A Bumpy Ride

We pulled up to the boat ramp at around 11 A.M. It was a cloudy day and a little bit windy. When we crossed the bridge towards the ramp, we noticed a little chop on the water but not too much.

            We put the boat in the water and started are run. That little bit of chop was a lot rougher than it looked. And of course my dad wanted to go down and fish Chipokes creek which is the furthest one from the ramp. But he had caught a lot of bass there two weeks before and we figured if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

            We took our time and didn’t try to run down there too fast to ease the beating. Anyone who has been on a long boat ride through rough waters knows you can come out at the end feeling like you have been in a title fight.

            A few times we would hit a wave then the ride would seem quite smooth for a few seconds. That’s when I would realize we were in the air and that smoothness was about to end abruptly and roughly.

            We kept making our way and around one bend the water got calmer with the river being a little thinner and more trees to block the wind. We slowly made our way down to Chipokes creek and got out of the wind and started fishing.

            We made our way into a small creek surrounded by grass with one old duck blind in it. We fished it all the way to the back and back out. We both felt a few bites but came out with no fish to show for it. Then we worked our way further into Chipokes creek.

            There are multiple different beautiful landscapes around this creek. When you aren’t catching fish, you have to remember to appreciate all of the other things about being on the water. As we were making our rough run down there I said to my dad “Hey there’s someone sitting at a desk right now just fantasizing about going fishing.

            We fished our way down another bank and my dad caught one bass. I had a couple bites but didn’t put anything in the boat. I am still questioning if I am cursed because I still haven’t caught a bass on the river this year.

 We made our way back to a bank with a bunch of cypress knees and trees around it. I decided to throw a worm in there and had a fish on early. But I waited and set the hook late. The fish was gone. No other bites to be had around these trees.

            Then we made our way to a long bank where we have always had a lot of luck catching fish. Coming out of the creek was a young man with a boat with basically a University of Tennessee flag painted on the back. I am a University of Alabama grad so my Dad commented not so subtly “God that’s an ugly boat”.

            We fished our way down the bank with no luck at all. I had maybe one or two strikes but my bass catching on the river curse would not end. We decided Chipokes creek was not the honey hole it had been a couple weeks earlier for my dad, so we decided to run to the cut through.

            The wind had died down quite a bit, so it was a much smoother ride than we had earlier. We made our way to the cut through and started fishing all the way through it. My dad caught one fish in there. I was throwing my spinner bait around some down trees in the water. I felt my bait on top of a tree and the second I pulled it off a fish pulled it straight down. I set the hook hard and he had come off. It was a little disappointing, but it was some of the most excitement I had experienced on the day.

            We fished our way through the cut through with very little action and decided to run to flower dew creek. When we ran it was much smoother than the run to start the day. We ran toward the back of flower dew creek and fished our way toward the front of it. My dad caught one more fish in there. My bad luck of catching fish on the river did not end this day.

            We thought we might try hitting herring creek next but some of the clouds looked ominous. So we decided to head in and get the boat on the trailer before we got wet.

            While I am definitely trying to break my curse of catching fish on the river I try to never forget to just enjoy the experience. It’s the fish you don’t put in the boat that make the ones you do pull in more exciting. It’s the day’s you don’t get to go fishing that make it so much better and it’s the bumpy rides on the river that make the calm smooth days feel even better.