flip the main channel wood. I picked up a zoom speed craw and flipped up a solid 4lber and upgraded to about 18lbs. Then I thought with current running I would hit some of my favorite ledges. I hit 3 different ledges and nothing. I was heading back in and decided one more stop. I picked up my jig and had 7 keepers rough about 2lbs each on a 10 casts. I have a plan. Hit my shallow stuff early and since I knew they were not going to run current that I was not going to count on ledges much and really didn't plan to fish them that much.

Race day - it was hot and balmy. Temps were predicted for a high of 96, no wind and no current. I drew Sam for the first tournament in the 3-4 years we have fished the club. First thing he said he was happy and was ready for a jig lesson. A jig lesson he did get.
We headed out to my 1st spot and nothing happening. We fished 10 minutes and I had a dip stick idiot run right in on my, drop anchor and started live baiting the area. I dont mind sharing water but this guy did not even ask, a local dude. I am not kidding , I could have touched him with my rod. We fished about 20 minutes and left. I headed to area #2. I commenced to whacking them. 10 minutes in the area I had a small limit and broke off on one that we guessed over 6lbs. She was right next to the boat and went to sweep with the net and away she went. I kept up with my jig and just kepts catching fish after fish. I had culled 4 times and probably had caught 20 bass and Sam had caught 1 fish. Finally I told Sam to tie on one of my jigs and boy is he glad he did. Sam said he did not know how to fish a jig. After a quick lesson on the jig technique I use he made a cast and landed a nice 4 lb bass. Not bad for his first jig fish. Sam was able to catch 3 bass on the jig and had about 7lbs for the day. I ended up culling up enough to take 1st place with 5 bass for 12.96 lbs. For this lake that is a pretty good weight. Most team tournaments are taking 13-16 lbs to win.

Bassmaster / ABA TN East Chickamauga

Billy Harris — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:23:00 GMT

6/13/09 Lake Chickamauga Bassmaster ABA weekend series

Check out the video of my weigh-in at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6aXudcu0Kk

Well my TN East div. tournament number 4 came and went. Overall I think it went fairly well. A top 10 out of 61 anglers. I was able to have about 3 days of practices, had scheduled 4-5 but due to mechanical issues I lost a day total of fishing. I will explain later. I was betting it would be a ledge bite due to the time of year. So I concentrated my efforts on ledges and humps with jigs, cranks and big worms.

Practice Day 1 - I had gotten me a good map and did some map study the night before Grace and I left for Dayton, TN. We finally got on the water about 7 a.m., about 1 hr after daylight. I 1st went up the Hiawassee river to fish the big bridge area. I love fishing deep bridge pilings this time of year. Usually they are great current breaks and structure that doesn't get washed away. I went top water early but no love, a few blow ups was about it. I came back down fishing a few river ledges but nothing. I stopped around a the Hiawassee island to fish some humps and ledges. I would just go from ledge to ledge that I had marked on my map. I pulled up to one ledge went over it with the sonar and found boat loads of giant stumps and big brush piles. I stopped and pulled out my jig. On my 1st cast I loaded up with a solid 3lb bass. Grace was using a shaky head with a green pumpkin zoom finesse worm and also caught a few from the ledge. Ding put a way point for that one and this one ledge played a major roll in my 10th place finish.

Practice Day 2 - I went out by myself as Grace and her daughter Sammy slept in. I made it a point to concentrate shallow for a few hours. I threw jigs, spooks, sammy's, swim baits, frogs and not really anything to account for. I just didn't feel any love from the shallow stuff. So about 10 a.m. I went back to camp for breakfast and to pick up Grace. We got back out about noon and by this time they had turned on the current and the bite turned on as well. We ledge hopped for an hour and finally found a ledge that was producing a lot of 13-14 inch fish with a few keepers. Then my Motor Guide Prop fell off. GRRRRRRR! So we pulled out and ran to Wal-Mart. They only carry Minn-Kota stuff. I bet I sat in the parking lot for over an hour calling every marina in town and no one carried Motor Guide Props. Finally I got a number from one of them and in Spring City I was able to find a prop. We drove 30 minutes to by a $48 prop - a Machete - 3 grass cutter. We got back out on the water about 4 and again ledge hopped. We finally ended up around Redneck Island and commenced to whacking some bass. I was using a MVP football jig from Secret Lures in candy craw and Grace used a shaky head with a green pumpkin worm. I bet we caught 40 bass off that one ledge but very few keepers. I knew it was probably a community hole and holding dinks so we just stayed there whacking some bass.

In summary for those two days I needed a shaky head in green pumpkin and more jigs in green pumpkin with some blue's and purples mixed into the skirt color. I had broke off all my MVP jigs from Secret Lures so I called them and ordered six. They were not sure if they could get them to me in time so I got on the horn and called a buddy of mine that tie's his own jigs. He had some skirt colors that I needed. So I got the stuff and made 8 football jigs in the color patterns I needed. Green Pumpkin with some purple blue strands, 3/8 oz and 1/2 oz sizes.

Practice day 3 - Grace and I headed back down on Thursday before the tournament to pre-fish some more. I plan was to quickly stop at my previous spots I had caught fish, catch one and then leave. I went to my top three spots and nothing! I thought for a second what was different, what had happen. The only difference was no current. So we left those areas looking for new stuff. about 10 a.m. I noticed the current moving so I went back to my 1st three ledges and made 3 casts on each and had a keeper fish. I knew no wind and current was the key and MVP Secret Lures football jigs, my home made jigs and shaky heads were important.

Practice day 4 - Grace and the kids stayed in bed while I went out early. I ran way down river past the TN river bridge looking for new ledges. About 3 hours into my practice my trolling motor cord broke. GRRRR! I spent the next 2 hours fashioning a new cord. I tried several times making a rope from braided line and other stuff. Finally I used the string tie from my hoody and was back in business. So from the prop and my rope breaking I lost 8 hrs of practice time. Anyhow I went back to the hotel and got Grace and the kids and headed back out. 11 a.m. the current turned out and so did the fish. We found two ledges holding solid 3lb fish. I even caught a 4 and 6 from these ledges. We used the same baits as the previous days to catch the fish.

I had put together a pattern, main river ledges using green pumpkin jigs and shaky heads. I was guessing the best I could put together was about 14lbs. I knew it wasn't enough to win so I put a goal in of a 5 fish limit for at least 12lbs and hope for a big bite.
I was betting 20+ lbs to win.

Race Day - I drew boat 48, 3rd flight and partner Ben Billings who had not been on the water in months, so not really any local help. Just my luck! We headed out to my 2nd best ledge. I was holding my best spot for the current to turn on. We pulled up and fish were busting everywhere. We tied on some top water to only catch dinks. We stayed about an hour or two. I wanted to head to my best ledge and camp so no one else could get on it. Lucky me we pulled up to no one on my spot. We fished for abut 30 minutes and my partner sacked a 2 lb'er on a big worm. In the next 20 minutes he caught 2 more keepers and I had yet to get bit. At 10:00 a.m. I noticed the current really moving now. I pulled out my MVP jig and commenced to catch a limit. In the next 30 minutes I put 5 keepers in the boat for about 10 lbs. Not big fish but a limit just the same. We stayed there until about 1 trying to milk it. The bite would come in spirts, it would go bang bang bang, then nothing for 30 minutes, then bang bang bang again then nothing. I wound up culling up with a nice 4lb bass. I now had around 14 lbs. The wind really picked up by this point and I really think that killed my bite. We ran around some from there to more ledges but nothing, dinks at best. Finally I said lets go super shallow in some grass, where can we go. He said he had one spot he fish a year or so ago that had grass but didn't know about it now. So it was a shot, we had 15 minutes to kill. We pulled in and my 3rd cast with my Secret Lures Chubby frog in BLK clear legs produced a 3lber and another cull. I guessed I had 15lbs now and a great shot at a top 10. A few casts later and I had a toad blow up and dance a couple times and suddenly my line went limp. My knot on my braided line had slipped thru the crack on my hook. I lost a 5 plus pound fish and a top 5 because I forgot to pinch shut my hook eyelet. My fault! By this time we had to jet and got to weigh-in.
I ended up weighing in 14.94lbs and a 10th place finish. I was pretty happy about my day. I made two mistakes, 1. not checking my hook eye and 2, not making a move to shallow grass earlier when the bite died off from my ledges.

That finished moved me to 8th in points for the TN east division. Watts Bar is next, 8/29-30 for divisional. Any hints?

Tennessee's Adam Wagner BFL All American

Billy Harris — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:21:00 GMT

I just read on Bass Fan that Cookville TN Adam Wagnor won the All American on the Mississippi river in Iowa. Congrats to Adam. I have fished against Adam the last few years and he is nearly alway at the top. He is a pretty good stick and should do well at the next level. Here is the Bass Fan write up:
http://www.bassfan.com/docktalk.asp?id=6420#6420

Bassmasters Weekend Series Tellico Ft Loudon

Billy Harris — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:46:00 GMT

I fished the 3rd event in the Tennessee East division this past Saturday, 5/2. I had a limit of 5 fish/ 1 dead for 7.48lbs after penalty. I finished in 13th. If it had not been for a dead fish I would have finished 10th and .02 oz out of the money. I was able to move from 17th in points to 9th in points for the year. Solidly in the top 40 to go to the regional at Old Hickory.

Practice day 1. I got to the lake with overcast conditions. I studied my map and picked some shallow flats on the main lake and in some creeks. The water temps were 68-72 and clear water, 5+ feet. I thought I would try to find some spawning fish first and a top water bite. I fished for 4 hours looking for beds but was not able to find anything. It is not my strong suite so I decided to forget it and go after post spawn fish that were just coming off bed. I targeted lake points that had deep water and led to short cuts. I wanted to stay out of the bigger creeks to stay away from traffic and takes too long to fish a big creek. I had never been on Tellico or Loudon so I wanted to move fast and find something. My first spot i worked a jig from 2ft to 20 foot. My first keeper came in 15ft of water on a 3/8 oz Secret Lures football jig in watermelon/green pumpkin pattern. It was my biggest fish in 3 days of fishing, about 4lbs. I moved around alot with the trolling motor and just covered water. By the end of the day I had over 50 bass with 8 keepers for about 9lbs.
I fished a 3/16 and 3/8 oz jig and a shakey head worm most of the day to catch the fish. I did catch 5-6 on a swim bait but they were from some schoolers and I knew I could not count on them to school again.

Day 2 I fished with David Crider from Georgia. He is my link partner for this division. He is a great guy and fun to fish with. We did much of the same on day 2 as day 1 but fish Loudon only. I clued him in on my patern and we went to town. By the end of the day he called my pattern speed flipping. I knew which type of tree they were holding on. I would bypass the big bush long laydowns and only target the smaller laydowns that had wide spaced branches and stumps. If you found a stump you found a fish. We managed around 40 fish. My best 5 again around 8-9 lbs. It did seem the keeper fish were coming on my watermelon shakey head worm. I was using a zoom trick worm.

Day 3 - Race Day - I drew partner Josh Stevenson from Cincinatti Ohio. Josh had never been on the lake before so he wasn't of much help. So much for drawing a local at any of my event. LOL! I was boat 25 in 2nd flight. Plus taking out of our ramp, Tellico Recreation Park was a 200 boat tournament, CHAOS! I knew the lake was going to be hammered and was guessing it would take 15lbs to win. I was a little off, 13.5 won it.
I was not happy about the conditions as it was raining hard but at least it was not windy. I was a little worried about my pattern falling apart. I think I needed some sun or brighter conditions to make those fish stay in the laydowns. We fished for about 3 hours in the rain and no keepers. By this time I was getting a little worried and actually was thinking about abandoning the pattern. We had only caught maybe 10 fish together. Finally the rain stopped but it did not clear any. It was still very overcast. I tried changing a little bit, spinnerbaits, cranks, top water and nothing. I told Josh we were sorta going to change patterns, just do the same thing but in clearer water. I had found a little spot that was very wind protected and the water very clear about 10ft. I speed trolled and flipped my shakey head. I would bybass the bushy ceder trees and only hit stumps and small logs, bushes in 5-10ft of water. Within one hour of this I had my limit of 5 fish. Josh finaly caught his lone keeper also. We had 45 minutes to go and I headed to deep water on the main lake to try and find a kicker smallie or something. I tied on a 3/4 oz jig and just chunked. About 10 minutes into it I had a small tick and as I reeled down to set the hook the fish just bolted and nearly jerked the rod out of my hand. I had her on for about 10 seconds and she just came unbuttoned. I never did get a good hook set. It was my last bite of the day.
All in all I was fairly happy with my performance. I was able to find fish on day one and a pattern. I was able to adjust my pattern a little bit due to weather conditions and got my limit of bass. There weren't that many limits of fish caught and most of these guys are locals.

I hope to be able to stay around town and fish Chickamuaga and then off to Old Hickory regionals. But with no job and only a few bites from out of state, I might have to move. You have to go where the money is. So far the biggest potential is in Kansas City, MO. and Teledo OH. We will just have to wait and see.

Percy Priest Giant Crappie

Billy Harris — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:23:00 GMT

Today I was planning on a crappie trip to Priest. So far this year has not been vary friendly to me for the big slabs. I have only had one slab over 12". I have caught alot but just not the size of last year. I met Wayne and his grandson for a day of crappie fishing. We met at Fate Sanders about 6:30 a.m. The plan was for us to hit some deep brush as my shallow bite had dissapeared.

Our first stop was not far from Fate Sanders. We were tight-lining some minnows. Our first stop produced 5 crappie but only one barely keeper fish. We moved on to the next tree and found the bite tough there as well. One thing for certain was the bite was very very light and hard to feel. I tell you if it was not for these Challenger Rods we were using I really don't think we could have caught as many as we did. Wayne even made a comment that you could actually feel the minnow swimming on the hook. Now that is some sensitivity. We continued to bounce around on some deep trees and catching fish but mostly short and even a catfish.
We finally came to our 2nd to last stop and I boated a 14" crappie the biggest I have had this year. But, the next several bites were small fish. We had about 15 minutes to go because Wayne's grandson had soccer practice to go to. So we headed out to our last deep tree. The tree was in about 19ft of water. We made one pass and BAMM! Dean yelled that he had a big one. I looked back and saw his rod doubled over and thought for sure it was a bass. The more it came up the whiter the fish looked and as soon as I saw it I was like holy smokes that is a giant crappie. We managed to get it in the boat and measured the fish. She was 15.5" long, what a toad. I think that is one of the biggest crappie I have ever seen. I bet it was a couple pounds for sure.

All in all we ened up with 10 keeper fish out of about 20 crappie caught. Not too bad I guess. It will make a good meal anyway.

Thanks Wayne and Dean for another great day on the water!

Sponsors and the rest of the year.

Billy Harris — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:54:00 GMT

As most of you know by now I got laid of my job of 9 years about 2 weeks ago. This really puts the rest of my year fishing the Bassmaster Weekend Series operated by the ABA in serious jeopardy. I was in 17th after Chickamuaga in Chattanooga and doing well. I had planned to fish Tellico in east TN May 2nd. I just have to stay in the top 40 to fish regionals on Old Hickory, one of my home lakes. But unless I get some $$$ sp[sponsors to help me with entry fees the rest of the year I will more then likely be done. So with that being said, my current sponsor and potential new sponsors I am looking for entry fees for the remaining three BASS Weekend Series tournaments. $200 two regular season and $300 for the divisional. You can sponsor just one or all. What you will get, title sponsor on my home web page, logos on shirts, truck and boat for those tournaments. Your logo's on my site will relieve a lot of web traffic plus the links from several other sites that I regularly visit.
If you are interested, send me an idea and we can work something out. I will go the extra mile to promote you and all my other sponsors and partnerships.

Thanks,
Billy

Percy Priest Smallmout Toad

Billy Harris — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:26:00 GMT

Yesterday a friend of mine, Clay and his dad went out to Priest for some smallmouth action and whatever would bite.
We started out in Hamilton creek on a favorite bank of mine. We started off throwing jigs, shakey heads and swimming grubs. Clay started whacking them on a green pumpkin grub just by swimming it slowly and just off the bottom. We fished down the back and he caught a nice largemouth that was around 5lbs. Thing I noticed was this fished had spawned out already, tail beat up and red, stomach just sucked in and flat as could be. I was kinda shocked but not really. We had a good warming trend a few weeks back that pushed the water into the low 60's. Also on this lake they have been known to spawn at 55 degree water.

We continued to fish around Hamilton creek and catching a bunch of fish. I picked up a black Secret Lures jig and flipped up by a rock and caught a toad of a KY Spotted Bass, this thing was little over 19" long and fat as could be. I converted the weight from my length chart and it should have weighed around 4.04 lbs. That is a nice spot for this lake and just 1lb short of the lake record.
I caught her using a Challenger Rod that I just picked up and 12 lb floro.

Fishing slowed a bit in Hamilton so we headed out to a few more smallie spots. We fished around bear island some and picked up a few more 16" keeper largemouths on the grub and jig. We went into Smith Springs area and continued our jig approach. I broke off on a good fish in 12ft of water and lost another good bite. I then made a long cast and working my jig back got a tick on my bait. I set the hook and the fight was one. I knew instantly it was a big fish. Once she came up near the boat it was a big smallie we were looking for. She jumped and tail walked a couple times, it was great. Finally got her in the net and wow! First thing I noticed was how fat she was and she had a 6" or bigger little stripe in her mouth! These big smallies will each big baits too! We measured her at 21.75" long which converts to 6.17 lbs but she was full of eggs so I bet she would have gone a bit more in weight.

It was getting late in the day so we needed to get some pics of our catches. Our best 5 would have gone over 20 lbs for the day. Awesome for Priest. We had 6 lbs smallie, 5lb largemouth, 4lb spot, 3 lb largemouth and another 3lb largemouth. We hit for the cycle! All three bass and keepers. It was a fun day as we caught over 35-40 bass for the day.

Thanks to Challenger Rods and Secret Lures for these nice fish today

Early Crappie

Billy Harris — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:14:00 GMT

April 6th I got laid off of work after 9 years of service. Not happy about it but what can you do when the country is in the mode that a dollar made is more valuable then a pesons life. Unfortunately doing the right thing by a persons life does not measure up to the value of a dollar. Protect a company or protect a person was a question purposed to me, hmmm and we wonder why the county is in the shape it is in. That should never be a question, a person should be more important then a dollar when it comes to doing the right thing. But that is the way business is, sucks but a reality. I won't be the only one being judged my supposed friend. A bible in one hand a knife in the other.
Ok enough of my political ramble.

Grace and I went out for a day of relaxation and she wanted to try some crappie fishing. We got us a bucket of minnows and headed out on a nice sunny day. the last few days we had a major cold snap come in and really push the water temps down and slowed the crappie spawn. We went in behind Fate Sanders and had four crappie, well not we but SHE had four crappie. We bounced around a little through the day but only wound up catching one more crappie.
Equipment for the day
Challenger Spinning rods in medium and medium heavy
10lb Viscous Floro
bobbers and minnows fished 4ft deep.
A couple nice slabs huh! One was a giant 15.5" that she caught. Mine, well it was the smallest one.

Brian Carpers Guide Service

Billy Harris — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:48:00 GMT

Brian Carper of www.briancarper.com is now offering striper guiding on J. Percy Priest. Guide Mark Pack had a trip yesterday and ended up catching this nice striper. I don't know all the details of the catch but man what a fish. Email Brian to set up your next trip. Bass, Crappie and Striper are really on fire at Percy Priest.

3-28 F-3 club Percy Priest

Billy Harris — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:35:00 GMT

3-28 F-3 bassmasters had our 1st tournament of the year. The morning had forcasted violent storms and heavy rain. Lucky for us the weather forcasters yet again missed it by a mile. I drew co-angler Noah from the boro and moved here from Alabama. He fishes Priest reguraly but new to the area he is a little frustrated at the lake. Join the crowd man, we all went through that. Anyhow the rain stopped just before we launched and the winds laid down. I thought it was a perfect day for smallie fishing so that led me to the 1st stop.

We stopped in our 1st area that I had caught some nice smallies in the past. I decided to go with a jig in black w a black chunk. Within 5 mins I had a 18" big head in the boat. A few minutes later I had a 19" smallie in the boat. It was a nice start because it let me know the fish were here to win it. I guesed I needed 15lbs to win it all as I knew Rob was on some fish and he also knew the area I was fishing and figured he would be here soon. We fished the whole area with jigs and a few cranks but nearly all the bites came off a jig. Noah had 2 keepers but missed a lot of fish on the jig. I had two pigs load up and 1 broke off and one came unbuttoned. As I said before Rob knew the area and yup he showed up later in the day. it was kinda fun and rewarding to catch a nice keeper smallie and LM I could use to upgrade right in front of him. LOL!
Noah and I picked up the TM and fired up the less that isless then likable Mercury, long story but nothing but problems out of this motor that is 6 months old and Merc. being a pain in the @#$@$%. Long story but now I am wishing I had a Yamaha.
We shot down to a road bed that usually get some pre-spawn staging but the water temps were just not right. We picked back up and headed back near our 1st stop. I quickly picked up another upgrad smallie on my trusty jig. Noah finally got it going on a smoke grub and picked up a few smallies and some big heads. he was up to 4 keepers for nearly 7 lbs and needed one more keeper.
The day was nearing a end and we hit a few more areas but the bite was slowing as the wind was moving about 20mph and some rollers were moving in.

All in all, Noah and I landed 30+ bass with probably 40% of those fish being smallmouth. Nearly all our fish came off a jig and grub.
We made it back and tallied the weights from other members.
1st Tim Sheets with 15lbs anchored by a LM 5.38lbs - he caught them cranking.
2nd Billy Harris with 14lbs anchored by a SM 4.5 lbs - I threw a jig all day.
3rd Rob Kennedy with 13lbs anchored bya LM 5.38lbs - he cranked all day.
4th Sam Allen with 10lbs with a 5 lb LM and Sam cranked all day.

Congrats Tim, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.
Oh Rob - thanks for another $20

Until next time Center Hill on 4-11 - lookout boys I have 2 top 10's on this lake in the Bassmaster W Series and a few other wins. Lets just say I really like this lake also. I dont fish it much but those fish love my little jig.

Billy

New Pro-Staff Sponsors

Billy Harris — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:52:00 GMT

Hows it is going? Spring is on us down south in Tennessee. I have some tomatoes, peppers and other veggies started and nearing ready to plant into the garden. I have also been working on a couple pro-staff sponsor positions for 2009.

I joined with Challenger Rods and Secret Lures. I hope to start and have a great relationship with Slade (Challenger) and Danny (Secret Lures).

Good friend of mine Brian Carper a local Tennessee guide on Percy Priest and Old Hickory has a quick video of Challenger Rods on his website. www.briancarper.com Also the following is quick little read about the quality and feel of a Challenger Rod.

"Over the past year, I have been fishing with Challenger's TGX and Original Series rods with all of my clients and in my tournaments. Throughout the years, I have fished with All Star, and Shimmano rods, but never have I had the confidence that I now do in Challenger rods. For the first time in my fishing career, I can pick up any rod, from a 6'8" med. heavy jig rod or a 7' med. cranking rod, and know I am going to get everything out of that rod that I need to catch more fish. When I throw a DD22 with my 7' cranking rod, I can cast that lure as far as I want (which is a good 25 yards) and reel it all the way in without strain on my arms or wrists. It feels like I am reeling in a little bandit 200 series. Before I used Challenger's rods, it was discouraging fishing with deep crankbaits because it felt like I was reeling in a fish everytime...it was so heavy, straining my wrist and arms after 10 minutes. Another rod that has increased the amount of fish I put in the boat is Challenger's 7' med. heavy shaky head. It has a fast tip with a strong backbone, which is useful for pulling fish out of 15'ft-20'ft of water. But the highlight of this rod is its sensitivity. I can throw a 1/8oz. shaky head jig and feel every rock, and crater on the bottom. This gives me more confidence and awareness of when a fish is playing with my bait. The last rod that I have been honored to use, is Challenger's 6'8" med. heavy fast tip worm rod, I use this rod for my jigs. Last week in the Bassmaster Weekend Series, I finish 9th, fishing a jig with this rod ALL DAY (9.5hrs). I probably caught 50 bass and had 5 keepers, for 11.07 lbs. One of the key elements for that day was the TGX worm rod I used. The rod is super light, so you can fish it all day without tiring your forearm. Also, I could feel every bite! I could distinctively feel a fish pick the jig up for a second, and let it go, something I have never confidently been able to admit.
Challenger has two different models of rods, the TGX Series and the Original Series. Both are inexpensive for the everyday angler to purchase. The Original Series rods are $60-$85 and the TGX Series rods are $90 - $120. You can research all of Challenger's rods at www.challengertackle.com. I highly recommend these rods and encourage you to check them out. If you have any questions about performance, price, etc. do not hesitate to drop me a line."

Brian

Secret Lures is an up and coming company that provides high powered buzz frogs, home of the Chubby, jigs and other baits. If you are looking for something different then look us up at www.secretlures.com

I can't wait to get these bad boys out on Kentucky Lake, Guntersville and even Old Hickory Lake. I am looking for some exciting action with Secret Lures.

Bassmaster Weekend Series Guntersville

Billy Harris — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:35:00 GMT

I hope everyone is having a great new year of 09. I just started my season and had decided to fish the Bassmaster Weekend Series TN East division. Simply because I want to fish the regional on Old Hickory. Old Hickory in October is very tough. 12 lbs a day could win it and 6 a day could make you nationals.

The 1st tournament was on guntersville lake in Alabama. I had 5 fish for 13.2 lbs and got me 40th. It took 19 to get a check and 28ish to win it. I caught all my fish on a Xcalibur XR75 one knocker in rayburn red.

I am trying something new this year. I have had carple tunnel for several years now and had one surgury and typing just kills my hands. So I got a video camera and decided to do some reports on video and then posting them here. It will take me awhile to refine my presentation so please be patient. Email me tips and ideas you would like to see. billy@billyharrisfishing.com

Guntersville Video

Billy
BillyHarrisFishing.com

Secret Weapon Lures - Recoil Rig

Billy Harris — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:28:00 GMT

Hey bloggers, I recently received a special discount code from one of my great sponsors. The code can be redeemed at www.secretweaponlures.com for 30% off. Stock up on your spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and the new Recoil Rig.

USE DISCOUNT 30% CODE PCPSBH9

My New Ride - Phoenix Bass Boats - Beeline

Billy Harris — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:31:00 GMT

Hey all I finally have some pics of my new ride. Ya I sold my Stratos to Ron Taylor and got into a Bee-Line by Phoenix Boats. www.phoenixbassboats.com - So far I love the ride and boat. I am less then happy with the Mercury Pro-XS 250hp but still have high hopes for it after the break in period. Seems that due to double oiling during the break in period is fouling out my plugs and sometimes missing trying to get out of the hole. But top end she is running around 74-75 mph. 72 with 2 peeps and full tournament load.

The color is Midnight Blue and Sand.

The boat itself is great. The ride is smooth and comfortable. Handles pretty good in rough water and fishes very well out of rough water. The storage is unbelievable - tons of it. I put in all my stuff and had tons of storage left over. I thought I had lost some tacke there was so much open space.

Probably the most asked question is why Phoenix - Beeline. I chose them after getting an invite and personal tour of Phoenix boats by President Gary Clouse. He is committed to customer service and producting a quality boat at a competitive price. Also was the marine dealership. I ran the boat through Gilliams Marine in Tullahoma, TN. Sarah, Darryl and staff has been great helping me out with my boat and working through the break in period. I can call them any time and they will work with you on the dead line you need. They are committed to excellence through customer service. My last purchase of a Stratos left a bad taste in my mouth from the dealership via customer service so that was extreemly important to me on this purchase.

I believe this is going to be the start of a long and great relationship with Phoenix Bass Boats and Gilliams Marine.
Who knows if things go right I will be in a new branded Phoenix Bass Boat. Keep you eyes open for updated news and pics of the Phoenix!

If you are in the market for a new boat give Gilliams Marine a call, ask for Sarah 931-461-3230 or go to www.phoenixbassboats.com

Tight Lines,
Billy

Wild Side Weekly

Billy Harris — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:42:00 GMT

Hey all, last week I had the opportunity to do a couple shows for Tennessee Wild Side with the Wild Side Weekly show. You can catch the show at www.wildsideweekly.com , create a log in and password and you are on your way. The show is about finessee jig fishing on ledges and bluffs. Let me know your thoughts good or bad.

Thanks
Billy

Kentucky Lake Blue Grass Brawl Elite Series

Billy Harris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Well I have had a few days to rest my hands and wrists after fishing in the Bassmaster Blue Grass Brawl on Kentucky Lake. The Brawl Details

I was really pumped up on Wednesday driving up to Murry KY and the Kentucky Dam Village to register. Rob Kennedy and I go there around 3pm and milled about outside until registration. We seen all the angler there, KVD - Skeet and Ish just to name a few. Registration went well and we had the safety and pairing meeting on Wednesday. As we all know much of this co-angler is all about the draw. Lets say Rob was not very happy with any of his draws. I was pretty happy for all three days.

Day 1 - Mark Davis - Crankbait King
Mark and I took off in boat 95 and 8:30 - due back in at 6:20. Mark said we planned on heading to Barkley and fishing some main lake ledges.   We stopped not far from the dam on a ledge. No sooner then I got my life jacket off he had fish on, a nice 3lb bass on a Big-O - nice old school stuff huh.   I got the fish in for him and stepped to the back just to hear fish on. To say the least 15 minutes later I am standing there very humbled and amazed by his 5-fish limit. I am standing on the back deck a little shaken and nervous as what to do now. Mark took noticed and really calmed me down and got me focused again. I was throwing a DT-10 and finally got a hook up on a nice looking 4'sh bass and just my luck she came loose at the boat. 2 hrs later I finally hook up on a solid 3lb bass on a C-Rig and dang the luck she comes un-buttoned also. I was pretty aggravated at this point. I stopped and went to a shaky head and on my 3rd cast landed my 1st keeper a nice 3lb fish. A few minutes later I hit another one. With an hour to go I landed my last keeper on my shaky head. My 3 fish was good enough for 8+lbs and 59th place. Those two lost fish would come back to haunt me later as it cost me 1st place.

Day 2 - Brian Snowden - Missouri Pro
We drew boat 12 and got to head out pretty early, 8:10am which was pretty nice. The wind was way up about 15-20 and on this lake you will have 4 foot or better rollers. It was a rough ride to our 1st spot. Brian and I hit ledges all day long, just the way I like it.   Brian started off with a 3/4 oz football jig and I started with a 10" Plum Apple Exodus worm. Within 45 minutes we both had a limit and was still catching fish. Brian was smokin me with his jig on the size of his fish. From day 1 I guessed I needed 12lbs to make the cut and I had about 10. I knew I needed some bigger fish so I switched to a bigger worm, a 11" Exodus Paddle Tail worm, this thing was huge. However that worm was the key to making the cut and placing 10th over-all. Not only did I cull out all 5 keepers but caught solid 3lb bass all day long on several different ledges. It was absolutely a blast fishing with Brian. He is a class act guy. Brian ended the day with a little over 14lbs and I had a little over 15lbs and good enough to move me from 59th to 18th. I made my goal of making the cut, and now I wanted a top 10. I thought I needed 14lbs to make a top 10 and with a big bite, who knows!

Day 3 - Byron Velvick - Floppy's Cousin - LOL!
Byron and I drew boat 18 or so and again we were heading to ledges. However as Byron and I got to our 1st spot a local fishing a BFL was right on the honey hole.   We fished it the best we could for about 4 hrs. Byron lost a toad, well over 5lbs on a swimbait and caught a few small keepers. I caught my 1st 3lb'er on a shaky head. Byron and I let the local dude have the spot as we planned to come back around 2 when he had his weighin. We hit some humps and other ledges down by the dam but it was pretty slow. He finally caught his limit but they were pretty small 15" bass.   2pm we head back to his main hole. We fished it for over 1 hour without a single bite and then about 3:30 - 4pm the dinner was served. Bryron started whacking some solid 2-3's on a deep running crank, could not catch what it was, maybe a Bandit 700? I tried everything, DT-16 - SWL Spinnerbait - jigs, c-rigs and nothing. I finally said the heck with it and went back to my Exodus worm. Once we found the main school we started to limit out and cull. I final caught my limit and was able to cull out my small ones. I was guessing I had 14lbs. 45 mins to go we decided to head to another hump near weighin. Byron took up his marker buoy and tossed it to the back, it bounced off the seat and hit his ignition switch and broke it. The boat would not start. We both freaked out for a few minutes. I buttoned things down while he worked on the ignition. After taking the panel off and working a pair of pliers we got it started and back to the weighin. Byron was a great guy to fish with and just kept pounding it no matter how slow it was. When it was slow he was free with information and answering my questions about fishing. I was pretty relaxed fishing behind Byron, humor goes a long way!

I weighed in with a little over 14lbs and enough for 10th place. I don't think that was too bad for my 1st event of this magnitude.

From the pic you can tell I really had to use my JKRUZ sunglasses. I look like a raccoon!

SMALLMOUTH Old Hickory Lake Record

Billy Harris — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:45:00 GMT

6.95 LB SMALLMOUTH - NEW OLD HICKORY LAKE RECORD!

Wow what a heart pumping night. Denny Krogh and myself fish a Thursday night tournament series on Old Hickory sponsored by Michael of www.midtnmarine.com . Going in the weather had stabilized some and water was starting to clear. I had a plan for the night and felt very good about it going in. I thought with the temps of the main lake still at 58 and pockets at 60 the fish should be moving along a little ditch I knew about to a flat in the back of Shutes Branch.   I told Denny just before take off to hang on because I feel good about tonight.
Water was a bit stained about 2ft, wind calm, clear full moon lite night.
We started off on the shallow flat throwing some rattle traps with nothing happening. I finally caught a couple fat dinks on a jig off rip rap. We moved on down the bank with little action as we fished the deeper portion of a ditch. We got up to the next flat and I caught a few more dinks on a black jig. Denny tied on a Spring Craw Bandit 200 and began catching 6 or 7 13.5" bass, good fish but not keepers. 7:45 the sun had gone down and I switch back to my jig and caught a nice 2.5lb'er. We caught several more fish that were short, about 30+ short bass. With 45 minutes to go I said lets run out to this main lake point just to check things out. We pulled in and Denny said " Billy lets just catch a couple 5lb'er and be done with it. But can you let me catch one of them".  It was kinda funny looking back on it. We were fishing a little rock point and about my 5th cast and with my jig almost back to the boat I felt a slight tick on my jig. I reeled down and set the hook on my toad! The fight was on, the smallie came straight up out of the water to me what looked like 3ft and tail walked the whole time. It was breath taking. I was scream at Denny to get the net the whole time. We finally got her in, and Denny guessed her at 6.5 lbs and I thought she was smaller then that.  Nervous and shaking we continued to fish. I told Denny it was not his turn. It wasn't a few minutes later he is yelling get the net. His largemouth came in at about 4 to 4.5 lbs. A very nice fish indeed and again the jig was the ticket.
Back at the weigh-in I seen a lot of fishing being weighed in and a lot of 4-6lb largemouth. I though we might have had a top 5 and didn't think I had a chance at big fish. We weighed in for 2nd Place at 13.6 lbs and I got big fish at 6.95 lbs. Then the guys brought up that it might be a new lake record. So scrambling around to find out last night we still did not know. I called the TWRA for information and indeed I broke the old record of 6.11 lbs in 2003.   I am filling out the paperwork to have it certified and my name is heading to the record books!
For those that don't know I threw back a 8.5 lbs smallie state record in Minnesota in 1998 and missed out on the once in a lifetime chance at a state record. Well this might not be a state record but just the same my name is going in a record book. How many people can say that!
Special thanks to one of my sponsors Michael of www.midtnmarine.com for bringing me that bait before the tournament. Without that jig who knows!

Billy

ROBBIE AND BILL - THE NEXT KVD?

Billy Harris — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:04:00 GMT

Saturday April 5th I had the opportunity to fish with a couple great boys and their dad out on Percy Priest. Robbie and Bill are a couple fine young men and quite the anglers. We met out at Fate Sanders about 1:30 and they were eager and ready to go despite the windy and colder then desired weather. The temps never got above 55 or so and I think they actually dropped throughout the day. Whenever you do a trip with kids you always worry about how much they know such as casting skills and fish catching ability. There was nothing to worry about with these two a they were obviously well trained by their dad, Bob.

We stared out in the cove behind Fate Sanders as I had been catching some crappie a few days earlier. We pulled into the 1st spot and quickly caught a small bluegill on a minnow. We got to watching and bass were running/schooling baitfish along the bank. So we edge on in and tried our luck. Robbie and Bill caught a largemouth bass, a KY Spotted bass and a decent little crappie out of the hole.

We finished up there with a few bass and headed down lake to try out luck out on some more bass. We headed to Four Corners were I had just fished that morning and caught a boat load of bass which included 14 keepers.
We pulled into the 1st point and quickly caught a nice bass on a crankbait. We caught a few more bass throughout the day. As the day progressed the temps continued to drop but the boys stayed right with it and never gave up, they went Iconelli on me! We wound up catching a multitude of fish. They caught, Largemouth, Ky Spots, 2 good size bluegills, crappie, yellow bass, and even a big ol catfish. I think they could fish any kinda of fishing tournament they wanted to and do well. We even had the perverbial big one get away. We were around Long Hunter ramp and Robbie had a big bite. He fought it well but it just was not meant to be. I am not sure what it was but they way it fought I think it was a Hybrid or Striper. Either way it was something big.

Thumbs up to a couple good young fishermen and I am officially warning KVD, you better watch your back with these two!

Billy Harris
www.billyharrisbasspro.com