Fishing
Bass fishing on J. Percy Priest with my grandson Aaron, who fishes the Tennessee BASS Nation high school trail for Mount Juliet. The lakes, the fish and the season — the waypoints stay in the boat.
J. Percy PriestHome lake
The home lake, ten minutes from the house — the only one where knowledge compounds fast enough to be worth deep notes. USACE reservoir on the Stones River, summer pool 490 ft, launched from Fate Sanders. Everything in this vault about how to read a spot was learned here.
Old HickoryCentral
Cumberland River impoundment north of Nashville, USACE. Long and riverine, so current and generation matter more than on Percy Priest. Nothing recorded yet beyond a handful of waypoints.
Center HillCentral
Deep, clear highland reservoir on the Caney Fork, USACE. The team has struggled here, especially on practice days — likely because the Percy Priest playbook does not transfer to clear highland water. Reachable for Steve, and knowledge earned here would transfer to Dale Hollow and Tims Ford, which he cannot reach.
Dale HollowCentral
Ultra-clear deep highland water on the Obey River, USACE — famous smallmouth country. The highest-leverage lake to learn well: the Central event on Mar 20 and the double-points State Championship on Mar 21 run from the same marina, so one practice investment covers two events.
Tims FordCentral
Deep clear highland reservoir on the Elk River, TVA. Same finesse game as Center Hill and Dale Hollow. No data yet.
NormandyCentral
Small TVA impoundment on the Duck River. Class deliberately unresolved — Steve doesn't know how it fishes and a wrong classification would transfer the wrong playbook. Four on-the-water observations in the note settle it on the first trip.
ChickamaugaEast
Tennessee River impoundment, TVA. Grass, ledges and current, with a reputation for giant largemouth. East trail. Two waypoints and nothing else.
NickajackEast
Tennessee River impoundment below Chickamauga, TVA. Smaller and strongly current-driven — generation schedule likely matters more than weather. One waypoint.
Watts BarEast
Tennessee River impoundment, TVA, East trail. Ledges and creek arms. Ten waypoints already recorded — the most data of any lake outside Percy Priest, including STUMP COVE, ROCKS and a 3 FISH mark.
2026 · 9 photos
Four pounds, ten ounces — his personal best, on a still September evening.
Two pounds off a long point where a creek drops into the river channel — a Texas-rigged purple worm, after six other spots blanked on the same bait.
Caught on a Hag's Prickly Pear where two river channels meet.
Close to three pounds — the best fish of that summer.
Tournament day. Caught on a black frog skipped under a dock.
Smallmouth on a flat calm morning.
Aaron with a smallmouth off a rip-rap bank on a bluebird day.
A second smallmouth an hour later, same stretch of bank.
Weigh-in. Aaron on the right, in front of the Tennessee BASS Nation banner.
2025 · 28 photos
Tournament day on Watts Bar, both keepers up.
Aaron on Watts Bar the evening we arrived, sun coming through.
Smallmouth on the evening we arrived, before the tournament weekend.
Watts Bar on a September evening.
A largemouth as the sun dropped behind the treeline.
Under the lights after dark.
White bass at last light.
Another one for the evening.
A white bass on a bluebird afternoon.
Sunset on the water, fish in hand.
Blue sky and a bass in hand.
A September afternoon.
Waiting to weigh in.
On the weigh-in stage with the day's fish.
September, and the summer pattern still holding.
A good one under the bridge.
Aaron with a largemouth under the bridge on a September morning.
About three pounds, caught near the charted rock in Fall Creek.
Late August, sun going down behind the treeline.
That same August evening, one more in the boat.
Aaron at last light with a white bass.
Same evening, a spotted bass as the sun went down.
Night fishing under the green lights.
August largemouth.
A crappie off a dock on a bright August afternoon.
Mid-summer, eighty-eight degree water, and they still ate.
Bundled up on a grey March day. The fish don't care.
Aaron at the Bassmaster High School Series on Lewis Smith Lake, Alabama — his only out-of-state tournament on record, and the coldest he's looked doing it.
2024 · 3 photos
An October morning with the trees turning.
Unhooking one on a cold October morning.
Cold-water largemouth in early March.
2023 · 3 photos
November, hood up, still fishing.
October again, and a good fish to show for it.
Fall on Priest.
2022 · 7 photos
Early summer, and they were still biting.
Memorial Day weekend on the water.
A solid largemouth on a May afternoon.
A solid largemouth on a calm morning.
Spring largemouth on a blue-sky afternoon.
May on Priest, about as good as it gets.
A second fish out of Sister Cove.
2021 · 7 photos
Fishing between Christmas and New Year.
Autumn colour on the bank.
The same October day, another fish in the boat.
October on Priest.
Aaron at twelve, in the life jacket, with a good one. October colours coming in.
A cold October morning on the water.
On the weigh-in stage under the Bass Nation banner.
2020 · 9 photos
Thirty-seven pounds, three years after the guide kept his promise. Aaron was about eleven.
Another angle on the same fish.
Same class of fish as the 2017 striper, near enough the same weight. It only looks smaller because Aaron had grown.
A brown trout in beautiful condition.
Stripers and brown trout on the same day — the cold tailwater coming in at the top of the lake.
Aaron was about eleven. It took both of us to hold it up.
A striped bass worth the drive up to Bristol, on a cold bright April morning.
Aaron with a brown trout nearly as long as he was wide.
A heavy brown trout on the scale. Same trip, different fish entirely.
2017 · 1 photo
The guide had promised him a big fish if he came back. He came back — and at the last spot of a long day, caught two of them. Age about eight.
2016 · 4 photos
Bundled up against a November wind.
A hybrid striped bass on a cold, bright November day — the trip where the guide noticed that Aaron never once complained about the weather.
Late in a cold day, bundled to the eyes. The fish were small and nobody minded.
Aaron, about seven, with a hybrid striped bass. The oldest photo we have.
| Date | Lake | Ramp | Trail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19, 2026 | J. Percy Priest | Four Corners Marina | Central |
| Sep 26, 2026 | Chickamauga | Dayton | East |
| Oct 3, 2026 | Old Hickory | Cedar Creek Marina | State Open |
| Oct 17, 2026 | Pickwick | Pickwick State Park | State Open |
| Nov 7, 2026 | Douglas | Dandridge Ramp | East |
| Dec 5, 2026 | Normandy | Barton Spring | Central |
| Feb 27, 2027 | Tims Ford | Winchester City Park | Central |
| Mar 6, 2027 | Watts Bar | Tom Fuller | East |
| Mar 20, 2027 | Dale Hollow | Sunset Marina | Central |
| Mar 21, 2027 | Dale Hollow | Sunset Marina | State Open |
| Apr 3, 2027 | Chickamauga | Rhea County North | East |
| Apr 17–18, 2027 | Chickamauga - Battle of Chickamauga | Dayton | State Open |
| Apr 24, 2027 | Center Hill Championship | Edgar Evins | Central |
| May 1, 2027 | Watts Bar Championship | Spring City | East |
| Jun 4–5, 2027 | Douglas Championship | Dandridge Ramp | State Open |