off... for a bit

Ahh...off for almost a week. I'm looking forward to a little carp fishing, taking my dad to the Me and spending a great holiday weekend with my family and friends. The nearly twenty degree temperature drop that we've endured over the last couple days didn't bode well for the smallmouth fishing. Yesterday was one of the toughest days I've had on the water in a long time. It went from nearly ninety degrees and humid to barely sixty with a relentless wind. Bart and I had a two boat trip yesterday and everyone got fish, but we had to work our tails off for them. Sometimes that's just as satisfying as when you have a fifty fish day. The stretches in between fish can feel like an eternity, but when you finally hook up and slide that fish into the net, the smiles and hard work make it that much sweeter. Today was much better. It was a little warmer and the wind laid down early in the afternoon. We got a good number of popper fish, the minnows produced and the pike kept us busy in between bass. Other than that, it's been a great season thus far. Good numbers of fish, some good sized fish and great customers in the boat have kicked '09 off in a good way. Six or seven days off with a little R&R and we'll be back at it after the 4th weekend. Below on the right are some pictures from the last couple weeks.

hex and bass update

Hex fishing last night with Charlie was a little disappointing....as Hex fishing can be. A couple wrong turns and about 45 minutes late to the river already had me frustrated. Add to that the fact that I was hitting Hex with my truck driving through town and that Charlie was on the phone telling me that fish were already rising and it was maddening. There were a decent number of bugs on the water and fish were eating them. That is until we got to where we wanted to be. Charlie hooked a smallish fish on one of his first casts and I didn't make a cast to a rising fish all night. Just like that, they were done. There were bugs in the air, just not enough on the water to justify standing in tall grass with the mosquitoes and coyotes. The drive home in torrential downpours capped it all off. Hey, if you didn't have tough nights like that, it wouldn't be any fun. Part of the experience is the adventure factor. Bass fishing last week was good, albeit a tad sporadic. There were a few days where we consistently caught fish all day. We didn't have any doubles or any banks where we caught a dozen fish, but we got fish all day and lots of popper fish. There were also a few days where the fishing was great up until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. On those days it seemed like you couldn't buy a fish after that time. Even the little pike shut down ...that's when you know it's tough. The river rose a bunch last week after two of the dams released some water but she's back down to near summer levels now. The usual suspects were producing, minnows and poppers. We had a great afternoon on Sunday with a fire tiger Wiggle Minnow worked slow near the banks. That thing drives fish nuts. I think a slower, more deliberate hook set is the trick. That quick, high hook set will almost always result in a lost fish. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I can get out Hex fishing a couple more nights this week. It's good to finally see temps finally resembling summer.

busy again

The smallmouth season is in full swing again. The fish have been surprisingly cooperative despite some of the worst weather I can remember for the month of June. Yesterday afternoon was particularly dreary, with rain and temps in the mid-50's. Yesterday morning however, the fish may have sensed the impending front and were on an all out frenzy. We landed a fish just shy of 21 inches and plenty of fish in the 18-20 inch range. Pike kept us more than busy in between smallmouth, with oddly very few bite-offs and most fish coming to the net. Yellow and chartreuse poppers and Barto and Murdich streamers were the ticket (weird). Once the rain started (about 4 or 5 p.m.) the fishing drastically slowed. The day before was also good, with the majority of the fish activity between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Afternoon winds made things difficult for the latter half of the day. Thursday was a really good day, with warm weather, sun and manageable winds. One of the back channels was particularly good to us, producing quite a few fish and some very nice ones as well. Today I'm drying gear, tying some flies and spending some time with the fam. Tomorrow starts a stretch of eight days on the water, so my posts may start to become a little more spread out. I'm glad that Tim starts this Monday and Bart starts later in the week...it was getting boring up at the Terry by myself. One more day of crappy weather and then it's supposed to start acting like summer again. It's about time.