Just Wondering

[dtbrake]

ive been wondering what everyone has been having luck catching the smallies on this year. i havnt had a chance to get out yet and doing a lil pre trip research never hurt. a guy i work with walked a little above blue spring and landed 2 4 pound smallies withen 3 casts of each other but he was using cheater bait(live worms). anyone who has been to the JF this year chime in with you lure selection.

[eric1978]

Two 4 pounders in three casts, huh? Think ol' boy may be stretching the truth a little, but you never know.

I was down about a month ago and hit a slow weekend. Only came out of it with one decent fish and a number of dinks. All the usuals: Warts, SBs, Sammies, flukes, slow stuff on the bottom...GD had some luck with Senkos I believe a couple weeks ago.

Remember JF is a Smallmouth Management Area...1 smallie a day over 18", and they're all illegal right now. Careful of those spawning fish and release those smallies!

Good luck and let us know how you do. Fantastic river.

[Al Agnew]

By this time of year, river smallmouth fishing ain't rocket science. There are not secret lures. Use whatever you feel comfortable using, and chances are you'll catch some fish. It isn't so much the lure selection as it is knowing how to fish those lures, where to cast, how much quality time your lure is in the water in the right places.

[GloryDaze]

Senkos were the ticket on the first day, landed me a couple bigguns- but they slowed down after that, but it seemed that weekend soft plastics were the ticket. After the fishing slowed down, I spent WAY more time just relaxing, enjoying the scenery and haveing afew cold ones. As Eric said- even if the fish aren't biting tha stretch is so beautiful it makes up for the down time.

As for fishing off the beds- maybe I'm just not observant, but I did not see any beds while we were there and all the fish were caught in deeper water. Of course we never keep any smallie no matter what the size-

What I did see though was a ton of gar spawning in the current- there was one section where they were side by side the entire width of the stream, probably 10-12' wide. Pretty neat looking since I had nver wittnessed that before.