Getting Humbled

[Al Agnew]

I don't post reports of all my fishing trips. If it's an average trip where the typical lures worked and I caught average numbers and sizes of fish and there wasn't any real interesting water or weather conditions, I figure that there's not much value to posting. Sure, if it's a great trip, I might like to share the experience with others (okay...brag a bit).

But sometimes, a bad trip can be an interesting, and maybe a learning experience, and worth posting. I'm secure enough in my own fishing abilities to not worry that somebody is going to think me a poor fisherman if I post a bad trip.

On the other hand, I can't say I learned much of anything today, except that about the time you begin to think you've got everything mostly figured out, you'll find out you don't.

With the weather so gorgeous today, Mary and I just had to get on the river, but we didn't want to drive far. That meant floating good ol' Big River. We picked the stretch to float because the length is right, about 5 miles. We didn't have all day, and Mary has been suffering back problems and didn't think she could handle one of my marathon 10 or more mile floats. When we got to the river, I was a bit surprised to find it up a little and quite murky, visibility about 2 feet at most. I immediately remembered a few other trips I had with those water conditions where my homemade crankbait brought in some big fish, and was licking my lips as I tied one of them on. I'd also "invented" a new crankbait recently, and it seemed that these conditions would be perfect for giving it a trial run.

I usually catch a couple of largemouth in the big pool right below the put-in. Not today. In the first little fast run just below, I almost always catch a smallmouth or two. Nothing. The next half mile often produces some nice fish. Nope...well, one little smallmouth.

My brother had told me last week that a friend of his had told him he was about to stop fishing Big River because the fishing was so poor. Donnie and I just laughed about it. Now I was beginning to wonder.

You know the fishing is bad when you just keep commenting on how beautiful the day is and how nice the river looks. When it's good, you might go for a mile without even looking at anything other than the targets of your casts. Well, it WAS a heck of a day, the river was moving well and the paddling easy.

When you've floated a stretch of river for as many years as I have this one, you can usually call your shots. There are spots all up and down this section that I can almost guarantee taking a fish. At first, all I'd feel is surprise when I'd come up empty in those spots. By lunch time, I was more dismayed than surprised.

Just as we came into the riffle adjacent to our lunch spot, I finally to a good strike on the crankbait, and as Mary paddled over to the gravel bar I fought in a nice 15 inch spotted bass. I hate the spotted bass that have messed up the smallmouth fishing in big River, but I almost liked this one, given the way the day had gone. As we ate lunch, I picked up a rod with a jig and trailer on it and fished a big log, and hooked what felt like a big fish on the back side of the log. I failed to get it over the log, and when I reeled in, there was a scale on the hook; apparently I'd snagged that fish. The scale was big enough that it was probably a good fish in the 17 inch range, but who knows what kind of bass it was.

I tried all my usual suspects. My new crankbait invention caught zero. Spinnerbaits, both the regular ones and my homemade twin spin, caught nothing. I never got a single strike on my walk the dog topwaters. The only thing I could get anything to bite on was the homemade crankbait.

The take-out used to be a long hike and short but steep climb to a roadside parking spot at an old bridge. The old bridge was torn down last year and a new one put in, with no provision for parking and getting to the river. So the new take-out was a mile upstream at another bridge with a short, steep climb and long walk to the roadside parking spot. We had left the Prius there, and when we got to the take-out, Mary saw how steep the climb was, and asked if there was anyplace downstream that would be an easier take-out. She suggested that she would take the car on down if there was and I could fish on down. Well, yes, if you drag the canoe up about a quarter mile of small but flowing creek, there's a really easy place on the creek to take it out. So that's what we did.

In that last mile or so of fishing, I finally caught the first smallmouth over 12 inches, a 14 incher, and a couple other small fish. I got one strike from what looked to be a pretty big one of some kind, but it didn't stay hooked.

Dragging the canoe up that creek actually turned out to be easy enough that I was wondering why I hadn't been doing that all these years instead of the previous steep climb and long walk.

For many years, I've rather consistently averaged around 50 bass per day on an all day float. On a bad day I can almost depend upon catching 25-30 with a couple at least 16 inches or more. Today...14 bass total, with only 4 or 5 over 12 inches. Like I said, I didn't learn much, because I never figured them out. It SHOULD have been a good day.

Well...actually it was. It had been a while since Mary and I had been floating together, and her back didn't bother her, and the weather and river were gorgeous. And really, that's enough.

[Mitch f]

Was the river on a faster than average fall? like more that 6" per day or more?

[ColdWaterFshr]

Al - you had a great trip. Today was one of those rare 5 star days that I would've KILLED to be out on a river or creek somewhere. Big fish or no fish at all. It was an absolute perfect temp and no clouds after all the gloom and rain we've had?? Good for you with you and your wife. Would love to be on a gravel bar tonight with the full moon, the camp fire feeling good, and perfect sleeping weather in an open screened tent.

[Al Agnew]

No, it came up a little more than a foot day before yesterday, dropped three or four inches yesterday, and less than three inches today. Still, it could be that they fed a lot yesterday and didn't want to today. It wasn't a muddy rise...the four inches or so up to the high waterline on the bank edge foliage was barely visible. If it's a muddy rise, that waterline will be silty.

[moguy1973]

A buddy of mine floated a lower stretch of the Big today and had a lot worse results. He too said it seemed the river was up and more dirty than he thought it would be for the levels it showed on the gauges.

[SmallyWally]

Thanks for sharing your day with us Al.

[Mitch f]

Too bad we can't fish when the river is on it's first rise! I need to get out, looking forward to the River Smallies event. Maybe the water level will be perfect then!!

[Seth]

As long as we don't get any unexpected toad stranglers to muck up the river, things should be in really good shape in that stretch for this weekend. It was starting to clear up and fishing improve last weekend.