Norm M

AMEN

I have decided to spend as much time as possible before radiation/chemo kicks my posterior exploring the upper reaches of the tribs to my river . I plan on venturing into the tribs of the tribs when time, circumstances and access points allow .I will be fishing above where the branches of the creek split and up stream . No fishing in the main stem but if a trib flows into the main stem it's fair game .If the creek does not split into branches it will be a judgement call based on gut instinct where to start . Not real scientific but I have learned to trust my gut instinct over these decades .From What I have learned so far hip boots are all I need . If I get into knee deep water without fishing it first , I blew that spot . If I get into water deeper than my hip boots I am standing where I should be fishing and have really screwed the pooch . I also don't expect to catch a lot of huge fish , at least that has not been the case so far . I have adjusted my gear to match the conditions . A 5 ft 6 inch 2 piece ultra lite spin with a 10/100 reel and 6 lb test will be the primary combo . Back up will be a 7 ft two piece lite action spin with a 20/200 reel and 8 lb test . I may be tempted to take one of my ancient 12 ft 1 piece cane poles down and string it up . The only problem with that is getting to the water without it getting broke . Depending on how creative I want to get tackle wise I will be going from what fits in a couple of shirt pockets to a small over the shoulder bag . I am not quite sure which direction this will go , or if it ever will ever have a coherent direction . It may well be a hodgepodge of observations , fishing tips on what did and did not work and flat out musings , odd thoughts or whatever strikes my fancy .So put a glide in your stride and a dip in your hip and come on to the mother ship . The long, strange trip continues .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDTLMYTl88Q

i went and looked at those size 16 to 20 hooks . i could barely see the hole in the eye . Seeing as how being able to see well enough to tie knots in anything less than 6 lb test is a chore , I don't think I would be able to tie knots in the line small enough to fit those hooks .

The only place locally that might have size 20 hooks would be the one selling fly tie material . I could likely just use those . What sort of weighting system do you use , fly shot or the smaller, softer Euro stuff ? Do you use a float or just drift them ?

Mitch , Just another case of scratching an itch . It was a matter of finding access on two different creek systems and the fact they were close enough to each other to make it feasible .

Well on this trip even with studying the Delorme Atlas and Gazetter and Google maps I did more driving than fish but it was worth it .I fished both branches and the main stem of two different creeks as well as two tributary creeks to each of the creeks . Gear ranged from a 5 ft ultra lite spin with a 100 reel and 6 lb test to a medium lite 7 ft spin with a 200 reel and 8 lb test depending on the size of the water . Some of these waters were a step and a half to three steps wide . A tiny split shot with a size 10 hook and a bee moth produced creek chubs, sunnies and rockies as well as two 4 inch smallies . An 1/8 oz jig with 2 inch twister tail produced smallmouth , rockies, sunnies and a few chubs in the 9 to 11 inch range . A crankbait or spinnerbait produced smallmouth and rock bass . Biggest smallmouth of the day was 15 inches, biggest rockie was 9 inches, the sunnies were all small .I caught fish every where I fished although a couple of the real small tribs took a bit of wading to find water with enough depth to hold fish . This is something I long wanted to do in one trip not in various segments over many trips . It really left me feeling like I am more connected to the entire watershed .

I fish the ponds early and the creeks or river late to avoid holiday and derby crows and the heat . Basic set up for panfish is a slipfloat with an ice fishing jig , enough split shot to stand the float up and bee moths on the jig . I have been getting a bunch of hand sized sunnies but more dinks as is usual in these ponds .I have been fishing for largemouth with shadow raps, rattlebaits , crankbaits and spinnerbaits . The two biggest largemouth both over 20 inches came on the shadow rap . The rest of the bass have been in the 10 to 16 inch range on the other lures . Just about all the bass have been from 2/3 down in the water column to the upper 1/3 of the water column , along weed edges, wood or open water .

As part of my strategy for avoiding the holiday and derby crowds and heat I have been fishing early and late . I hit the ponds early and the creeks later . The creeks have been low , not too much of an affect from the rain . The smallmouth and rockbass have been concentrated in the pools making for long wades in between them . A Bass Magnet crankbait on a medium lite 7ft spin coupled with a 200 size reel and 8 lb Cortland camo line . The biggest bass have been in the 17 inch range , most are in the 10 to 14 inch range . The rockbass are primarily in the 6 to 7 inch range with a few running twixt 9 and 11 inches .

with all the rain in the IQ basin the river jumped up downstream of there , making it unwadeable . So I stalked the shoreline with buzzbaits, chatterbaits and spinnerbaits working the waterwillow pattern . Buzzbaits over the tops of the willows and out on the edge produced the biggest smallmouth .Chatterbaits produced better over the beds while spinnerbaits produced better along the points and cuts on the bed edges . river was chocolate milk .

I saw Skynyrd a bunch of times . Once at a race track near Chicago after a legal hassle about the show the band dedicated the show to the judge. They ended up doing a 40 minute plus Freebird/jam . It was a good of jam as the Dead could do .

I retired after 40 years of dispatching trains in April . My new office is where ever I go fishing .

Well, my legs hurt no matter what I did my legs still hurt , so I went fishing .Flow didn't change but I was way east of where I fished yesterday . I got in three hours of wading before I had to quit . I started with crankbaits but only had a couple takers . I ended up fishing a weighted keeper hook with a powerpulse worm , got 5 more . After that I went to an out of the way pond , sat on the cooler in the shade with a cold drink . I rigged up two rods with floats , ice fishing jigs and bee moths and caught a bunch of sunfish .

Trips like that are good for us as we know we can still get it done .

This was one of those magical days that happen once in a while if you put enough time in on the water. The last time something like this happened for me had to be at least a decade ago . Curious thing is that this time every fish came on a crankbait and then every fish came on a spinnerbait . Something to be said for fishing aggressively , I guess .

River is finally at normal flow , couldn't wade to every where I wanted to get but got to enough of them . Emergent veggies present but not a problem. No algae issues encountered . Over 11 hours out there in waders , longest trip in a long time . My legs are screaming, I am going to pay for this but it was worth it . Pattern was simple , bass were feeding on craws, fish a crankbait slowly on the bottom and catch fish. Go to a spot, fancast the area and move downriver to repeat. The smallmouth were everywhere on the cobblestone flats from right off shore to out as far as I could cast . I also got fish around islands, humps, bridge abutments and riffle areas . I used Bandit 200's and 300's so I could maintain bottom contact while moving the crank as slow as I needed to . I broke the century mark in numbers which is why I stayed out so long . When the fish are turned on like they were all day , I was not quitting until these old bones could not take it any more . Like I said , I'll pay for this over the next few days physically but emotionally , spiritually and mentally it was worth it .

MoCarp Why wait til morning to blast your protest ? Get your crew together and blast the entirety of Wagner's Ring Trilogy at them while they are open . Evidently there are no laws concerning noise levels so don your ear protection and have at it . I used to love doing guerilla theater back in the day . Just make sure you tip off the media ahead of time to increase the bang for your buck . The times they are a changing , an old protester from the 60's and 70's offering advice to a guy who is trumped off .

more drain on the battery , preferred to save that for slipping with the trolling motor when current conditions allowed to save gas on the outboard .

when i had a jon boat i used an anchor mate with 100 yards of line and a 15 lb fluke type anchor to the front . it was easy to let out more line and drop back . the anchor mate also eased the line retrieval . if wind was an issue i had a 12 lb bell type anchor on 25 ft of line on the back to stabilize the boat . i would just drop it straight down off the back and tie off excess line .

6-17 thru 6-19 River is still blown out below the IQ , above the IQ did not come up much if any . Trip 1 , below the IQ , punchbait under a float in slackwater areas . I used the float account very snaggy bottom to catch some channel catfish . Short trip .Trip 2 , above the IQ . For the most part Bandit 200 on seams , buzzbait ahead and below riffles was working for smallmouth . I also picked up a couple burning a blade bait below a small dam .

put vaseline around the threads of your pork rind bottles , solves the rust issue .

3 cats on punch bait suspended under a float in slack water account bottom was very snaggy .

one possible state record smallmouth released due to no harvest season . no regrets it was the right thing to do although I will always wonder

This one is simple , the river is blown out and unwadeable . Chatterbaits with a gator tail style plastic trailer cut to fit . Fish the flooded waterwillows and catch smallmouth .It's getting to the point though that safe and fishable spots are getting harder to find due to the ever increasing flow of water pushing the hard flow right up to shore . No way, I would even think about getting in the water anywhere I fished today . If this keeps up I getting out the punch bait and cut bait and fishing slack areas for cats . I fished chatterbaits thru those areas and all I caught was cats .

Listen to that calming hand . My prayers will be offered up