John and debbie meyers, Author at MyHendersonvilleTN.com

Old Hickory Lake fishing report – Nashville Tennessee

Wednesday May 17,2016 , Hendersonville,Tn

This big girl hit like a freight train on my light action rod and 8 lb line. Caught her on the inside edge of a point leading to a known spawning area.

Most people would never believe that a small jig head hook could withstand a large fish. I have caught bass up to 7lb's on a little 1/16 oz jighead.

Was out today fishing from am till 10 am. Went straight to main lake points and caught about a dozen largemouth anchored by a nice 6Lber. Water temp low 60's and a nice light wind with some clouds. 10' seemed to produce the best and only had time to fish a couple spots. Went into a cove to check shallow crappie areas and did catch a few with one nice one. Trolled deeper water and caught 4. All in all a great morning on the lake. Very nice quiet morning - seemed unbelievable to have such solitude when I know in town in was a huge rat race. If you can NOW is the time to get 'em as they are in all the predictable places. ... get our there and get "em! John

Fishing Success – Preparation is one key principle!

Not many people talk about one of the most important things a fisherman must do to be consistently successful at catching quality fish. Big stringers of fish are caught by anglers who know that in order to do it they must spend enormous amounts of time ON the water and be in the right area at the RIGHT time. In order to do that PREPARATION and maintenance of all their equipment is essential. A recent post on http://www.fishingtn.com/ about a trailer bearing going out shows how a equipment failure can lead to a bad fishing day. All your equipment needs to be maintained at a high level so it does not interfere with your ability to catch fish. Every thing from trailer and boat maintenance to of course keeping your rods and reels working 100% with nice fresh line and good sharp hooks and good knots. ... most successful fisherman very seldom get sidelined from equipment failure or loose that big'in 🙂 Figure about an hour of upkeep / prep work for every hour on the water. ... there's something magical about being fully prepared and heading out on fishing trip. I find the time I spend on my rods and tackle before a trip almost as pleasurable as the actual trip itself! ... as i'm doing my normal prep work my mind wanders back to all the different trips and catches that I've made. ...... and yes also the mishaps that occur no matter how much you plan to avoid them. Preparation is one of the "secrets" to be a success in just about everything you do.... .. I like to paint old cars and stuff and I can tell you the more time you spend prepping the better the results will be. .. and the same can be said for fishing also. Now , get out there and get 'em!! John

September Fishing on Old Hickory Lake

Hendersonville,Tennessee September 12 2016 September 12 2016 Finally got a chance to get out on the lake. It's been a long time coming. Air temp was 57 at sunrise - water temp was 79... sunny bluebird sky's after the cold front that came thru a couple of days ago. Fished about 3 hours and caught 6 bass (biggest about 17") a couple of gill's and one catfish. I fished a couple of main lake points and there was nice schools of bait present.

I just so happened to have a pack of grubs that kinda matched up with these little baitfish. 🙂 I hooked the largest one a little deeper than the others ( 15 feet) and was thankful I was able to get 'em with all the massive schools of bait around.

When they hit they meant business as all the fish I caught had that grub engulfed in their mouth!

In between fishing the points I trolled for about an hour or so with no takers. It was great to get back in the boat and hopefully I will be able to get out more often. John

Why Is It – Low Income Car Ownership Program

There is social enterprise that I have been aware of and been following since it started many years ago. It started with a simple premise : Take donated cars and recondition them and offer them to low income working people for their basic transportation. It has been phenomenally successful. What it needs to succeed is simply a fully experienced leader who has successfully acquired the skills ( both book smart and street smart) to manage the daily operation, ...... It's a No brainer. There are over 150 low-income car ownership programs scattered around the U.S. The most successful of the bunch is this one that I speak off. I was running my Automotive businesses in the area when it started and I knew the originators. Here is a link to Vehicles for change : : https://www.vehiclesforchange.org/ Why is it that every city hasn't adopted a similar program? This is one of those rare instances when a charity can be self sustaining relative quickly. After the initial start-up phase is over the program generates enough income thru it's properly run operation to sustain it self. Just imagine for a minute if you were in that group of low income people who is employed and needs to depend on a car, ... and can't get ahead because of the lack of a decent ,reliable, affordable car. ... just imagine trying to live YOUR life without one! Here's another program that has been very successful and how it has helped many people : http://www.goodnewsgarage.org/Success-Stories There is also many other benefits of this type of social business such as training mechanics, detailers, tow truck operators and other employees. It also generates favorable publicity. ... Just imagine of the press you get when you "award" a car to a needy recipient! Again: Why is it that every city hasn't adopted a similar program? John

The Trophy deer of Hendersonville Tennessee

Residents of Hendersonville Tennessee know full well that there is a healthy population of deer but not many see the elusive big trophy bucks. They are pretty secretive but at certain times of the year can be spotted.

DSCN6085 — These three Whitetail Bucks are prime examples of some healthy Deer

I reckon that their isn't any hunters that can hunt on Indian lake peninsula but I bet many would love to!

DSCN6084 — I once saw five of these bad boys at this spot!

If Hendersonville ever softens the hunting regulations and allows bow hunting I would gladly help out with what many residents say is the H'ville deer "problem". 🙂

The Simple Joy of a Bike

Back when I was a young teenager in the 1970's I got around town on my trusty 10 speed bicycle. I never thought much about the process of riding or the benefits - I just wanted to get to certain places and that was my mode of transportation. .. But as I got older and I decided to get to get back into shape the first thing I started doing was riding an old mountain bike on some designated bike trails. And I have been steadily riding for more than the last 10 years.

Years ago a friend was cleaning out his garage and was getting rid of an old mountain bike - I gladly took it off his hands and have been riding it ever since.

Now when I ride I take in all the natural scenes all around Indian Lake Peninsula where I ride. Good scenery and a good physical work out - It's a good way to start your day and begin your exercise regimen. To me it's nicer than being inside a gym. ... your outside taking in everything around you.... Going down a hill with the wind in your face makes me feel alive and thankful that I am healthy enough to get out there and do it! , ..... It's kinda funny how something so simple can be so much fun, .. the simple joy of riding a bike. John

Seeing a trophy whitetail deer is a added bonus when on a bike ride!

The Sad Truth

Many young people choose their career path based on what they think will be a "fun" or "prestigious" or a "good paying" job or maybe even a job to help people and society. So they try to do everything right. Go to college and get as much education as you can and then enter the workforce as "trained" to do that job. But in all reality that is when the learning really begins. In short order most realize that working in the "real" world is much different than they ever could have imagined . If only they could have been exposed of this reality earlier they may have chosen something else to do. All to often their dream occupation turns into a job. Just a job. And the sad truth is a lot of the teachers (even ones that have worked "in the field" do not clue them in on the realities of their chosen profession. In my lifetime of interaction with many types of people and their occupations I have concluded that very few are top performers who truly love their job and live it 24 -7. They are the people that are always learning and studying ways to improve their performance. Maybe 5% at most. Below them another 5% are great also. Then about 10% are really good and conscientious when on the job but like most people have a ton of other interests and responsibilities away from work. The Sad Truth is 80% of workers are barely competent enough to do the job and half of them (40%) are down right incompetent. And to make matters worse They are protected by their co-workers (we're a family; we look out for our own etc) or a bureaucracy and/or convoluted system set up to "protect the workers" but essentially makes it very hard to release incompetent or downright nasty/dangerous people. The Sad Truth is most people we come in contact with are barely competent and half of them are incompetent. Which brings us to the hot topic of the day - police interactions with citizens caught on video tape. My theory is pretty basic based on the above information. In a perfect world the young officers would be mentored by the top guy's for a good long while. They would be guided and helped along in their career to become one of the top 10%. But in the real world they are out alone patroling by themselves . .. so it shouldn't surprise us when these type of incidents happen. Since each police department is it's own little fiefdom it is up to the police chief to instill a culture of excellence in everything they do including holding every person up to a high standard and if they can't "cut the mustard" reassign them to a job behind the scenes where they don't have to interact with the public. The police need to police themselves and receive enough continual training (in real life threatening situations) to be evaluated by professional trainers and psychologists/criminologists and made sure they are up to the job. John

A Hook and A worm

I caught my first fish with a cane pole when I was 5 years old. It was on the Quantico creek witch flowed into the Potomac river south of the nations capital; Washington D.C. I only remember that trip and one more a year or so later when I was catching them as fast as I could put my bait in the water. My next memories of fishing is when I was about 10 years old and living in Virginia Beach. The neighborhood had a long canal nearby where I would ride my bike and fish with the other local kids. Catfish and huge carp were the trophies we were after and our bait of choice was homemade dough balls. Fun times ... seems every day or so I of us would hook and land a great big one. After moving to Maryland I didn't do much fishing until about 18 years old I was camping in Harper's ferry West Virginia on the upper Potomac river and received a lesson on basic river fishing that really opened my eyes on how to catch fish. First step was to catch our own bait. Mountain Wigglers - a type of worm that you could catch alongside of the roads by removing the layers of leaves down to the rich dirt. And they do wiggle. Next step is tie on a small hook directly onto the end of 6lb test on a spinning rod. That's it - nothing else. My first thought was how in the world are you going to cast this with no weight but after you put on the wiggler and practice a little it was no problem. ... We went to the river and I watched as the old vet just stood at the edge of the river and he didn't cast it out but just flipped it right at the rocks at his feet and proceeded to pull out all kinds of river fish. I learned very quickly the various hiding spots of the fish and a lot of them were right at your feet! . It was fun casting upstream and letting the current take the unweighted wiggler into the fish holding areas and when you hooked up it was just you and the fish. Needless to say I spent many summer days after that wading and fishing the upper Potomac river. That's it. ... the simplest, easy way to fish. It's funny how we over think and make things so complicated. Get out there and get 'em! John

The One Lure you should Master

My Oldest son (he's grown now with his own family) likes to tell a story from his childhood about a fishing trip where we were catching fish from our boat and a local boy was shore fishing and yelled out to us : Hey mister whatcha catching 'em on?.. I replied "small plastic baits". Where did you get the most? the boy said... "various spots along the river" was my answer. What depth? ... well you can kinda guess my answer. 🙂 .. Yes I was very secretive in my younger fishing days. But now I enjoy sharing my knowledge. The lure we were using that fall day and catching over 50 quality bass was a unassuming small thing called a grub. One just like this one:

Grubs come in an infinite amount of colors and sizes. This is a 3″ alongside a 1/16oz jighead.

The above bait works well with 6 or 8 pond test line and a light action rod. You can experiment with different sizes and weights and of course depending on the "on the water" conditions such as depth and wind factors you may have to go to a heaver jighead. The basic retrieve is just a slow swimming of the lure or a drag and drop as it hops along the bottom. Sometimes in winter letting it sit on the bottom more than moving it will produce nice hard hits. I don't think you can fish it wrong, just experiment.... A visible line is nice to have because sometimes you can see your line "pop" before you feel a hit.

When threading your jighead onto the grub try to have the hook come out along one of the seams of the grub.

I have caught many thousands of fish on this simple, inexpensive,easy to fish lure. Everything that swims WILL hit it at one time or another!.... If I was packing an emergency fishing kit I would definitely have some grubs in it! Get out there and get 'em! John Don't forget When you are serious about Real Estate get serious and contact Debbie at : http://Debbiemeyers.realtor

A picture of a picture back in the day when I discovered the power of the grub!

Tennessee handgun carry permit course at Guns and Leather – Hendersonville,Tn

Just recently went through the Tennessee state mandated course for a permit to carry a handgun at the local gun shop "Guns and Leather" http://gandlacademy.com/ Was very impressed with there whole operation. Everything from entering the parking lot in the morning to leaving in the afternoon was handled in a professional courteous manner.... The instructor was excellent with blending the required information with his own experience as a law enforcement officer. During the breaks in the class you can window shop in the showroom at a nice large selection of both handguns and rifles. On the lower level is the range where you can buy ammo, get a target and shoot ( either your weapon or you can rent from a selection of nice guns).

All told I couldn't have been more pleased with my experience and I am looking forward to taking more training classes to improve my shooting skills. John