Annual Trip, Douglas Lake, TN 2007 Sept 14-16

This year we thought we'd give Douglas Lake a try. We got a water front cabin (well, it would have been water front if lake level wasn't down 35 feet!) This year we had the 5 regulars go: Steve, Brian, Ed, Keith and Paul. We arrived early on Friday, it was a little wet on the drive but not too bad. After we got settled on a boat ramp, we launched and were ready to start the day. Then it rained hard. We were stuck in the boat with little bait and looking for the marina for licenses. We ended up calling the 800 number to get them over the phone as we couldn't easily locate the marina in the heavy rain conditions.

The first day (Friday) of fishing was fair-to-poor. We mostly tried for old stables like catfish and panfish. Caught one nice cat and quite a few decent bluegill and crappie, though not as many as we hoped. We decided to call it an early night and dry out (while also not drying out, if you know what I mean).

Later that night it cleared out and we decided to do a bit of night fishing near the TNA run ramp, which is very nice. We dropped our bait attractor lights on the other side of the lake from the ramps. Coves looked good, fish were showing on the sonar but nothin'. So shortly thereafter, we packed it in and would give it a fresh start in the morning.

The second day (Saturday) of fishing, we covered more of the main lake and into areas that were supposed to be more productive. We made the 30 minute run amid the flash of bass boats in a tournament. Again, fishing turned out to be mildly active or better said: not so good.

The third day (Sunday) of fishing, we went back first to areas covered on Saturday but then worked our way past the ramps to the North and East. We had some fun catching some monster gills off the farm silo that was protruding from the lake.

Overall Lake Score: Fair
It was a beautiful area and should have produced much more. Based on experiences on other lakes, not sure we'll be back.

Watuaga Lake, TN May 2007

Brian and I tried to meet at a lake in between our homesteads, that would appears to have some fish.

Watuaga Lake in TN was a nice lake that had some good cabin rentals, so we gave it a try. It was a hot day (in the 80s) the first day on the lake and second day was in the 60s, big difference.

We were able to pull in a few cats as well as a few nice smallmouths.

Overall lake score: good

Annual Trip: Claytor Lake, VA 2006 October

For this trip we only had 4 guys: Steve, Brian, Ed and Keith

This was one of our best trips. The cabin right next to the water with a dock. Fishing was excellent. The first day we hit some high winds which caused us some problems in keeping the boats still as the steep lake bottom didn't catch our anchors. Saturday and Sunday, were great. We hit some great crappie sports up near the dam. We also tried our hand at night stripers and got one in the boat.

Overall Lake Score: Excellent
It just about has it all

Claytor Lake State Park

Annual Trip: South Holston Lake, TN 2005 Sept

This trip was our first TN lake and first one on a mountain lake (apart from the WV ones).

Regulars were there with: Brian, Steve, Paul, Ed and Keith. The hillside house we stayed at was nice, if you were a 70 year old woman. It met our needs though. The killer 7 flights of stairs to the water could have been done without.

The three days of fishing was far. We had a hard time locating the smallmouth, crappie and walleye on the lake (which we were expecting to find). Just happens in the last hours of our trip, we hit the crappie hard.

Overall lake score: Good
It has potential, though accommodations are not great for those gaining in age. And we aren't getting any younger.

South Holston Reservior

Annual Trip: Sept Stonewall Jackson Lake, WV 2004

This was our first house boat experience (and may be our last). It was sort of nice being on the water full-time but would have been better to be a bit more nibble. We had Steve, Brian, Paul, Keith, Ed and Nomar on the large barge. Fishing was fair to poor, Brian had a bit of luck out in his kayak, especially towards the end of the weekend.

Overall lake score: Fair
It has very good potential, we just didn't experience it first hand.