Fishing with Ham, Shadow Bass and PB Smallie

[Johnsfolly]

I was up at 3:15 am Friday Aug. 5th. Even though I couldn't get a motel room in Eminence on Thurs. night to save a 3 to 3.5 hour drive to meet Ham at 9 am I couldn't sleep. It has been several months since Ham and I set a date in May to take this trip. That got flooded out. Then we set a date in July and that trip got flooded out. It had been raining in Columbia since Monday, but no rain down south and the water gauges were stable through the week. We may actually get to fish on this trip. I packed my last bit of gear and food/drinks in the car and pointed it toward the Current River and was on the road by 4 am. As I turned out of my neighborhood the sky opened up and it just poured on me for 15-20 miles. Once it stopped, I didn't see any more rain on the way to the Current.

 I was introduced to trout fishing in the upper Current over 15 years ago and since that time have only fished the upper Current and have waded many times up and down the river from many accesses between Cedar grove to the Montauk boundary. I have fished mostly for trout and now lately for minnows and darters this last year in the river and its small tributaries. Now I was headed to meet Ham and to fish the middle and lower Current for shadow bass. This would be a new life species for me. The shadow bass is one of three species of rock bass in the state of Missouri and one of four total species throughout the US. I caught my first Northern rock bass when I lived in Connecticut and have caught many here in the waters throughout the state south of the Missouri. They are common in the Gasconade, Maries, Meramec, Little and Big Piney rivers. In a tributary of the James River I have caught a couple of Ozark bass, the species that inhabits the White River systems in south west Missouri. I felt pretty good about catching a shadow bass using similar techniques that I have used in the past to catch the other two species while wade fishing. Knowing that the middle Current has a variety of fish species, including smallmouth, largemouth, suckers, plenty of minnow species, I knew we would be able to catch a bunch of species on this trip. So I brought marabou jigs, Ned rigs, bass tackle, #12, #20 size hooks, redworms, mightcrawlers, etc.

I was making good time to meet Ham and determined that I had time to take a side trip to Akers Ferry. I had never been there before, so I wanted to check it out. The Current was running clear at Akers. I headed back to Rt 19 and passed over a small creek that I could not pass the chance to fish and rigged up my #2 lb ultralight with #20 long shank hooks. I caught a couple of minnows like the one in the photo. It's likely that they may be Ozark minnows or a fish that I have not caught before. One of the fish got into the sand and didn't look like it would survive. So I have the fish to id when I get back home. I did catch a silvery minnow that I could not id, but I let if go unharmed. Saw a rainbow trout and a couple of chub like minnows, but got my bait stripped. Didn't spend too much time to get a new bait on, since I still had a good drive ahead of me.

Got to the meeting place around 8:20 am a bit ahead of schedule. I was getting my gear ready when Ham rolled in. It didn't take him as long to get to the meeting place as he thought it would either. So we got my gear into his truck and we headed out to get on the water. Before our first drift along a rock bluff, I put on a 1/32 oz olive and black marabou jig. We drifted along and I was getting no strikes. Ham was catching fish and I just wasn't getting any strikes. We drifted again. I switched to a green pumpkin 1/8 oz Ned rig and caught two largemouth and no shadow bass. We moved downstream and a couple more largemouth under my belt and no shadow bass. Ham caught a chain pickerel on a hard plastic jerkbait and several shadow bass on his ned and Zig Jigs. Then finally the bite came and I landed my first shadow bass on the green pumpkin ned rig. It seemed that my 1/32 oz jig just wasn't getting down to the fish. This fish represented my 15th new life species for this year and the first that was not a minnow or darter species. I was able to achieve my new species goal I set for this year. It was also my 40th different species that I have caught since March of this year.

Ever since I saw Ham post a picture of a shadow bass on OAF a year or about two years ago, I have been waiting to get my hands on one. He and I have been in contact since that time about this fish. I was really excited and it still was early in the day. I was hoping to still catch one with the classic dark barring and it didn't take long to catch this one.

By this time Ham had caught largemouth, smallmouth, and shadow bass and a chain pickerel and I had only caught largemouth and shadow bass. With the shadow bass on the list, it was time to focus on other species. We pulled onto the shore to get in the water to cool off. All around the boat were several minnow species, sculpin, and darters. I got out the #20 rigged for minnows. Ham took the rod and caught his first banded sculpin of the year (Ham will have to supply a photo of that one). I got several rainbow darters up out of the water, before I got this one into my photo bag. The hot air temp did not do the picture much justice by fogging up the bag.

Then Ham was after the darters and landed his first rainbow darter. After cooling off and catching these fish, it was back for bigger game.

One of our drifts went over a deep cut near a big log pile. At the bottom were several large drum. Ham had been mentioning how spooky these fish can be and that they rarely go after his artificials. I borrowed one of Ham's rods with a bait rig and gradually pulled a redworm over a log on the bottom and a large drum followed and took the bait. I was able to land the fish, which was my first drum of the year and by far my largest ever. I had built a plastic view tank that was 24 x 12 x 6 inches with 1/4" plexiglass just for taking pictures of large fish like this one and we put it to test.

Unfortunately the box developed a leak in the lower corner after we landed the drum. So it came home for me to fix. I finally caught a small smallmouth. So far up to this point I had caught largemouth, and smallmouth bass, shadow bass, rainbow darter, a silvery minnow that may have been a bleeding shiner, and a drum. Ham had caught a largemouth and smallmouth bass, shadow bass, chain pickerel, banded sculpin, and a rainbow darter. With all of the suckers and drum throughout the river, we tried to bait fish for suckers. We spent some time and had little luck. I caught one northern hog sucker (my first for this year) and Ham got many hits but no real strikes. We decided to head much further downstream and headed the boat back upstream to the access. We had an exhilarating run upstream that both Ham and I will remember for some time. Also the nice older women at the boat access will be remembered for her observant nature.

After we got the boat into the river at the next access point, I did catch a couple of bleeding shiners while Ham parked his truck. The shiners were swimming over a chub nest. They would have spawned in this location earlier this year and must still relate to that type of bottom feature. These shiners still had a slight red tinge to their lips and the characteristic dark stripe behind the gill covers. Ham grabbed the rod and was also able to catch his first bleeding shiner fishing in this same location. Ham also caught his first northern studfish before we got back in the boat to get back to fishing ned and Zig jigs for larger species.

We drifted through some great water with depth, current, large rock and boulders, and wood cover. We pulled a lot more smallmouth and shadow bass from this cover. On one pass I got a big strike on my 1/8 oz PBJ Ned rig and this fish felt different with some real weight to it. Then we saw the fish. As I fought this fish I knew that this was my largest smallmouth bass that I have ever hooked into with the hopes of landing. I got the fish to the surface and Ham netted the giant. This is my first 18+" smallmouth. Not only was it big It had the great markings that I love with this species. What a great river smallmouth!

Then came the OBSESSION in the form of aggressive skipjack herring. We passed by several holes that held active skipjack and we threw a bunch of baits at them to no avail. The fish would follow the baits and flash on them. Most did not take the bait, a couple did pull back and they stayed unhooked. We spent a lot of time trying for these fish and just could not land any. We caught and landed several longear sunfish that hit our baits during these drifts. Before we made this trip, I told Ham that we could catch ten different species each during this trip. I ended up this Current river trip with 34 total fish and with ten confirmed different species (forgot about the five striped shiners that I caught) and one unidentified silvery minnow that may or may not have been a bleeding or a young striped shiner. I also caught three new species for this year, with one new life species. I also caught my largest drum and smallmouth bass to-date. I enjoyed fishing with and learned a lot from Ham about how to drift these jigs and ned rigs downstream to catch fish. I believe that Ham ended with 47 total fish and 11 different species. He can make any necessary adjustments to these numbers to cover my failing memory. It took a long time to get this trip together. I knew it would be a good trip and it turned out to be a great trip!

Oh and it poured on me again as I traveled between Salem and Licking to my motel room for the night!

 

[stlfisher]

Looks like you guys had a great multi species trip and a beautiful smallmouth to cap it off!

[Al Agnew]

I believe your first minnow may be a southern redbelly dace.  It's not in spawning colors but the stripes are about right and the lack of visible scales is characteristic (they have scales but the scales are tiny).

[dan hufferd]

That is a beautiful smallmouth ! The water looks good too. Great read too.

[Johnsfolly]

Al

You may be spot on with the southern redbelly dace. The fin coloration would be right for that species. I am used to a thicker body based on the dace I have caught in the past as well as their breeding coloration. As you said a nonbreeding fish looks a lot different. Thanks. That gives me a great start on getting it keyed out.

[Johnsfolly]

With all of my food and prep work for my wife's birthday yesterday, I haven't updated my fishing log and originally missed the striped shiners I had caught on this trip.

[Ham]

It was a long time in the offing, but it was well worth the wait and the effort. I had been wanting to fish with John for literally years. Following along his adventures thru OA, I knew he would be a Good dude and a kindred spirit. I was not wrong. I had a great time and look forward to fishing with him again. I wish I could import all my friends to the Mountain Home area to make it easier to fish together.

We both got to the meeting location early. Good Sign. A quick loading of the gear and off to Round Spring. I caught a little smallie first cast, another Good sign. I was shocked when John did not catch a Shadow Bass in the first 10 minutes. I have a Bluff that usually holds good numbers. They weren't as thick in there this time around, but there were some there. I think John's first 5 fish were LMB. I think I caught 2 LMB all day. But the catching was pretty steady.

Trying to catch a lot of species in one day is a logistical nightmare and eats up a ton of time as well. I had a weeks worth of stuff I wanted to try in one day. So, there was always going to be a time crunch. Time management issues were gnawing at me all day.

Now, I had to put my jet in the shop last week. Terrible timing. I was not going to postpone the trip again. I had a fall back plan to use the canoe on Jack's Fork if we had to, but a friend graciously loaned me his Supreme. He has a 10 HP yammy prop. When I picked the boat up, he showed me that the prop needed to be replaced. He had already abused it pretty hard so it did not have all its usual thrust. I learned first hand that the Current River is a jet boat river. We had some issues with areas I have breezed thru in the past. I won't take a prop boat on the Current River again.

We would have been better served to fish the Round Spring area or the Two Rivers area, but not both. I wanted to show him both and I had spots on both areas that I was dying to put him on. He caught his PB smallie on one of my Big Fish spots. He did a great job on that fish and I was thrilled he caught it.

I was also stoked to see that the super spooky Drum can indeed be caught. Kinda bummed that I wasn't able to get one of my own, but I have caught many this year. I did get a Chain Pickerel to show John and it was a called shot. I had another one on a Zig Jig that came off on a cart wheeling jump.

The skip jack thing really got under my skin. I am learning more about them, but it is more thru failure than success. Below tail races in off color water, they can be dead easy to catch. In the super clear water of the Current, they are not. I've caught 4 of 5 all together on the Current on the various trips so I know it can be done, but I have also been frustrated by them before. We had multiple locations were multiple fish were running our baits at the same time rolling all over the bait without taking it. I felt like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football. I will fish the Current River again this year. I will get another shot at them.

I'll upload a Pic of my little Banded Sculpin later. The Studfish was a Lifetime First. The Bleeding Shiner was a lifetime first although my son caught one with me earlier. I'm pretty sure I had caught a Rainbow Darter earlier this year, but it was nice to catch one with the armchair taxonomist and be sure.

I hope we can do a springtime micro/mini trip and spend a day and a bunch of gas hitting different spots and catching fish with their party clothes on.

I'll tell you guys again. We all have limited days. Take the time/make the effort, these trips are special.

[Johnsfolly]

Al - You were correct Sir! I was able to confirm the minnow as the southern redbelly dace. Thanks again for your insight.

[Johnsfolly]

Ham

Maybe if I wasn't using that lighter jig, I would have caught a shadow bass on that first bluff run and I could have put on and fished a jerkbait for the pickerel. Would not have surprised me if there was another one back in that backwater where you called the shot. Though I did finally end up catching a shadow bass using the PBJ ned rig at that first bluff before we pulled the boat out and headed downstream. It was right where you said I should have hooked one when we first started the days fishing.

I would love to do a micro/mini trip. I never did get a chance on a whitetail shiner on this trip. Maybe looked over several, but without their gaudy breeding colors makes it hard to tell one minnow from the other. I also have the Current river darter and brooks darter on my to catch hit list. May have to get over to some tributaries of the Black river for the brooks darter.

John

 

[Ham]

So many fish, so little time.