Dang Near Skunked

[Al Agnew]

Theoretically, it should have been a perfect day to catch some fish. At least, if the weather had come through as forecasted. Zipstick was expecting the 60 degree heavy thunderstorms to dump a bunch of warm water into the Meramec, bring it up a little and get it murky, and the fish would turn on. Friday, even though it was supposed to be cooler, would be the day.

But the heavy thunderstorms lasted about five minutes. And the temperature was 37 degrees and the wind was roaring when we met at the river Friday morning. Zipstick had arrived early and gone upriver to try one little spot before I got there, and hadn't gotten a bite. But surely the 54 degree sunny forecast would come true and the water would warm up a bit, even though it was 39 degrees, low, and clear.

I got a bite on my first cast, and missed it. Two hours and four good spots later, including one of Zipstick's "never fail" holes, and we hadn't gotten another whiff of a bite. The river seemed dead. No minnows, no suckers, and certainly no bass. The dreaded "s" word had entered the backs of our minds.

Along a rocky bank with fairly deep water, Zipstick finally got a "swimmer" on his hair jig, and set the hook into a nice smallie that turned out to be a 16 incher, taking him out of danger of the skunk. But what about me? A minute later, a twin 16 incher took the weighted Senko I was using...mine was fatter than his. Finally, skunk alert removed, we could get down to catching some fish.

Or not. By mid-afternoon we'd fished all the good spots and even some questionable ones in 8 miles of river, with nothing else to show for our efforts. The water temp had grudgingly climbed a whole two degrees. We'd tried jigs, tubes, and jerkbaits. I'd gotten one more for sure bite, and my line had broken on the hook set, apparently a weak spot. Zipstick had gotten a couple of bites he was sure were sunfish or goggle-eye, and had come up empty.

We headed back up the river to try again at the spot where I'd had the break-off. Nothing. We tried the spot where we'd caught the two fish. Nothing.

One last spot to try, and not one that looked like much. It was slack water, and Zipstick and I both had found largemouth there at times, but it was not over four feet deep, with just a couple of logs and the one other key element...some dead but still green stalked water willow beds. Zipstick, my winter fishing guru, had taught me that green often means baitfish, and baitfish means bass.

He got a quick bite on the hair jig and missed, and then caught a 13 inch largemouth. I was using a french fry type worm at that time, and finally got a 15 inch green fish. He caught a 12 incher. I caught a 12 incher. He caught a 13 incher. And then I set the hook into a heavy fish. This one:

We ended up catching five largemouth apiece in that final spot, and called it a day. It was interesting, anyway. The conditions weren't THAT bad. Yet the fish were almost totally uncooperative until we found that school of largemouth. It just goes to show that there are times when you just won't figure out how to get the fish to bite.

Mary and I drove down to Big Spring today to meet one of her friends. She and her friend were going to walk one of the trails and visit, but I'd conveniently left a rod and tackle in the car, so I walked down to the mouth of the spring branch and fished the river with hair jigs. In an hour I caught four bass, nothing over 12 inches, and four goggle-eye. I wonder if I'd have caught even that many fish there the day before. I always wonder, when I have a slow day of fishing, if it was slow all over or just where I was fishing.

[Mitch f]

Wow niiiiiiiiice fish! I bet you guys had fun!

[Chief Grey Bear]

Winter fishing can be like that. There are times, especially after a warming trend, fish will be where you least expect them. And it sounds as if you fished one of the areas that I have learned to fish in the winter after a warming trend.

I just goes against everthing we have heard and have been taught to fish areas of shallow water, relatively speaking, in the winter. But we just came out of some brutly cold weather. Predetor fish most likely didn't feed at all during that time. We have broke that cold spell and temps have came up a slight few degrees for a few days now. Fish will move to shallower areas to feed and enjoy a little sun. I don't think they are ready to go back to their summer homes, but I don't think they are far off either.

I think the week of warmer weather we experienced the previous week was a contributor as to why you were not catching fish in your honey holes. I think they have moved to close by shallows as I have found them in those areas in weather patterns like this. Now like you guy's did, I, out of instinct, always hit the holes first. And fish them hard. But if I just can't find them there, then I kinda of switch to a summer pattern, and hit areas you don't associate with winter fishing.

That is a good looking fish too!

[Chief Grey Bear]

A couple of questions......was you standing or sitting? Did you cast? Flip? Pitch? The hook set? Was you slightly turned to the right or left? Was you straight up? Leaning slightly forward? Did you eat a braunschweiger sandwich before, during or after this fish? Onion? Mustard? Rye?

[Greasy B]

It's been almost two months since I've been out, I needed some encouragement. Thanks for the report.

[Al Agnew]

A couple of questions......was you standing or sitting? Did you cast? Flip? Pitch? The hook set? Was you slightly turned to the right or left? Was you straight up? Leaning slightly forward? Did you eat a braunschweiger sandwich before, during or after this fish? Onion? Mustard? Rye?

I was standing, but in the bottom of the boat. I was casting, and the weighted lure hit the water with a huge "plop". The hook was set with full power. I was leaning forward at the time and leaning backward at the end of the hook set. I'd eaten a smoked pork chop earlier in the day, with some plain potato chips.

I think it was the potato chips that did it. Flavored potato chips turn fish off.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Nice. Very nice.

Pork chop you say? Huummm. Gives me ideas.