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 Terry Hicks | |
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Thank You For Visiting Our Site
Booking Information Rick McFerrin Owner Tennessee Bass Guides Po Box 352 Woodbury Tennessee 37190 Cell 615-308-9936
John 3:16
What Makes Us Different?
The answer is very simple. First of all we have more "Full Time" guides on staff than anyone in the state of Tennessee. Second, No one man tries to guide every lake in Tennessee by himself. That is an impossible thing to do. Lakes change-fish patterns change not just from year to year or month to month but rather week to week. Here at Tennessee Bass Guides each one of us have specific lakes, rivers and streams that we are responsible for. So when you want a guide trip on a specific lake or stream you will go with our guide that fishes "THAT LAKE" all the time. Being structured this way allows our men to become experts on the waters they fish and you get the benefit of their first hand up to date knowledge. Like most other things "cheapest" isn't always the "best" We offer competitive rates and quality as well. If you will compare the two you will see what I mean. Please take time to check the current fish pictures by scanning down this page. And our "Archive Tab" to the left. Trip for Trip we will put our quality & rates up against anyone in the state.
As an organization Tennessee Bass Guides offers Guided Trips for Largemouth-Smallmouth-Spotted Bass-Trout-Walleye-Crappie-Musky-Striper & Hybrid Trips. On the following waters. Tim's Ford, Normandy, Old Hickory, Percy Priest, Dale Hollow, Center Hill, Kentucky & Barkley Lakes, Elk River, Great Falls Lake Area, several East Tennessee Rivers and a multitude of Middle Tennessee Creeks and Streams. We also endorse Captain Don Scheicher at www.tennesseestriperguide.com for hybrids and big river stripers.
For those of you that would like to surprise someone with a guided trip we have GIFT CERTIFICATES available in all denominations for all occasions that can be either mailed or e-mailed to you upon your request.
SCAN DOWN FOR FISH PICTURES
Privacy Policy: All materials including articles and photo's contained on this site is the sole property of Tennessee Bass Guides. com. No material of any nature can be copied, sold or distributed without the prior written consent from Rick McFerrin Owner Of Tennessee Bass Guides.com Thanks To Our Sponsors
Tim's Ford Special
Feb 1-2008 Through Feb 29-2008 Smallmouth-Largemouth-Spots-Hybrid Full 8hr Day At The 1/2 Day 4hr. Price I Supply Everything Except Fishing Lic And Clothing Call Rick at 615-765-7303 or email at rickm@dtccom.net
Tim's Ford 2-5&7-2008 I fished Tim's Ford today with my favorite fishing partner, Daniel my 12 year old son. Daniel is holding two of the fish he caught today. One on a Chartreuse Buckeye Shad www.buckeyeshad.com and the other on a Parrott DT10 www.rapala.com Water level is up about 18 inches and the water temperatures have risen to 48-49 in some areas. There is a lot of color in the Rock Creek-Dry Creek areas as well as in the backs of many pockets and coves. I fished the 7th with Mr. jay Arnold and we didn't have any picture fish. Tim's continues to be off and on just about like every where else in the state. More next week. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Old Hickory 2-2-08 Today I had the plea
Tim's Ford 1-31-2008 I fished Tim's Ford today with Mr. Thomas Ebbecke from New Field New Jersey. We had a good amount of wind today after 8:00am and we keyed in on the points that had the mot chop. Just like the first of the week these fish would hammer the bait and there wasn't any doubt in you mind when the hit.....Man nothing like a Smallmouth slamming a crank bait. DT 10's did the trick again. www.rapala.com I'll be fishing with Tom again in a couple weeks and look forward it. More to come stand by. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Tim's Ford 1-28-2008 I fished Tim's Ford today with Ron Kairdolf from Murfreesboro. We put in right at daylight to 27 degree air temps and 44.3 water temps. We searched until noon for wind....any wind.....but to no avail them near 12:30pm the wind picked up and so did the brown fish. These Smallmouth would almost knock the rod out of your hands when they it. As a matter of fact I had one hit so hard that it stripped the drag and still didn't get him stuck...sometimes hard to understand. Today Rapala DT10 Parrott was the ticket www.rapala.com Largest was just over 4lbs. I'll be back on Tim's Thursday and will update you them. Rick Mcferrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Tim's Ford 1-25-2008 First let me say this was a cold but fun work day that I spent with Mr. Ken Jenkins on Tim's Ford planting Porcupine Fish Attractors www.porcupinefishattractors.com and spending a little time throwing some new baits from Sworming Hornet Lures www.fishheadspin.com and DT's from Rapala www.rapala.com Just a heads up I will have new articles written on all 3 of these exciting products in the next month or so. My web site is in the process of being changed and I hope to have these up on the "New Look" shortly. Ken and I originally planned on meeting at 7:00am but with the bitter cold we pushed back until 9:00am and it was still a chilly 17 degrees when we reached the lake. Water temperature ranged from 42 to 47 in various parts of the lake and there was zero wind any where. We put in at Holiday Marina, built and loaded several attractors and proceeded to drop them at the following GPS coordinates @#$%^&*()_+ something must be wrong with my key board. After that we worked a few areas loosing 4 Smallmouth on DT's and catching 1 on the 1/8 ounce Fish Head Spin with a white beetle tail dipped in Red JJ's Magic www.jjsmagic.com....Fun relaxing day....I will be on Tim's 3 days next week and will update you each day. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Muskie Action, Collins River
This was an exciting week as I chased Muskies with Adam
Glickman (Muskie Hunter Magazine) and his girlfriend Nicole, both from
Northern Minnesota. Both took the long drive to the Volunteer State to
chase some Tennessee tootie critters. The season up north closes the last
of November and Adam needed to "scratch the itch" and escape frigid temps.
We fished the 21st, 22nd, and the 23rd and let me tell you that it was
Cold! Water temps never reached above 38 degrees, but the Muskies didn't
seem to mind as Adam caught and released a total of 13 solid fish. The
largest were two that went 40 inches, and the rest from 32 to 39 inches.
Four fish were taken on glide baits, three on suckers, and 6 nice fish taken
on the Rapala X-Rap. The X-Rap was an excellent lure to "throw back" when
Mr. Muskie would blow up on the glider. Time after time, the fish would
"inhale" the X-Rap on the next cast. The Muskie action will continue
through the winter months, and although we did not raise any big fish this
trip, winter is THE time to catch the fish of a lifetime. Adam and Nicloe,
I had a great time fishing with you guys and hope the film footage turns out
to be good for your new website. Pictured are 3 of the 13 fish taken.
Dress warm, and let's chase some Muskies!!! Dwayne Hickey
www.tennesseebassguides.com
Tim's Ford 1-16-2008 I fished Tim's Ford today with Mr. Jerry Steakley launching the boat at the State Park Rampn at 7:00am. We had 27 degree air temperatures and 44 degree water temps. The 44 degrees held all day even with a southerly wind at 10 mph. We caught and released 9 Smallmouth and 1 Largemouth all caught on Rapala DT6's in 3 different color patterns. www.rapala.com We also had 5 others that we didn't get in the boat. I had a good time with Jerry and look forward to fishing with him again. I'm running a special on Tim's for the month of February. Full day at the 1/2 day price...If you are interested in more information I can be reached at 615-765-7303 or rickm@dtccom.net Rick Mcferrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
   
Tim's Ford 1-11-2008 First let me say I apologize for the wrong date on the pictures-I'm not sure why the old digital jumped backwards. All pictures were shot today. I fished Tim's Ford today with Mr. John Elliott from McMinnville Tennessee. This is the second time that John and I have fished together and we have another trip scheduled for February. With the holidays, a bout with the flu and having my boat wrapped out of the way, it was great to be back on the water. We struggled early until we figured out a slow but decent pattern. We managed 4 Smallmouth and 3 Largemouth for the day on crank baits. The fish were in the 8 to 10 foot range and would attack the bait. Everyone has their own comfort zone when it comes to line size when throwing crank baits and mine is always 6lb test P-Pline www.pline.com with baits that will run as deep as the Rapala DT14. www.rapala.com I will occasionally opt for 4 lb test when throwing a #5 Rapala Shad Rap and 10lb test when using baits that run deeper than 14 feet. Rod of choice is either a All Pro APX 7' Med Tennessee Handle spinning rod or a 7'6" AllPro Atlantis Med Light www.allprorods.com on the real small baits. The smaller diameter line give these baits a greater freedom and the sensitivity of the rods are unbelievable. More to come next week. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com        
Dale Hollow 1-3-2008 & 1-4-2008
TGBI Guides Billy Campbell and David DuVall braved the
9 degree start time temperatures on the Hollow this past week to put
more than 30 brown fish in the boat. With the deep cold weather we lad
last week the water temps are running 46 to 47 degrees. Best bait by
far was the yellow jig with a few being caught on a float n fly.
Billy and David both were throwing the jig on 6lb test line and on a
All Pro 7'6" Altantis Med/Light spinning rod. The extra lenght of the
rods make a big difference in getting a good hook set when fish are
deep plus it gives you an extra advantage when you get a good fish to
the boat. Great fish guys....For Billy and David....Rick McFerrin
www.tennesseebassguides.com
12-29-07 MUSKIE ACTION
 Today was a good day
to stay home, nice and warm and just watch
it rain, but I decided to step out of the comfort zone and go Muskie
fishing with Hugh Cutrell and Tom Kelly on the Collins. We stopped by
a local creek and caught a couple decent creek minnows and hit the
water around 8:00 a.m. with on and off rain showers all day. The only
action recently has been on minnows or jig-minnow combinations and
today was no different with low clear water. We spotted fish all day
(when it wasn't raining) and was able to catch and release this 33 and
42 incher and also missed two fish. Muskies are still not wanting to
charge anything yet, but will take a jig-minnow(or soft plastic)
combo. worked VERY slowly! Hey, I'll take em' any way I can get em'!
Some "hot" winter action is coming soon, and I've got my eye on a big
girl (over 50inches) if Tom or Hugh don't get her first! Tight
Lines, Dwayne Hickey
www.tennesseebasguides.com
Dale hollow December 24 & 25-2007 TBGI Guide and All Pro Rods Vice President Billy Campbell sent me a slew of great pictures of Smallmouth that was caught using a Float N Fly on Dale Hollow this past week. Billy-Jason (Billy's Son) and Gary Gibbs have a long standing tradition of fishing the Hollow on Christmas Day and each year Santa seems to be good to them. There are several ways to fish the FNF "But" it's much easier when you are using the right equipment including a high quality rod made for specifically for that technique. check them out at www.allprorods.com Great fish guy's.......For Billy Campbell....Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Percy Priest 12-20-2007 I met Pastor Ron Kairdolf at fate Sanders Marina at 6:45am this morning. We went to our first stop and Ron caught one in either the first or second cast. Next stop much the same thing. We moved down lake near Pool Knob where we caught another 5 Largemouth. The rain kicked in about that time so we hit a couple more spots on our way back toward the marina and caught 4 more Largemouth. All off out fish were caught on a Rapala #5 Shad Rap Crawfish color. www.rapalalures.com With light line and the All Pro APX Rods we had a great time. www.allprorods.com Pastor Ron has been fishing with Rick and I on and off all year and we have more trips planned on both Priest and Tim's. 11 Total Largemouth for the day plus just a great time with a great guy. I'm going to take some time off to visit family for Christmas but I'll be back on the water as soon as I get back and will keep you posted. Merry Christmas and I hope you will have a great new year in 2008. Terry Hicks www.tennesseebassguides.com
Collins River 12-19-2007
After a long layoff (due to starting my own business)
it was back on the Muskie Hunt with Brad Welch from Nashville. Brad's
an avid fisherman and wanted to try his hand at Fly fishing for
toothie critters and I was all for it. I brought along some
big minnows as a backup, knowing with clear, low water the Muskies
would be hard to fool. We hit the water around 8:00 and fished hard
till dark and early on Brad did fool a 32 inch fish and the fight was
on. Folks, fly fishing for Muskies is a blast. He almost tricked a
40 incher into taking his fly. It was a great day on the Collins
although we could only get follows on our crank baits, (super shad
raps, stalkers) we were able to catch and release (unharmed) six Muskies,
all on live minnows. Pictured is Brad's fly rod catch, a nice 40
incher, and this REAL NICE 47.5 inch bruiser! I had a great time
fishing with Brad and look forward to another trip in the near
future. I have more open dates now that I have opened my own
business. The Muskies are out there waiting on you!!! Have a safe
and wonderful Holiday season, God bless, Dwayne Hickey
www.tennesseebassguides.com
Tim's Ford 12-17-2007
I
f Old Hickory 12-14-2007 This will probably be my last post for this year. I will be gone over the holidays, but I wish you all the best. Friday Marty and I braved the 40 degree weather on Old Hickory. Water temp was 53.3 degrees. We fished some of the bluffs on the main river channel and missed several fish. We made our way to the steam plan area and found 68 degree water. This is certainly the place to go when the water chills. We managed to catch a little bit of everything. Bass-Stripe-Drum and even Shad. All were a tug on the line and that was about it. Speaking of tug. Let me tell you about my new All Pro APX Rods. www.allprorods.com These rods are phenomenal you can feel everything. Try them you will love them. Not to late to drop a hint to your spouse for Christmas. Matt Crabill www.tennesseebassguides.com
Dale Hollow 12-14-2007 I had an invitation to go to Dale Hollow yesterday and fish with Mr. Ken Jenkins and I gladly obliged. Ken was there practicing for a Smallmouth tournament that he is fishing today and tomorrow and it was nice to sit in the back of the boat for a change and let someone else worry about finding fish. The two fish above was our largest and over all things was slow for us. We talked to several other boats and got the same story from them as well. Just one observation on my part. We only tried artificial bait because of the tournament rules that Ken will be fishing under. Some of the best strings of Smallmouth (That I Know Of) that have been caught on the Hollow this winter so far has either been fishing big tuffy's on a minnow/jig combo or big shiner or creek minnows fished on a hook and split shot rig. Sometimes live bait "WILL" make a big difference and I believe it would have yesterday. Ken marked several good schools of fish that just wouldn't hit anything we offered-But I do believe they would have gladly ran off with a 4 inch creek minnow dropped in the laps. Worth a try if your headed that way. Ken as always I had a great time fishing with you and look forward to our Tim's trip in a couple weeks. Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Percy Priest 12-12-2007 Met Mr. Charles Teasley at Fate Sanders Marina at 6:45 AM, went to our first spot. We caught four fish in four casts. The largest being three pounds. I should say Charles caught four fish!! Charles likes using his new AllPro APX spinning rods www.allprorods.com and the silver black back Rapala crank bait I had given him. I thought man we are in for one of those days!! But it two more spots and three hours before we caught our next group of fish. We caught six more bass in eight or nine casts using the same No. 5 Rapala Shad Rap in shad color. www.rapalalures.com Charles works the night shift so we called it a day at 11:00 am. Thanks Charles we will do it again soon!! It felt good getting back on the water. Since Doc got my knees back in working order!! Keep your line tight Terry Hicks www.tennesseebassguides.com
Combo Report Dale Hollow 12-7-8-9-2007
Tim's Ford 12-7-2007
Tim's Ford 12-4-2007 Tim's Ford remains tough to say the least. I fished the upper end of the lake today by myself and struggled all day-no keepers. Water temperature was 53-54 degrees with some color. I threw everything except my cell phone and maybe I should have tried that.....Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com Old Hickory 11-29-07 Today I got on the lake for 5 hours. I was curious what the water temp would be and the mood of the fish. I fished a mile on either side of the steam plant and found temps from 56.5 to 65.5. I was pretty surprised and expected active fish. Water was fairly clear and the bite was ok. I managed to catch a stripe and spot on a rapala dt7. The rest of the day I fished a shaky head worm around bluff walls and boated 4 more spots. Managing to catch 5 keepers is always a goal even if they didn’t weigh much. I think if I had more time the fish were warming up. This next cold spell should bring the temp down a little more. Most of the fish came in 60 degree water, I look for the bite to stay steady. There are a lot of people enjoying the warm late fall days and the fish are there to be caught. Give us a call if you would like to catch some fish or book for the spring. Thanks Matt Carbill www.tennesseebassguides.com
Tim's Ford 11-26-2007 Well the 3 week break is over and I'm back at it on Tim's Ford. I fished with Mr. Roger Barnes today and had a so so day. We decided just to fish crank baits only and cover as much territory as possible. We caught several on a DT10 with 3 of our better fish pictured above. Water temperature was 56.7 when we put in and stayed just about right there all day. We have to be ever so close to things breaking loose.....Rick McFerrin www.tennesseebassguides.com
Old Hickory 11-09-2007 Today I fished with Brent Shelton and his daughter Missy. Other than slow fishing, we had a great day. The water temp was 57.4 in the morning and came up to 59.8 at days end. I expected it to be pretty slow early so we fished finesse worms, landing a few small fish. It was tough all day and the bass did not start rounding up the bait until late. I had a spot that got hot late in the day. We were able to finally land some keepers. In all we only caught about 10 bass, 5 lbs. of keepers. We did catch one big stripe and had a great time. I look forward to fishing with Brent again in the spring. Good luck on your next trips coming up Brent. Thanks for a good day on the water. I have more open dates right now, and the bass are on the bait. It is a good time to catch some good keepers if the weather will cooperate. Matt Crabill www.tennesseebassguides.com
Tim's Ford 11-07-2007 & 11-08-2007 This is a 2 day report for Tim's Ford. Water temperature continue to drop into the low 60's and water levels are dropping slowly as well. At least at this point you won't have any problems with ramps from Devils Step back toward the main portion of the lake. As you well no if you live here in Tennessee, we just went through the deepest cold front of the year this week. Low temperatures for the past 2 day was in the mid 20's and high in the 50',s Wednesday David DuVall and I had a 2 boat corporate trip with Pro Marketing from Spartanburg SC. It was 24 degrees when we put in and we battled a high pressure system all day long. Between the 2 boats we managed 15 total Smallmouth, Largemouth, Spots and Hybrid. All fish were caught on live tuffy's and a white hair fly. The top 2 pictures 2 the right was from today. I fished with Mr. Ken Jenkins and the day was just as tough as it was yesterday although we did manage a couple good fish. These were caught on soft plastic jerk baits. It will get better, there are multiple signs pointing in the right direction. To book your late fall, winter trips just give me a call at 615-308-9936 or e-mail me at rickm@dtccom.net Rick Mcferrin www.tennesseebassguides.com | ||||
Tennessee Bass Guides Inc.
P.O. Box 352 Woodbury TN. 37190
(615) 308-9936 or Email:
Rick McFerrin
At Rickm@dtccom.net
All Guides Are Subcontractors and independently insured
Tims Ford Lake Fishing Guide Service Bass Guide Service
Tennessee Bass Guides Tims Ford Lake Tims Ford
Smallmouth Tims Ford Largemouth Tims Ford Spotted Bass
Tims Ford Hybrid Tims Ford Stripper
sure
of fishing with Todd Dowling and Ed Campbell. They were in town for a
convention and just wanted to catch some fish. Since
they only had 4 hours to fish and the main lake was 41 degrees, I opted to
take them to the steam plant area. The mid 50 degree water was full of fish
beginning to be caught. We threw crank baits most of the time and did pretty
well. We managed to catch over 50 fish. Everything from skipjack to bass,
some nice stripe and one good walleye. Fishing points, bluffs and channel
swung banks has been some slow going. The fish are there it just takes time. I
think we made the best of our 4 hours. I had a great time guys. I look forward
to getting back out in the spring when your in town. Thanks, Matt
ished Tim's Ford this morning with Pastor Ron Kairdolf from
Murfreesboro. We put in at 8:00am and fished the upper end of Tim's and never ran
much more than a mile or so either way from the ramp. Air temperature
was 29 degrees when we put the boat in the water and the water temp was
51.7. We had a little color and the fish that we caught were holding in
the 8 to 10 foot range. We threw a variety of baits but everything we
caught was on a crank
bait in including a Rapala #5
Shad rap.
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This is
a combo report that covers Friday and Saturdaya and Sunday of this past
week. Top pictures and Report from TBGI Guide Jon Simmons: What a great
time was had by all on a weekend trip to Dale Hollow. Brian
Durdin, Lee Pearsall and TBGI Jon Simmons had a wonderful trip to the
Hollow this past weekend. These are some of the best of the fish that we
caught on a two day outing to Dale Hollow. All fish were caught from
10-40 feet on a mixture of jigs and live creek minnows. Fish Saturday
were shallow and very 
reluctant
to bite. Sunday the fish were deeper but seemed more in the mood to take
our offerings. We had a great weekend, most fish came from main lake
points and cuts. What a great fishery!!! We will all be back soon. Fish
ranged from 2 pounds up to the beautiful 4lb. 15 oz beauty in the bottom
picture. God Bless hope you enjoy these as much as we did. Jon Simmons
Not much
new to tell about Tim's. It was another tough day with one keeper
that we caught on a Rapala DT 10. Water temperatures remain in the
53 to 53.8 range just about every where we were today. We have a good
wind-clouds-everything you want except willing smallmouth. I know I keep
saying this but it's true. IT WILL GET BETTER! Yesterday I took
time to look back over my records and pictures from last year and we had
a real strong last of December and it stayed good all the way through
until early summer. I'm sure it will be the same scenario this year. The
lake has yet to turn over and that surely will be happening soon with
the water temps falling the way that they have. All ramps that I have
used in the past month or more are still in good shape-State
Park-Holiday-Turkey Creek and Devils Step. The Bass Club ramp is ify.......might
rethink putting in there. The gentleman with me is Mr. Roger Barnes, he
loves to go even when things are as slow as they have been......I'll do
a make up trip for him in a couple weeks.......I know there's not much
good news at this point but there will be. Rick McFerrin
