Fished Tim’s from 7:00 am until 12:15 pm caught 12 with the 5 above being my best.  I had 1 on a swim bait and the rest on a NED. www.rapala.com  Green Pumpkin Magic and “Pink”.  I have used pink floating worms-jerk baits-pink on a spinner bait-pink on several crankbaits and more but I had never thrown a pink ned until today.  I can honestly say that the “Bite” was far more aggressive on the pink than other colors. I’m not entirely sure why, but it was.  I rigged these on the VMC  Weedless Finesse Jig that I always use www.vmchooks.com  Sufix 10lb Yellow Braid with a 8lb Sufix Fluorocarbon leader.  Hopefully I’ll be on Center Hill this Thursday and will let you know how it went. Thanks for visiting my site. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

I got to the ramp this morning at 7:30 and almost couldn’t find a place to park. There is a High School Tournament tomorrow and this appeared to be a practice day—I knew that the creeks would be covered up and I didn’t want to fight the crowd so I concentrated on the larger cuts off the main river channel that could get me out of some of the wind.  The wind got up to 30 plus  (what did we do before spot lock?) I used several different baits but the the Crush City Pumpkin Magic BLT www.rapala.com  rigged on a VMC Weedless Finesse Jig did the job. www.vmchooks.com  I was using 10lb Yellow Sufix Braid with a 8lb Sufix fluorocarbon leader . Water temp in the areas where I was at was still in the high 50;s.  I had 9 total with the ones above being my best. Thanks for visiting my site Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

I had a very enjoyable 5 hours on Normandy today with my oldest son Rick Jr,  On the very first stop I connected with a good fish on a Rapala Clown X Rap that got hung up in some brush and got off.  Counting that fish we had 7 total bites the ones above being our best. I laid out the baits that we caught fish on today. A Rapala Clown X Rap-a White X Rap and a “NEW” PXR Mavril 110 (white) Snow Storm www.rapala.com A Terminator 3/8 Spinner bait www.terminator.com with a  Crush City Sight Flash Freeloaded and last but not least a Crush City Ned BLT Coppertreuse rigged on a VMC 3/16 ounce Finesse Weedless Jog. www.vmchooks.com Ofcourse line of choice always is Sufix hands down.  Water temp 47 to 50 while we were there. Good to have by son out with me today. Thanks for visiting my site Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

Let me start by saying that I have struggled with the photo’s this morning-After you read this post you can go to www.rapala.com and get a much better idea of what the fantastic RapStack Tackle Trays  look like.  I run a early 2000 model Blazer that I love, but it  is a little light on tackle space , so I built the box that you see above that holds 9 boxes of Rapala Crankbaits and Jerk Baits only.  I have always been a fairly organized person “However” the older I get the more important organization has become to me. I like things to be where they need to be so that I don’t have to hunt.  I was excited when I saw  the RapStacks for the first time.  These “ARE NOT” your run of the mill boxes that have flimsy latches and dividers.  The Rapstack is built heavy duty tough and with a smart design.  The RapStack is designed for hard and soft baits-the RED LATCH is a REAL LATCH not something that is going to fall off after you open the box a few times.  The dividers are made to be cold and heat resistant and are just as tough.  The RapStacks  are available in the following series.  A 3600–3700-3700 deep and a 3700 deep open design.  And a 3600 Open Foam Trays pictured above that I have hair jigs in. 2 Sets of Rewriteable labels are included in the RapStack pictured above on my crankbaits. Like anything else you can buy tackle storage that is ok that you will have to replace often or RapStack Tackle Tray that will give you years of service.  Light Sufix line and Rapala crankbaits doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks for visiting my site. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

I fished with Loooong time friend Billy Campbell yesterday on CH.  Water color varies all over the lake. You can find everything from very stained to semi clear with varying temps. (47-45)We covered a lot of territory  to manage the 3 that you see above. Billy is trying to hide his identity holding up a obvious very short fish. (You can’t hide) By the way  I caught the short fish and Billy caught the 2 good ones.   Best crankbait was the Rapala DT6 Red Craw which we both used. Looking back I should have thrown the Ots Deep Tiny in the same red craw (pictured above) **that will be a note for next time*** www.rapala.com I was using Sufix Clear Blue 6lb Pro Mix which has been my favorite for many years www.sufix.com  One thing that I have always liked about Pro Mix is the abrasion factor. We were beating and banging off of  rocks all day with very little little (if any) abrasion.  We did talk with 2 other friends that had 10 and a couple good fish. Like us they covered a lot of water and hit on one short stretch where they caught 5 of their 10  and I thing at least 1 of their big fish 4 3/4lb Smallmouth.   I had a great day with a great friend. Thanks for visiting my site Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

I fished Tim’s 2 times this week. The first day I had 8 total Largemouth Smallmouth mix and the 2nd day with Ken we had 12 total mix . Monday I had 4 on the “NEW”  Red Craw OG Deep Tiny 7 pictured above with the Tiny 4. The 7 is a silent/non rattling flat sided floating bait that has a very tight wobble and is rigged with VMC 1X Strong Hybrid Trebles.  They would “Pop” these with a vengeance.   For those of you that know me, you know that I have always been partial to “Crankbaits & Light line” I throw all my crankbaits up to 12ft deep on my favorite mono 6lb test Sufix Promix Clear Blue Mono.  Monday I was bumping the bottom at 8/9 feet deep easily with the Tiny Deep 7. I’m excited about both the Tiny 4 and Tiny 7.  Both come in 19 color patterns that will meet all fishing conditions and both need to be in you tackle selection.  On Monday I also had 4 on the “New  Pumpkin Magic Crush City Ned BLT” Rigged on my favorite  3/16th VMC Weedless Finesse Jig (Pictured above)  The BLT will stand straight up on a 1/4 ounce jig head . The Ned BLT are flake-salt and scent injected and comes in 16 colors and all are 3 inches long. They are made out of a durable floating plastic TPE material. These will work great in all finesse situation including drop shot.  Friday with Ken it was strictly a Ned Rig day. We couldn’t get bit on any moving bait.  20 total for the week-55-56 water temp.  Tim’s should be getting better after next weeks cold snap.  You can check out EVERY bait that I just talked about by going to www.Rapala.com  We have videos on most plus tackle tips. thanks for visiting my site Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

Tim White and I fished Tim’s one day and Center Hill for 2 days and honestly struggled on all 3 days.  I’m missing about 4 or 5 other pictures that included a couple decent smallmouth -not sure what happened.  The ones above was our best on Center Hill. We caught several fish about the size that you see but we just couldn’t come up with the quality.  Rapala Skitter Walk was the best top water for me www.rapala.com We both use a variety of Sufix braid and mono www.sufix.com We caught several on a variety of cranbaits including the old reliable Shad  Rapala DT6.  Water temp was in the 62-63 range and dropping. Ramps are all in good shape.  That’s the good bad and ugly. I think we are very close to a good top water and cranbait bite on CH. I’ll update as I go. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

Ken Jenkins and I fished Center Hill this morning and had steady action for the first 4 hour or so and then it died. We caught 15-20 total Smallmouth-Largemouth and Spots combined with most being very short. The ones above was out best and all  caught on soft plastics. I was using a 1/8ounce VMC Weedless Finesse Jig www.vmchooks.com on 8lb Advantage Sufix Mono www.sufix.com Water temp hasn’t changed since Monday-but it appeared that they pulled the lake down maybe 8-10 inches or so.  That’s it for this week and I appreciate you visiting my site. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com

I fished Center Hill this morning by myself. I caught several smaller fish (8=10 inch) early on a Rapal DT6 www.rapala.com  I threw several top water baits and a buzz bait with no takers. I switched over to a 1/8 VMC Weedless Finesse Jig with soft plastics www.vmchooks.com and caught the ones you see above plus I lost 5 in timber. No “BIG ONES” but good solid fish. 6lb test Sufix Mono on the crankbait and 8lb on the jig. Water temp was 77 degrees.