PERCY PRIEST BASS

If there is one time of year you don't want to miss on this lake it is now. Percy priest is one of the easiest lakes in the state to fish for bass and is full of every kind of fish you would want to catch. It has largemouth bass and a few smallmouth, crappie, bluegill, hybrids and stripers, the catfishing is also great.

The ramps and marina's are all the way around the lake, on the lower end of the lake you have Elm Hill Marina, in the middle you have 4 Corners and on the upper end you have Fate Sanders Marina. All these marinas are very nice and they all have restaurants, boat rentals and slip rentals. All of them also sell fishing license and bait and some tackle. Fate Sanders has a large selection of tackle with most of the hot baits on the lake along with a guide service.

My favorite part of the lake to fish this time of year is the upper end from Fate Sanders all the way to the forks of the Stones River and up into the forks also. When you fish the upper end you better spend some time looking at a good map, rocks are everywhere and you will go from 40 foot to 1 foot in 1 second, if you don't know the river use your map and go slow the first few trips. Don't follow other boats assuming they know were they are going, I have seen several 2 boat rock crashes when the guy in the back boat thought that. At the mouth of Spring Creek is one of the worst.

There are 2 baits that catch most of my daytime bass at Priest, the first one I throw everyday this time of year is a 1\2 ounce Cotton Cordell Spot, my second is a Rattle Trap, my favorite colors are red, blue and chrome, black and chrome, and bleeding shiner. This bait's require very little skill to catch lot's of fish, just throw it towards the bank and reel it in. Now if you put some practice into these 2 bait's and really learn how to work them to there potential they will catch you a hundred fish a day in May and June.

The best places to use these bait's are on most banks in the lake literally, lot's of day's we will start at the ramp and start crankin them at a 45 degree angle to the bank and just move on and cover water till we hit a bunch and then stop and work them over. When they slow down it's back on the trolling motor and down the bank we go. You will learn real quickly what parts of the banks that do the best and you can kick that trolling motor up on high when you hit the slow parts and move to the next good spot. You will cover a lot of water this way but you will really learn the bank's.

I have thrown these 2 baits for 20 years on Percy Priest and have figured out a couple handy things, first long 7 foot medium heavy rods will throw one twice as far as a 5 foot 6 inch medium heavy rod, second, 10 lb. line will catch you a lot more fish than 17 lb. line. I use an All Pro 7 foot medium heavy and I can throw a spot 50-yards easy. This allows me to cover lots of water and get way away from the boat as not to spook these heavily pressured fish. I use a 4600 C4 Ambassaduer loaded with Silver thread 10 lb. test to finish this combo and man it is sweet, I can feel those bait's shaking all the way to the boat.

Be very careful on Percy Priest watch for the rocks and the other boats, there are a lot of boaters that will show you no respect and always look over your shoulder before you turn. Don't forget wear that life jacket, set the hook, and may the fish be with you. It is the best months of the year to fish so go.