Quote Originally Posted by AndyG View Post
A good friend of mine bank fishes near a ramp on Norris where they have tons of tournaments. He usually waits until the middle of the week to give the fish time to get over being caught. He actually does really well, and Ive been with him before and believe it or not most if not all of the fish were keepers with holes in their jaws...

But I would say the majority of em go right back home. A store owner on Fork told me of a 10lber that was taken to the other side of the lake to be certified at a marina, was tagged by a game warden, released there, and re-caught exactly where it was caught the first time a few weeks later. The fish travelled miles to get back.
I believe it. We used to fish out of Irvin Cobb Resort on Kentucky Lake every year in Blood River. The owner at the time Cliff Roberson had a pet 7lb plus bass that would hang near the minnow tank. There was a square hole cut in the dock where Cliff would throw the dead minnows and he would hand feed that bass I saw it a couple of times. That bass would go winter out somewhere on the main lake and every year when the water would warm some usually in mid March within a few days or so give or take that ole bass would come back to lay under that dock and get fatter. That was the dangest thing I ever seen, and that bass would get a little bigger each year. One time a young boy with his Dad asked Cliff if he could feed that bass and Cliff said sure. Cliff told the boy hold the dead minnow just off the surface a couple of seconds then let go and pull your hand back. The little fella did what he was told but before he could let that minner go that ole hawg come up and took it from him skinning up his hand a little. Little boy cried it scared him half to death, I wanted to laugh but we kinda felt sorry for the little guy, and he didn't want to hand feed that ole bass anymore, lol.