There was no warning about what was going to happen. One minute the rod was sitting still in the rodholder — the next instant something slamming the bait had plunged the rod tip violently into the water, twisting the rodholder out of place, peeling line off the reel.

Wayne grabbed the rod with both hands and struggled to pull the bowed-over rod from the rodholder. The fish surged away, still bending the rod.

Read More

Kids — some of them soaked to their socks by rain — having fun was the rule of the day at the Henry County Kids Fishing event June 21. The third-annual event was hosted by the Henry County GONetwork Committee and the Henry County Water Authority at Longbranch Reservoir near Locust Grove. The event drew 151 kids who had a ball getting soaked during a morning rain shower, catching fish and feasting on hot dogs for lunch.

The fishing was fair. Most kids caught a few fish, and there were some bragging-sized catfish in the 3- to 5-lb. range caught.

The GONetwork gave away 135 fishing-rod combos, as well as tackleboxes, water bottles and tackle packs. When the event ended at noon, volunteers served up about 400 hot dogs to hungry fishermen.

Rob Wimberly and Sam Harris have been fishing together for most of their lives. First as kids in a jonboat near their Athens homes and more recently as a formidable team on the tournament trails around the state. These guys have an excellent tournament record with top-three finishes in four out of their last eight HD Marine events, including a win at Sinclair last year. While the Athens residents...

This season I entered some of the BASS Elite Series bass tournaments as a co-angler, the first tournament being the Citrus Slam on the Toho/Kissimmee Chain. I fished a BASS Open there last year on the pro side and was excited about going back.

Read More