Hot and cold and hot and cold

[Al Agnew]

I got on the river (upper Big River) about 9 AM.  It was very cool; I was glad I had a sweatshirt on.  I immediately went across the river to a little eddy that often produces fish this time of year, and sure enough, got three strikes on my homemade crankbait, getting one 13 inch largemouth into the canoe.  Then I started downstream.  It's a stretch I know like the back of my hand, and there are all these spots that nearly always produce a fish.  The first one didn't.  The second one didn't.  The next pool didn't, though I did get a swirling strike on the crankbait that missed.  Hmm.  Time to try something else.  Topwater?  Two pools, no fish.  Spinnerbait?  The river was up a little above normal for this time of year, visibility about three feet, could be perfect for spinnerbaits.  Nothing.  Then a spot.  Then another spot.  Another.  Suddenly the spotted bass were really eating the spinnerbait.  A couple were nice ones, 15 inches or so and fat as they almost always are.  

Then...I lifted a 14 inch spotted bass out of the water by the line, and it flopped violently, and the arm of my spinnerbait broke, the part with the blades flying off into the water.  I unhooked the bass, and started digging in the tackle box for another similar spinnerbait.  The one that broke was a War Eagle 1/4th ounce with translucent chartreuse skirt and double willow blades.  For some reason, I didn't have any more with that color skirt, nor the same blades.  I dug out one that was reasonably close, only with a willow for the main blade and a smaller Colorado blade.  It had a chartreuse skirt, but it wasn't translucent and was very full.  I caught a couple on it, but they weren't hitting it well.  I dug around in the box, found one with a single willow blade, and took the translucent skirt off the remains of the one that broke and put it on.  That worked better...until the skirt came off and disappeared.  

By that time, I'd caught 8 spotted bass, 3 small smallmouth, and 2 largemouth.  I tried a couple other spinnerbaits.  Nothing.  Then I decided to try a black one with double willow blades.  Aha!  They were eating it well.  Pretty soon I was up to 13 spots, 4 smallies (including a pretty decent 15 incher), and 5 largemouth.

Up to this point, the better bass were all around rocks in the deeper pools, but up close to the bank.  But it didn't seem like the smallmouth were active, or else they weren't in the same places.  Then the spinnerbait action just died.  I fished through three nice pools without a bump.  I knew there were fish in those pools.  I decided to go back to the topwater for a bit.  The next pool, nothing.  I tried the crankbait.  Nothing.  A deep diving crankbait.  Nothing.  Back to the spinnerbait.  Nothing.  Back to topwater, but this time I switched to my homemade "finesse" walk the dog lure, a small, wooden one (no rattles).  Yes!  A strike...smallmouth, about 16 inches.  Through a long stretch of riffles, finally into a decent pool...

Ordinarily, this pool doesn't produce much, but I have caught a couple of good fish from it over the years.  First strike was another smallmouth, 13 inches.  Then a 14 incher.  And then, with the lure at the end of the retrieve no more than five feet from the canoe, a beautiful 18 incher came up and engulfed it.  After that I got two more strikes that failed to get hooked.  And then I was through that pool and into another long stretch of shallow water.

But I was looking forward to the quarter mile stretch below this bad water.  It's always been about the best piece of water on this float for big fish.  Over the years I've caught a bunch of big ones in it.  I'll describe it a bit, but not too much because if I did a lot of people would know exactly which piece of water it is.

It starts with a long pool of medium depth, lined with logs.  The lower end is the best because it's a little deeper, and there is one specific spot at the lower end that has produced big ones.  I fished down it with the topwater.  Nothing.  Then I was at that spot on the lower end...and stared in dismay at a new downed tree that completely blocked me from fishing that perfect spot.

Through the next riffle and into a fast but deep run lined with logs, another place that has produced big fish.  But another downed tree covered the sweetest spot in the run, and much of it was just too fast to fish well at this level.  Then I was into an even better run, with big rocks lining the bank and strong current, a place where I've hooked and lost two really big fish in the last 10 years.  Too strong.  It slowed into deep water, and I caught the next smallmouth there, and then another.  Through a steep riffle, into another fast run with rocks.  I couldn't remember catching any big ones in this run, but it slows along a vertical mud bank with ancient logs sticking out of the mud, where I've caught at least three big ones off one log.  

But this time, in that fast run with the rocks, I saw what just looked like the perfect spot under the higher water flow.  It was a small, deep eddy, slightly out of the main current, with one rock about the size of a very large beach ball right in the middle of it.  The little topwater plopped on the back side of the rock, I walked it over the rock, and then this huge smallmouth attacked it, knocking the lure three feet.  I gave the lure one twitch, and the big fish came back and took it.  I was excited.  This was probably the biggest smallmouth I've hooked in several years.  It was far bigger than the 18 incher I'd caught earlier...

It drove deep, and I felt it shake its head, and the hooks pulled out.

I cussed a bit and moaned a little.  But there was still that mud bank just downstream, where there could be another big one, and there was still three or four miles of excellent water to go.  The fish were really eating that topwater, and they were nearly all smallies.  Surely that wouldn't be the last big one I saw today.

But it was like somebody flipped a light switch.  I fished a mile without getting another strike on the topwater.  I went back to the spinnerbait.  Nothing.  My homemade Subwalk.  Nothing.  Switched to a different topwater.  Nothing.  My homemade crankbait.  Nothing.  Back to the topwater.  Nothing.  Then back to the crankbait just because it's easy to fish...and all of a sudden the spotted bass liked it, along with a few largemouth, including a 17 inch largemouth.  For about 20 minutes I caught fish...then nothing again.  And the nothing lasted the final mile or so to the take-out.  

So...three hot periods, each one with a different lure.  And in between, very cold periods.  An odd day.  Final tally, 18 spotted bass, 18 smallmouth, 10 largemouth.   

 

[Mitch f]

I think there is a delicate balance between the perfect top water rod that you can make pin point casts with, and one strong enough to get the hooks buried. I always am a little on edge trying to land a big bass on a WTD bait.

[BronzebackWarrior]

reading your trip reports always make me wanna get on the river.