Middle Gasconade Float 8/12

[riverrat]

Took advantage of the cool temps to take a buddy, who will not fish when it's hot, on a float. I don't think it's ever too hot to float- too many options to cool down on the river, and I get cranky if I haven't been in a while. The river was low low low, did I mention the river was low. Water temps had to be in the 80's- didn't have a thermometer but my legs told me it was that warm in the numerous shoals I had to pull over. Lots of leaves floating, not as bad as fall but still a lot of leaves. Lots of moss along the banks and some clumps floating. Started out with my Sammy-which has really produced in the last month- not even a look see early. Decided on the fluke and it was game on. Had to work it slow and let it sink over rocks, caught several 13-16" and numerous dinks early. Had an 18" smallie grab the fluke about 10' from the boat, but trigger happy me yanked it away from him. Only consolation was I got to see him/her and know he is there. Even though there was a decent fluke bite, every 20 minutes or so I would try a topwater, ether a sammy or buzzait, for several casts. Finally about 10 o'clock they started hitting the sammy a little in bright sunshine. Tried the buzzbait and caught a few, but mostly just follows with no commit. Thinking back on it now, maybe changing colors would have helped but I will never know. I finally put the buzzbait down because every 3rd or 4th cast, moss had to be extracted from the blade, aggravating, and I don't fish to be stressed. I settled on the sammy because I love to use it and can actually "steer" it away from a few leaves and clumps of moss. I came upon a spot where I had caught a 19" smallie on a sammy last year. I made the exact same cast and deja vue-an explosion. That's where the deja vu moment ended. Sammy came floating back up fishless. Kept running it- 15 ft. from the boat a 20" class smallmouth jumped competely over the sammy. Swimming with it were at least 4 smaller fish. A couple of them were 10-12" largemouth and I saw at least 2 other smallmouth. Usually in moments like this, at least for me, it's the little guy that's more aggresive. This beast was having none of this, about 6 feet from the boat he exploded again, only succeeding in knocking my favorite lure 6 inches out of the water. By this time the lure was only about 2 feet from the boat and I had no choice but to let it sit. He came barrelling back one last time, turning away at the last millisecond and headed for the depths. Should I have tried something deeper to entice him? For me I think not, he gave me such a rush that fooling him with something else would have been melodramitic. He did his job and even though I've caught several nice smallies this year, knowing that a beast I might have released last year came to say hello has been the highlight of my fishing this year. Nothing better than to see a smallies' agression at it's finest!

[Mitch f]

Took advantage of the cool temps to take a buddy, who will not fish when it's hot, on a float. I don't think it's ever too hot to float- too many options to cool down on the river, and I get cranky if I haven't been in a while. The river was low low low, did I mention the river was low. Water temps had to be in the 80's- didn't have a thermometer but my legs told me it was that warm in the numerous shoals I had to pull over. Lots of leaves floating, not as bad as fall but still a lot of leaves. Lots of moss along the banks and some clumps floating. Started out with my Sammy-which has really produced in the last month- not even a look see early. Decided on the fluke and it was game on. Had to work it slow and let it sink over rocks, caught several 13-16" and numerous dinks early. Had an 18" smallie grab the fluke about 10' from the boat, but trigger happy me yanked it away from him. Only consolation was I got to see him/her and know he is there. Even though there was a decent fluke bite, every 20 minutes or so I would try a topwater, ether a sammy or buzzait, for several casts. Finally about 10 o'clock they started hitting the sammy a little in bright sunshine. Tried the buzzbait and caught a few, but mostly just follows with no commit. Thinking back on it now, maybe changing colors would have helped but I will never know. I finally put the buzzbait down because every 3rd or 4th cast, moss had to be extracted from the blade, aggravating, and I don't fish to be stressed. I settled on the sammy because I love to use it and can actually "steer" it away from a few leaves and clumps of moss. I came upon a spot where I had caught a 19" smallie on a sammy last year. I made the exact same cast and deja vue-an explosion. That's where the deja vu moment ended. Sammy came floating back up fishless. Kept running it- 15 ft. from the boat a 20" class smallmouth jumped competely over the sammy. Swimming with it were at least 4 smaller fish. A couple of them were 10-12" largemouth and I saw at least 2 other smallmouth. Usually in moments like this, at least for me, it's the little guy that's more aggresive. This beast was having none of this, about 6 feet from the boat he exploded again, only succeeding in knocking my favorite lure 6 inches out of the water. By this time the lure was only about 2 feet from the boat and I had no choice but to let it sit. He came barrelling back one last time, turning away at the last millisecond and headed for the depths. Should I have tried something deeper to entice him? For me I think not, he gave me such a rush that fooling him with something else would have been melodramitic. He did his job and even though I've caught several nice smallies this year, knowing that a beast I might have released last year came to say hello has been the highlight of my fishing this year. Nothing better than to see a smallies' agression at it's finest!

.

Sounds like you did everything right, the only I might have tried is to pitch that fluke right back in where the big one missed your Sammy!

[BobK]

Wow.........is the river low????

Never in my 35 years fishing the Gasconade have I seen the river this low for this length of time.

Thanks for the post!