Lavon Sept 11, 2021

I don't know about y'all but I find it hard to believe it has been 20 years since the attack. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had flown to Knoxville, Tennessee on the 10th and I was on a jobsite on the 11th. When we saw what happened we got in our rental car and drove home. It was a cloudless day and we saw Airforce One with it's fighter escorts making con trails in the sky. The only con trails. Listening to all the reports on the radio but not seeing anything until that night when I got home. One of those days I'll never forget...

Sorry for going off topic...

So, yesterday was sort of hot and cold for us. I had my grandson Gabe with me. I had gone out Friday afternoon to gas up the boat and get gas. Decided to get bait so I didn't have to fuss with that in the morning. Got a bag of bait and decided to scout around a bit. Went to the pump house trench and marked a bunch of fish on the sides of the ditch in about 20 FOW. Wanted to see if they were cats, that's what they looked like but wanted to be sure so I threw 4 rods out with the idea I would drift through them once and see if I got bit. In 8 minutes I had 3 fish in the boat. All good size eaters. About 4 pounds. They all looked like they could have been the same fish.

So I kept that in my pocket for in the morning. Started out in the trees up shallow in the dark. Had baits down by 6:15. No Bueno... Left there and went back to the trench at the pump house and the fish were still there. There was no wind, it was a nice cool morning and the surface temps were down to about 83 degrees. We pulled 3 more of those 4 pounders out of the trench and then decided to look for some bigger fish.

As they say, never leave fish to find fish but... We were after a new PB for Gabe. We started drifting further up north and couldn't get bit. Tried another shallow cove and nothing. Set up and drifted another open flat. Still not enough wind to drift so we were pullin boards with the trolling motor.

About 11:00 we started getting bit again. We caught two better fish. No toads, one was about 10 and the other 12. The 10 was good enough for Gabe's new PB. Mission accomplished.

Awesome post and a cool video. Keep making those memories with that grandson. Good job.

Nice work, Tim!

The cool down in the mornings is most welcome and hopefully the bite might go in a positive direction!

I now know that feeling hooking into a nice fish! Nice job with the video and memories to last a lifetime for that young man.

(my first day of work in the US of A was 9/11. They wouldn't let me enter the office - told me to watch the news. Yup, 20 years out here this month. The rest is history as they day).

Nice job!

Best part of fishing with Jr anglers is the new PB! Way to go buddy! I’m stuck on shore and couch fishing!

Great job Tim. PB's are the best. Glad you dragged him out of bed. Its been years since I have been on Lavon, might have to try it again 1 day. Was that the pump house down by the dam, its been so long that it doesn't look familiar. We used to bass and sandbass out there a lot.

The pump house I was referencing is the one on the west side between Avalon park and Collin Park. I'm glad I drug him out too! The more I fish Lavon, the more I love it... I'm spoiled by the success I've been having there...

Gotcha Tim. I was thinking it looked different, because it was the wrong one. HAHA. Yes you got them figured out on Lavon for sure. I have a good friend that lives over by Lavonia Park and he has been after me to take him fishing on Lavon for catfish for the past 2 years. I usually make him drive out to me and we hit Twok. But I might have to try some new waters before too long. Have bigger gizzards been easy to find?

Yeah, shad have been easy and the big ones seem to be plentiful. The new hatch is pretty impressive. There are millions of little ones in the coves all over the lake so it makes me think they should remain easy to find and catch...

I spent some time fishing Twok a couple years ago and never seemed to figure it out. I had some good days there but couldn't find consistency.

The place sure has changed over the years. I wish the Corps took better care of the parks around the lake. I love this old picture of how things worked back in the day. No ramp, just back the family cruiser up to the water and do your own thing.