I was driving to Ivie last night in a thunderstorm with lightning and downpour. I thought to myself- man I waited 3 months for this fishing trip to come and now it's going to be ruined by a nasty cold front?! With a positive mindset I went to bed with high hopes and excitement for the big day to fish Ivie. My guide Tommy Hagler and I set off on our adventure this morning at about 7am just after sunrise. We threw all sorts of stuff at the fish for the first 2 hours of the day and NOTHING but a dinkleberry 1.5 pounder. Tommy said let me pull out some waypoints and we set off for a new spot. About 9:20am the sun came out and the fish started biting...

Tommy was on to something and as a good guide thinking of his client first he passed the rod to me immediately after feeling first bite and let me set the hook and attempt to bring her home. It was a big'un. The fish saw the boat and booked. It took me another minute or so to finesse her in and Tommy netted her. A team effort and a beautiful 7.62 pounder in the boat! She was landed by a T-Rigged 5" Senko.

About 30 minutes later- me being the perfectionist and wanting to land my own fish I sort of felt like eh well we did get one but I really didn't do it all alone. Well I tossed out a plastic craw and I got WHACKED. Thump and hard hookset secured this big momma. A big big fight and about 2 minutes later Tommy netted our second legit fish of the day and it weighed in at 7.65 lbs. (my new personal best over my previous of 7.56)!!! She was caught on a T-Rigged Strike King Rage Craw. Man it felt good to land her- long fight and tiring. The fish kept running on me and stripping line off a very tight drag!

Well after these two beauties we thought wow what a day. I pretty much figured stuff would end and we should be thankful for those 2 but someone wanted us to have a little more fun haha. 30 minutes later I'm dragging a C-Rigged Strike King Rage Craw and hook onto another fish. It came up real quick and thought it was only a 2 or so but once I caught a glimpse of her I yell to Tommy to 'get the net'! Wow... landed her and weighed and yet another beauty: 5.89 this time!

Surely, the day had to be over now right? Yea it pretty much was dead rest of day. We fished for a few more hours till 2:30pm and we were about ready to throw in the towel until Tommy The 'Hag' himself throws the Hag Tornado F5 into a spot and whack. He pulls her in and I net and it's a beautiful 5.40!

We fished for another 2 hours with nothing and called it a day at 4:15pm. After the day's end 3 of our 4 big fish came from 9:30am-11am and we only caught 14 fish between us- 1 short, two 1 pounders and two 2.5 pounders, 2 catfish, 1 sand bass ....and 4 post-spawn BIGUNS!

Fun day out on the water with Tommy. I thank you for putting your customer first and allowing me to get on fish and keep me in the strike zone. I wouldn't of had any idea on where to go on this lake if it wasn't for my guide. We were fishing spots that I was scratching my head wondering is there really fish here? I trusted my guide and he came through. We saw lots of boats heading in early as the weather was rough and it was a tough bite; but patience prevailed today. Thanks for the good time Sir.

End of Day Notables:
7.65
7.62
5.89
5.40

Next week----- LAKE FORK with Stephen F. Bring it!


http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c228/brentgrab/Lake%20Ivie%20Fishing%204-21-11/ (all the pics with description/baits used)


Brent's new PB 7.65


Brent/Tommy Team effort 7.62


Tommy/Brent Team effort 7.62 (Same fish)


Brent 5.89


Tommy 5.40

Excellent fish Brent. Sounds like you and Tommy had a great time. Wish that rain would have put some water in the lake.

Time to change that signature line! Awesome story, great pics!

Congrats to you

Awesome man. Tommy is a good dude!

Great fishing guys, I fished ivie today also and I didn't have the luck yall did. Guess I need to go with the Hag so he can put me on the fish.

Nice Fish!

Thanks Brent..... The weather sure tried to put a damper on everything for us. With East winds, then Southeast, then South and finally Southwest, it sure was hard to figure out their positioning on those spots. But, we hung in there and found some good 'uns. Congrats again on the new PB!!!

Great fish guys, sounds like a fun day!

Great job. we were also down around that time...not as good though. good solid fish!!

Nice fish, congratulations on your PB.

Curious - did you get away with using lighter line or did you cave in and spool some 20 test?

Glad you had a really good trip.

Sounds like y'all had a great day!

Haha, actually! I took off the 20 lb. test because I feared the weather/conditions put a damper on fish as it was so I went down to 15 lb. test. Whether or not that helped to get me bit I'm not sure, but I didn't like the 20 it just seemed too much like throwing out rope. Much more manageable with 15 and better presentation.