[TNBronzeback]

Had a family reuinion in the smokys the past few days so a cousin of mine came in friday night wanting to get his first striper. Fearful of mud coming down the canet we hit carthage about 4:30 am saturday. We tossed artificials in the dark with hopes of running up the caney at light to get shad. The water, while high, was still too stained to convince me to run up it in search for shad. We trolled and casted around a while. Got poured on some, then the caney really turned ugly!
So checking Cordell Hull generation we cruised upriver to the dam. 1 generated just kicked on. Dropped down my #1 jigging bait and 3 rips later boated a keeper walleye. Then a white bass, drum, small cat. Motored up for another pass and got a big crappie, another cat and cousin got a small striper. Shifted around some and made another pass and boated 4-5 saugers. 2 keepers and he got a cigar sauger. Toss in a few bass and some skippies and we finished the day on top. Got him his 2 bucket list fish. Granted they werent big fish, but he is now hooked on jigging the river and we are planning a week in january to hit em up when they are really munching!
Sunday morning hit priest for a few hours for some bass. First point we hit i had a bruiser rip off of a crank. Fished that point from all angles and depths to put 4 decent fish in the boat.
Tried to finish the morning by snagging any of the hundreds of gars surfacing close to long hunter but just couldnt get a hook buried.
First time out in several months so it was awesome to get back on fish!
On a side note, the home renovations are complete, house was on the market all of 36 hours before we accepted a cash offer over asking price and we close at the end of the month. Break ground on the new house in 2-3 weeks!