Headed down next week.

[top_dollar]

Im probably going to be floating this river for the first time late next week.  For those who frequent this river....What should I expect?  How deep are the holes?  Is it super clear? Is it all trout and smallmouth?  Will stripers be there?  I think were putting in at Blair Bridge and going to the end, gonna camp a night or two along the way depending on how fast were moving (I move slow).  Im going with a fly fishing trout guy, but IDK how to do that, so Ill be throwing jerkbaits mostly. 

[Devan S.]

take a bigger net. Chances are high you will run into stripers that are much larger than your trout net. 

[top_dollar]

Well it was 3 years too late but I finally floated this river.  Went from twin bridges to Blair Bridge.  The river was clear and we could see the bottom basically everywhere.  There were lots of long flat runs that were largley devoid of life save for suckers.  There was quite a bit of grass/slime that made fishing a bit difficult.  There were plenty of good looking spots though.  

Smallmouth fishing was good for numbers (all dinks though) down to about rainbow spring.  After that it got nonexistent.  They were mostly in deeper holes.  I caught them on jerkbaits swimbaits and ned rigs above the blue ribbon area. Trout fishing was tough, our fly fishing friend only caught 1 (17inch rainbow) and he usually catches lots.  We didn't even see many.  We did catch several goggle eye.  I caught em on the ned rig and swimbait and my buddy caught em on a rooster tail.

I did catch 1 striper on a jerkbait out of the thousands we saw.  They were all steadily swimming up river and not interested much in lures.  It was odd.  We did see several above the blue ribbon stretch, so i wonder if theyd eat live shiners where youre allowed to use bait?  Those are the types of fish that could drive a guy insane trying to catch.  They were everywhere and actively avoided any lure tossed their way save for the 1 dummy that ate my jerkbait.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, top_dollar said:

Those are the types of fish that could drive a guy insane trying to catch

No kidding.   I went through a phase where I drove every chance I got to pattern stripers and hybrids.   Never could and between the gas money and heartache I quit.  They either are biting or they’re not.  Thx for the report though.  👍

[trythisonemv]

Wonder where are all the browns? Have the not swam back up from the lake yet? 

[MObassin95]

10 hours ago, trythisonemv said:

Wonder where are all the browns? Have the not swam back up from the lake yet? 

They’re in the Striper’s bellies 😂

[MObassin95]

13 hours ago, top_dollar said:

Well it was 3 years too late but I finally floated this river.  Went from twin bridges to Blair Bridge.  The river was clear and we could see the bottom basically everywhere.  There were lots of long flat runs that were largley devoid of life save for suckers.  There was quite a bit of grass/slime that made fishing a bit difficult.  There were plenty of good looking spots though.  

Smallmouth fishing was good for numbers (all dinks though) down to about rainbow spring.  After that it got nonexistent.  They were mostly in deeper holes.  I caught them on jerkbaits swimbaits and ned rigs above the blue ribbon area. Trout fishing was tough, our fly fishing friend only caught 1 (17inch rainbow) and he usually catches lots.  We didn't even see many.  We did catch several goggle eye.  I caught em on the ned rig and swimbait and my buddy caught em on a rooster tail.

I did catch 1 striper on a jerkbait out of the thousands we saw.  They were all steadily swimming up river and not interested much in lures.  It was odd.  We did see several above the blue ribbon stretch, so i wonder if theyd eat live shiners where youre allowed to use bait?  Those are the types of fish that could drive a guy insane trying to catch.  They were everywhere and actively avoided any lure tossed their way save for the 1 dummy that ate my jerkbait.

Thanks for sharing! I floated from Hammond Access to ROLF and thought it was an incredibly beautiful float! 

[Gavin]

What was in that stripers belly when you gutted it? 

[top_dollar]

10 hours ago, Gavin said:

What was in that stripers belly when you gutted it? 

I threw it back.  I only like to eat spotted bass from table rock and smallmouth from the rivers. 

[top_dollar]

I'm just kidding about the above post, but I generally just eat crappie, bluegill and walleye if I can get em.