2010 FFF Training Diary Options

[Zoomie]

As soon as I read all of the stories from last year's FFF, I knew that I just had to participate in the 2010 FFF. First, I believe it is a critical step in becoming a veteran CAG member. A tradition, if you will. A right of passage.
Most importantly, participating in the FFF, it makes a statement to those around you. In my case, it helps my friends and family confirm what they suspected all along..........that I am an idiot with no common sense.

My only problem was locating someone else that wanted to participate. Now who do I know that is a rabid carper ? I need someone that is foolish enough to fish in frigid temperatures with little chance of catching anything and still have a great time ? Someone else with no common sense !

AHA ! I immediately PM'd Charlie, our fearless Tennesse Chair. I thought I was going to have to cajole him in to attending. Nope, he said he had planned to fish it and that I was welcome to join him. Wow, that was easy. Such a willing victim !

Switching topics now, earlier in the week, I started pining for Knoxville. I have been fishing locally here in East Tennesssee and fishing hard. I am banking lots of midgets, but haven't thus far been able to break 11 pounds in my own backyard. Yep, a road trip was in order ! Who ya gonna call ? Charlie and Brad of course ! Both agreed that it was time to soak baits.

The week progressed and then we got that nasty storm. It has been insanely cold by East Tennessee standards, with the temperature falling at one point to 0 degrees F. I think hat we were all secretly waiting for someone to pull the plug on our little sojourn. Sadly, none of us have a enough good common sense to do so. For myself, I just decided it would be a test to see just how miserable I would be fishing colder conditions. It would be an FFF training day.

The weatherman said that temps would only reach a low of 25 but would get up to 45. Heck, that's nice autumn weather with the right clothing and no wind. Sadly it was not to be. I arrived on the mighty Clinch at 7AM to 17 degree weather. That's 17 before wind chill.

In these temperatures, gear and bait tend to do some some strange things. For starters, my Power turned artic white, freezing the moment it came out of the water. While it remained somewhat supple, it did freeze solid on the reel at one point, causing a break off on a cast. I ended up having to palm the reel a bit to warm it before casting.

The other issue is that grits do some weird things as well. I had to leave my grits bucket in the cab of the truck to at least keep them warm(er). Who knew that grits could almost freeze ?

I fished in a different spot than I usually do. All but 3 of the fish bestowed upon me by the Clinch have come from a particular hole/transition point. I wanted to save that spot for Charlie as it is the sweetspot for the area.

After 2 hours, all I had to show for my frostbite was three brief run/drops. Maybe the water really was too cold.

I then moved to a spot that I had seen John Bramley fishing one time, knowing that John usually doesn't exercise the "eenie, meany, miny, moe" method of selecting a bank spot. Just then, Charlie rolled in. I brought him up to speed on the action thus far with one simple word..........notadangthing.

Not long after Charlie arrived, the dangdest thing happened. I got a run. A real run ! We banked our first fish. Yes he was sub 10 pounds. But a carp, any carp in that frigid weather was wonderful ! Charlie took a pic anyway for postierity. Soon after that, Brad rolled in.

Charlie lost two fishing the sweet spot. We both shook our fists overhead,cursing Old Man River. One of them had his rod bent bent nicely. It was too danged cold to be cheated like this ! Oh he ended up banking a few but those two losses were painful for all of us.

Over a couple of hours in the morning we managed to bank 5 fish. We couldn't bust 10 pounds to save our lives. If only the temps would rise to 45 as the weatherman forecasted. Well, let me decree to all will listen, the weatherman is big fat liar. We never hit 30 until 4PM and that's when the wind kicked it up a notch.

Charlie measured the water temp. It was 43 degrees. It was so cold that you could hear the carp saying "BRRRRRR" They make the best "BRRRRRR" sound with those big ol' rubbery lips.

Everyone knows that I run K-1 JTF as my confidence bait. If the fish are biting, I bank fish on this bait. Well today, my confidence bait couldn't a catch a cold. It is the first time ever that I have been fishing and not banked a fish with it. I had to break out the new secret weapon.........K-1's new Perfect Plum. After banking a few early , I went back to JTF with no luck. They liked the Pefect Plum. Well John, please mark this first in your Calendar !

At some point in the afternoon after a long, long lull, I awoke from my daze to foreign sound. Hark, the herald angels sing ! It was one of my alarms ! I actually had a fish on! I wasn't quite sure how to act. I lifted the rod and had a nice pull on. It had to be another dink. Then, I got a nice run. Uh oh ! Drag was too tight. The drag did not like the cold weather. I was just asking for a hook pull. Quickly, I reached up and loosened the drag. I am still having nightmares about the beast I lost Sunday after our fish-in and had no desire to re-live that morbid event.

After a couple of very brief mini-runs, we closed the distance. THe fish was hugging the bottom tight. That was a good sign. While I was certain I had a Buffalo, we all held out hope for a decent fish. After some serious bush-whacking on Charlie's part, we had a beaut ! Turns out that my Buffalo was in fact a common that came in at 22 pounds. It was my second largest carp caught to date.

I was downright giddy. Fishing was brutally tough in these condtions. To be blessed with a 22 LB er in freezing temperatures had me whooping ! Yes, I am clear that it was pure dumb luck. Right bait in the right place at the right time. On a day like yesterday, I'd rather be lucky than good.

It was great to see that fish banked. It inspired confidence in all of us. Nice fish can be caught in winter. Yes it's slow going, but it still beat sitting at home, riding the couch !

Charlie and Brad took a few pics as I won't have my new camera for another week or so.

I can't wait for the FFF. Should be an absolute blast ! Maybe we'll get lucky........who knows !

[Ol Captain]

Wonderfully written! Congrats on your catch!

[Spoon]

It seems that all the trouble that TVA is getting into with the ashspill is leading to much less use of all their coal-fired steamplants. TVA certainly wasn't burning anything at Kingston in the last week. The warm water discharge is a wonderful fish attractor when its working. This winter I don't think Tennessee anglers can rely on any TVA steamplants for better fishing.

We all survived a cold day. At least we did get a bit of carping action. I am glad Zoomie was rewarded for his long drive and hard fishing with a 20+ carp. He was even happy to get this little guy to start the action.

Zoomie was actually worrying about catching a little catfish when the bigger carp took his bait. Brad and I knew immediately from the bend in the rod that it was at least a big catfish. Zoomie got a good fight from it, even in this cold water.

[Zoomie]

Geeze, I look a little chilly.

I am still shocked not a single catfish showed. I would have bet money on them making an appearance. Once I got yanked the first time and fish rested, I thought for sure it was a buffalo.

Charlie, I am just glad that neither one of us lost an eye when we high-fived with carp snot-laden hands !
And what's up with Brad failing to accept my business proposal of washing out my buckets? I was quite generous in offering him a quarter. The water wasn't that cold !

I love fishing with you guys. We always have a great time. The carp are just a bonus.

We need to take that road trip this spring that Brad brought up. And you're going Mister, whether you like it or not !

Ol' Captain, thank you for the kind words.

This post has been edited by Zoomie: Dec 13 2009, 08:38 AM

[bigbird]

AWESOME!!!!!!

[chakram]

Excellent story Zoomie and congrats on the fine winter fish! Congrats to the other crazies as well.


I see you're growing a proper winter carpin' beard, Zoomie. All the better for the frost and frozen snot to collect in.

[Zoomie]

Excellent story Zoomie and congrats on the fine winter fish! Congrats to the other crazies as well.


I see you're growing a proper winter carpin' beard, Zoomie. All the better for the frost and frozen snot to collect in.

Thank you !

Personally, I can take or leave the beard. My wife really likes it so it's become a tradition, beginning Thanksgiving and ending somehwere in January.

Yesterday I found myself wishing for something a little more substantial in a beard, like one of the ZZ TOP boys ! Anything to cover exposed skin.

As for frozen grits and snot, those are flavor savers ma'am.

[bigbird]

[Jerome]

Very very cool, love it!

[phonebush]

Zoomie,

Great write-up. Alas, without a warm water discharge you cannot catch feeding fish in water below 50 degrees F. Carp don't feed in water below 50 - even if they wanted to - they can't!

Jerome,

Do you have "saved" any of the "conversations and events" that lead up to the first FFF? It would be a fun thread to rejuvinate.

Phone

[bigbird]

phone the kingston steam plant is not running. there is no warm water discharging.

so how did he catch those fish in 43 deg. water. LOL

[Spoon]

The carp were not feeding, they were just going thru the motion of feeding to stay warm

[Brid]

Great story Zoomie, and the 20+ was a just reward Keep up the 'Phone snubs'!!
Cheers,
Brid.

[Zoomie]

Zoomie,

Great write-up. Alas, without a warm water discharge you cannot catch feeding fish in water below 50 degrees F. Carp don't feed in water below 50 - even if they wanted to - they can't!

Jerome,

Do you have "saved" any of the "conversations and events" that lead up to the first FFF? It would be a fun thread to rejuvinate.

Phone

Um, ok............now I'm confused.

The water was 43 degrees. Well below 50. I understand fish being potentially unable to metabolize food. Still, the hair rig ended up in their mouth. So is this akin to bass feeding versus a reative strike, but somehow food related ? As an example, fish just going through the motions of feeding, even though they can't digest food ?

[Justin]

Nice writeup!!