smallmouthjoe

One of my friends from work has a nice little stream by her house that I occasionally fish. Besides smallies it has drum and they are really fun to catch. Powerful fish. I've never eaten one but I would be open to it.

Things are already getting pretty ugly for me. My Physics class is killing me. I'll let you know.

It was just a tough day. Once I figured out what they wanted I had to dead stick the jig to get them to bite. Caught at them at a bad time, I think their in some sort of transition period. Plus you fished water that I hit pretty hard and i passed two waders on my way down. Do you go out there most Sunday's? My schedule right now is crazy. If I'm not at MSU or being a professors monkey or at work I'm usually sitting on my couch studying. Sunday is the only day I have off, assuming that I'm not behind in school. Sunday is the day when i hang out with my girl. I may be down there labor day, but I really don't know yet. PM me sometime and I'll see if I have time.

You can park on the east side of the bridge at 1-60. There used to be a couple of decent holes upstream but I haven't been through there in a year. All the water around that place gets hit pretty hard. The James under 65 is a place that I haven't been. The first time I went there I was put off by all the trash and got back into my car and went to Shelvin. I need to go back and check it out being that it is pretty close. Don't give up on the fish above Creighton the last time I was there I missed a giant LM. And there's a few spots that hold some decent smallies. We still need to get together before school gets into full stride. Take Care.

Sometimes for me, the tube works better than the jig and sometimes it's the other way around. It's funny because today I came to a spot that I knew had a fish on it and I tried the tube, nothing, then I tried the senko, nothing, then I threw a jig in there and caught a fish. I can't nail down the variables that makes one fish better one day and the other better another day. It drives me crazy.

Early this summer I made the switch to superline and it's great. I use 4/10 Fireline Crystal and either a 8 or 10 pound Vanish leader. The sensitivity is incredible and I get better hook sets. I would hate to go back.

Started around 11:00 at Linden and finished up around 5:00 or so. The fishing was pretty tough but I did mange to catch a mixed bag of SM, LM and rock bass totaling somewhere around forty. A few of the smallies and a couple of the LMs went around fourteen, missed the monster once again. Started out throwing a tube on on my spinning rod and a crank on my casting rod. The tube was producing some but not like it usually does and the crank was only yielding rock bass. So I switched the tube to a senko and the crank to a spook but they weren't doing all that well either. Put on the jig and started catching bigger fish that weren't so apprehensive to bite and that's what I stuck with for the rest of the day. Strange how they would accept the jig and not the tube. It was a 1/8 bitsy bug in spring craw. The fish seemed to be scattered, some coming out of the riffles and some out of slower water. Some setting out in the open and some tight to cover. All in all great day, even if I had to work for them. Take Care.

I really need to hit The Elven Point and Upper North fork. I hear nothing but good things about both of them. My trips next summer most likely.

This summer I was down on The Buffalo with my girl and I was fishing and she was sitting on a gravel bar about fifty feet down river, all of the sudden she yelled over to me, ''hey I found you a snake to play with''. Interested, I walked over there and she was standing in the water trying to sneak up on this snake, standing about three feet behind it. I looked at it and knew right away it was a cottonmouth just by how it was swimming. I screamed at her to get away from it and we both ran up the gravel bar. Could have been really bad considering we were at least an hours drive from the nearest hospital. That's what I get for playing with snakes.

I always have a problem catching fish at the park. They seem to be really spooky, one bad move and their gone. I have better luck up river. Thanks for the report.

That's not a copperhead, they have vertical eye slit and and hour glass shaped patterns. I'm not really sure what it is, I'll look in to it. Nice snake and fish.

No problem. It sounds like you had a great day, I wish I could have been out on the water but I was stuck at school and work. The Finley has the highest Rock Bass population of any river I've ever been on. They're nice because they keep you busy in between the smallmouth and largemouth. Take care.

I wish I could go back now and stay. Responsibility sucks. Out of all the rivers I've ever been on, Jack's Fork and The Current are my new favorites. I love The James and Finley but they seem rather tame to me now.

I was thinking about drilling some holes in it to allow water to flood the compartments. Maybe add some suspend dots to help it sink initially.

I know this drunken college idiot won't be there. LOL

I've been thinking about modifying a spook to run below the surface but I don't know how to go about it. Any suggestions?

I made it pass that and caught a few little ones out of the eddy that the log made. About a half mile up I ran into a long run that just killed me. After coming around a bend I expected to see a riffle but I didn't so I turned around.

Went to Kerr and fished my way up on Sunday. I really like that stretch, but rarely have a chance to fish it due to time constraints. Only fished for about three hours due to the fact that I haven't been feeling all that well since I returned from Jack's Fork. The fishing was tough for me, but I did mange 15 or so fish with two of them going over 14. Nothing happening on any bait that wasn't glued to the stream bed. Finesse jigs and tubes weighted with a 3/16 bullet where the best bite that I found. It seems that the fish wanted it to be sitting still and not moving with the current. I was skunked on the crank/spinnerbait rod completely which was disappointing. The weather was beautiful, but was a little chilly for me, I almost miss the blazing hot August days. Thanks and take care.

Surely, law enforcement agents will get word of the mistake and not enforce it. It does make me worry though, what other laws could be out there that are that are a result of ignorance.

Great post as always. Sounds like a great day. I've been looking for a sub surface walk the dog style bait for a while now and haven't been able to find one. All they have at BP in Springfield are the giant ones that are for musky. Thanks.

Most of the time I fish with soft plastics, my favorite bait for any stream is a 3" tube Texas rigged if I want it to mimic a crayfish and rigged with a tube jig if I want to swim it. A close second is a small finesse jig. A senko is also one of my favorites. I have a friend that uses nothing but a 4'' grub on a round jig head and he does very well with it.

There's also a bluff hole about half way between Linden and Green bridge that has some nice smallmouth in it. I've also caught some nice ones out of the water that's about a half mile mile up from Green Bridge. The Green Bridge hole itself has some big largemouth in them but it seems like they are a bit harder to catch, maybe because it's right by the Bridge.

I don't really fly fish all that much, but I'm unaware of any weedless flies. RS might know of some. When I fly fish I usually work the edges of cover with either a Clouser or a Woolly Bugger. If I have to go into cover to get them I ditch the fly rod and get my spinning rig. It sounds like you where in the right area and I'm surprised you didn't come up with something. The first couple of riffles right above Riverside have pretty good numbers of smaller smallmouth and the run above, the one with all the wood on the right side if your facing upstream, has largemouth and rock bass on them and i have caught some smallies off of them as well. Most of the smallmouth I've caught there have come from the left side off of the wood that's in the current. The second run above the next riffle, again with all the wood on the right side, had good numbers of bigger smallmouth and largemouth on them. I have only fished there with my spinning and casting gear and have had my best luck with tubes. The best spot for Rock bass up there, at least the last time I went, was the last tree in the line of trees in the first run. There's a tree there that is running parallel to the bank with the trunk of the tree lying submerged. There's space under the trunk for fish to get under and they will sit there out of the sun, waiting for something to come along. If my description is confusing just fish all of the trees looking for places where fish can get under and ambush. I hope this helps some. Just keep going up there and you'll figure something out.

I love the different faces of the river we experienced. The last day we went to Rymer above Alley Spring and the water was small and swift, it reminded me of Bull Creek or the upper section of The Finley. Next summer I think I might try to float the entire river.

I did really well in that pool that was just up from the cabin. That cabin is my dream house. Small and close, maybe too close, to a great stream. All the people at Two Rivers Outfitters where really nice and helpful. I feel kind of bad for not scheduling a shuttle with them but I didn't have the money.