A Sunday Float On The Finley

[smallmouthjoe]

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.

[RSBreth]

I find the jig or grub or whatever usually out-fishes the tube. Maybe because everyone else is fishing the tube?

[smallmouthjoe]

I find the jig or grub or whatever usually out-fishes the tube. Maybe because everyone else is fishing the tube?

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.

[goggleeyes]

I wonder if that's why it is called fishing, and not catching?

[RSBreth]

At least you were willing to switch to something else. I work with a guy who is a self-proclaimed "jig fisherman". He will only use something besides his circa-1982 Arkie jig and pork trailer if his partner is wailing on them with something else for half the day, then he'll try it. No wonder he rarely wins the little night tourneys he sometimes fishes.

You gotta be versatile.

[ltomczyk]

I think I passed you on my way in Sunday evening, just below the restaraunt. I was in the green kayak. Asked if you had any luck. I worked the downed timber with a tube above Riverside, texas-rigged with my spinning rig. A few bites, but nothing in the boat. Then switched to a hopper-dropper rig with the fly rod. Nothing to speak of. Humbling outing. I really want to learn how to fish soft plastics like a tube. Just got to keep at it. I am a novice at best , with a strong desire to learn. I would love to float with you or Randy one day to see how you two do it.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Jigs can be hard to beat, especially if you dress your own.

[smallmouthjoe]

I think I passed you on my way in Sunday evening, just below the restaraunt. I was in the green kayak. Asked if you had any luck. I worked the downed timber with a tube above Riverside, texas-rigged with my spinning rig. A few bites, but nothing in the boat. Then switched to a hopper-dropper rig with the fly rod. Nothing to speak of. Humbling outing. I really want to learn how to fish soft plastics like a tube. Just got to keep at it. I am a novice at best , with a strong desire to learn. I would love to float with you or Randy one day to see how you two do it.

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.