March 15-16 Fishing Report

[MississippiAngler]

The river seemed to be running low to me. While I am not an Eleven Point expert, I visit the river once or twice annually and have done so for a number of years. At Thomasville, the water was running a little low and it ran below what I am used to from Cane to Greer. Downriver from Greer, I notice that less with the tributaries feeding in and raising the levels. At any rate, we had very contrasting days. I'll offer a breakdown.

3/15/2010

Whitten to Riverton

Put in about 9:15 a.m. at Whitten and cruised to Riverton. Temps hovered in the low 50s with periods of sun breaking through the clouds. Good bit of wind at times (gusts to 15 or 20). The fishing was awful. We threw a lot of lures and were absolutely SHUT OUT. Not even a goggle eye grabbed a lure. We threw crawfish cranks, spinners, tubes, minnow cranks, jigs and soft crawfish imitation lures. Again. Nothing. We were off the river by 3, no problem.

3/16/2010

Cane Bluff to Greer

What a difference a day makes! The day started around 9. It was sunny, but the sun went away fast and temps stayed in the low 50s. It was chilly and damp. Wind was moderate. The fishing started at a slow to moderate pace. I pulled a couple of 13-inchers from our first hole fishing 2.5 inch tubes (dark, natural colors). My partner was going with a minnow crank and a crawfish crank and eventually tried a spinner. None bore fruit. As the morning wore on, things seemed to slow until about midday. Starting around noon and running until 3 p.m., things were HOT. By that time, the tube was the lure of choice, slow twitched across the bottom.

Let me say here that we never catch a lot of LARGE smallies in the Eleven Point. We generally see a lot of fish in the 11-13 inch range. When, in short order, we pulled a pair of 16 inchers in, we were thrilled. We went on to grab several in the 13-14 inch range. The females were hungry and were striking. Their bellies were bloated (I know they spawn in spring, but I am not sure where they are in the process... either way, throw those suckers back as we did). As the day wore on, longer pools of slack water with medium depth at the drop off points were where the strikes occurred. It was better nearer the fast water on the ends on the high bank side of the river, halfway between the bank and midstream. The fish were actively feeding and were aggressive in the current. I lost track of how many we caught, but between the two of us, I'd say nearly 20. 18 would be a solid guess. Again, tubes were hot. Strikes were detectible (not necessarily powerful), but the fish were feeding steadily. We came off the river around 5:30 p.m.

Get out there soon, folks. Things look pretty good.

[MississippiAngler]

One of the 16 inchers.

[podum]

here piggy piggy. awesome fish.

[Mark]

Good report Mississippi Angler. I too got skunked on a March 4 trip. Couldn't believe it with ideal conditions.

[MississippiAngler]

Good report Mississippi Angler. I too got skunked on a March 4 trip. Couldn't believe it with ideal conditions.

Mark:

What stretch were you on? Seemed to me that fishing was better above Greer Spring, but it could be coincidence or the particular days in question.

[Tito Degiosio]

Mark:

What stretch were you on? Seemed to me that fishing was better above Greer Spring, but it could be coincidence or the particular days in question.

Nice report thanks for it No one ever reports on spinning tackle anymore for this river so no one has anything to go off of even though I do fly fish it's good see someone post in detail on what they used and what worked for bait casting

again good Post

come back soon fishing will be picking up as the heat rises

Tito Degiosio

(The Ghost Angler)

[Mark]

We were on the Turner to Whitten stretch fishing for trout. I have to admit it did miss a few, but the action was slow. I was using pink and white power eggs and even switch to my reliable salad shrimp with no luck. I was under the impression that most of the smallmouth fishing was above Greer Springs and then below Riverton. I thought that had to do with the water temperature - warmer water above Greer Springs, then the colder trout water from Greer Springs to below Boze Mill, then warmer smallmouth water from about Halls Bay on downstream. I have only caught 1 smallmouth in the Turner to Whitten stretch, and that was 10 years ago.

Am I wrong with my reasoning about the water temperature being a factor as to where the smallmouth are located?

Also, see my next post about walleye.

[fozzie.]

My guess is that the smallmouth have moved up into the trout area because the spring-influenced water is warmer than the rest of the river. They're just trying to keep warm for a bit longer...

[MississippiAngler]

My guess is that the smallmouth have moved up into the trout area because the spring-influenced water is warmer than the rest of the river. They're just trying to keep warm for a bit longer...

I thought the same would be true, fozzie, but we found the fishing above Greer much better and "saw" more fish activity. I know that doesn't always mean squat (as water depth below the spring makes seeing them more difficult), but they were obviously doing better upstream from Greer. Again, we're talking smallies.

Tito: Competence with a fly rod all but escapes me. It's great fun and I've caught a few fish on the fly, but I grew up fishing for largemouth mostly and making the transition to a fly rod was harder than downsizing the baitcast equipment to spinning tackle. It's hard for me to be patient with a fly rod when I know I am good with spinning and baitcast tackle.

[jdmidwest]

When I fish the 11pt, I carry both spin and fly rods. If we are in the yaks, it is easier to spin fish while floating and fly fish when we work the runs from the bank. If we run the jet, same applies for the most part. Either way, we always get out an wade the runs. In the heat of the summer we troll the deeper holes and pick up some nice fish on crankbaits. If I am purely there to wade fish, I use the fly rod.

In the cold of the winter, Greer Spring and other large springs warm up the water and the smallies move up into them. In the summer they scatter to the warmer parts. Boaz Mill has about the same effect for several holes below it. One of my good smallie trips was in the dead of winter from Greer Spring to the 19 bridge. Smallies are usually best below Halls Bay to the Ark line or above Greer in the summer and the trout are scarce.