Nashville With Pleasure Gang 4/11/23

I met Benny by chance in Nashville. Well, about as by chance as you can get, going to watch a performance by Loose Lips.  Being a non-drinker, going out on Broadway was something I did not want to do, and it took convincing from my now wife to get me to go out. Because of a Spring Green Tackle hoodie Benny stopped and asked me what Spring Green Tackle was, since it was mid show, I gave him a few  cards, some stickers, and a brief explanation of the custom rods. one month, tons of messages and phone calls later, and I am loaded up with custom rods, my boat, a full tank of gas, and a compass pointed to Nashville.

Fueled up and midway through the 9 hour drive.

I pulled up to Percy Priest Lake right as Benny and Robbie were launching their boat, timing was perfect. I gave Benny the Bad Buoys Pleasure Gang rod built for him, Robbie got his new Spring Green Tackle fly rod, and we were off. The day before a bunch of spawning Long Nose Garr were spotted, so we were hoping to catch them. We found the school quickly (the key to fishing Percy Priest is to follow Benny) and started casting. Fish were following but getting them to hit flies was proving to be very difficult. Watching Garr over 3 feet long chase flies, just to turn away is such a heart-breaking feeling. This happened over and over again, for hours. Benny was the only one to get to boat any Garr, and of course, he got two of them. The Garr slowly vanished so we headed to a few other spots, then back to the dock.

Benny with a good Garr.

Fishing day two, the plan was, look for the Garr, if we don’t see any, then its bass attack. We went to the same spots, and the Garr were gone. So now we are in bass mode. Cast after cast, and then “fish on!” Benny hooks into something big.  First fish on the new rod, and its pulling drag. Perfect! Now aside from the great casting, Benny is getting a firsthand experience on how these rods handle. The fight goes on for a few minutes and then Benny gets the net, and Boom! Hybrid secured. First fish on the new rod, and it is a tank!!!  This was the fish of the trip and caught on a medium action Spring Green Tackle rod.  The energy level went up a notch from this one. But then so did the wind.

Benny with his first fish on his Spring Green Tackle rod.

We began to work our way towards the non-wind side of Bear Island, looking for anything that would bite.  I was able to hook into a bass on a crank bait along the way, get a quick picture, and release it. once we made it to the backside of the island, the water was calm and the panfish were plentiful. It is hard to beat catching panfish on the fly, so that’s what Robbie and I did. It was a mixed bag of small, and decent sized panfish that were caught and quickly released. This is when I smile the biggest, catching panfish on the fly. Nothing will beat the explosive nature of an 8” bluegill hitting a spider, or 10 small bluegills going after a fly at the same time. We decided to head towards some docks to try to get on a good crappie bite. A good mixture of crappie and bluegill were caught. We had this area almost to ourselves. There was one other boat, a guy, with a ski boat, with rod holders mounted to it, and an anemometer on it. this guy yelled to us asking what type of fish he had as he reached into the back of his boat and picked up an absolute unit of a carp. It must have been over 40 pounds, he asked if we wanted it, and then he through it in the water. We had a good laugh from this and continued to fish. The size of the fish slowly dwindled down, so we headed back to the launch to wrap up the fishing trip.

Author Chris with a bass

The following day consisted of relaxing and getting to watch Loose Lips perform before heading back to Milwaukee. Just a quick 9-hour trip back home. The motivation that this trip gave me, to expand Spring Green Tackle is unbelievable. All this because of my wife forcing me to go out, so remember, sometimes those barriers that are up are put up by yourself to prevent opportunities. So, take those opportunities. Business has grown, friendships have grown, and my love for the craft has grown.

Chris H.

Loading up and heading out

Loose Lips at Burboun Street Blues