Complete Weirdness

[Al Agnew]

Maybe it's the weather, with temperatures jumping up and down like a 8 year old who has just eaten a whole bag of marshmallows on a trampoline.  Or maybe the fish know that sooner or later the periodic cicadas are going to show up.  But I've had a really strange spring of fishing.  Seems like every time one of my friends goes out he catches a bunch of big fish.  But when I go out, even with him, we catch very little (though I did pull out  19 incher the other day fishing with one of my friends, while he caught nothing of any size).

So after a few more days of cold weather (at night at least), I got the chance to float a stretch of river that is becoming one of my favorites.  I've already caught a couple 19 inch class smallies and a couple 6 pound plus largemouth from it (last year).  I had no idea what to expect today, though.  I started out in the cold of the early morning, trying first a spinnerbait (nothing), my shallow running crankbait (a couple little spotted bass), a walk the dog topwater (a couple more little spotted bass), and a plopper (a couple more little spotted bass and a decent largemouth).  By the time I'd gone two hours and, really concentrating on fishing different types of water, less than two miles, my score was 14 spotted bass, 3 largemouth, and 4 smallmouth, none over 14 inches.  I had NOTHING figured out except that nothing was in fast water.

And then I came to a nice bluff pool, one of many on this river.  I was using the crankbait, and as soon as I came through the riffle and the current slowed, I started catching smallmouth along this rocky bank.  I caught a half dozen or so, all good fish 14-16 inches.  So, curious, I picked of the dog lure.  And the smallies proceeded to go absolutely nuts.  I was getting a strike on almost every cast.  The wind was blowing downstream so I was working to keep the canoe from drifting into the water I wanted to fish.  And these were really good fish.  In a 50 yard stretch of rocky bank, I caught 20 smallmouth, with at least 8 of them 17-18 inches, capped by a heavy, thick 19 incher.  And I lost several more, including one that was about the same size as the 19 incher I'd just caught.  These fish were chasing the lure from 10 or more feet away.  If one missed, I'd make a few more twitches and it would whack it again.  

Once I got past that stretch of rocky bank, I was out of the fish.  I fished through the rest of the pool, almost dead water, with nothing but a couple more spotted bass.  So, maybe the pattern was rocky banks in the upper portion of bluff pools?  I hurried down to the next bluff pool.  It was shorter, with a shorter section of good looking bank, but the fish were doing the same thing.  I caught 12 good smallies off that little stretch of bank, and lost a 20 inch class fish at the canoe.  And it was obvious when I got to the end of the good water...nothing.  

Okay...I paddled through the next stretch of riffles and mud bank pools, heading for the next bluff pool.  I just knew the next one would really produce a big fish, because it's one of the prettiest in this stretch...

I caught one small spotted bass from it.

And in fact...for the rest of the day, I didn't catch another smallmouth!  All I caught was a spotted bass here and there.  And there were plenty of pools just as good as those two pools where I'd caught all those fish.  So...ten miles of river, 10 hours of fishing, and I caught 32 smallies from just 75 yards of bank, and only four other smallmouth the whole float.

The weirdness continues.

[Mitch f]

59 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

Maybe it's the weather, with temperatures jumping up and down like a 8 year old who has just eaten a whole bag of marshmallows on a trampoline.  Or maybe the fish know that sooner or later the periodic cicadas are going to show up.  But I've had a really strange spring of fishing.  Seems like every time one of my friends goes out he catches a bunch of big fish.  But when I go out, even with him, we catch very little (though I did pull out  19 incher the other day fishing with one of my friends, while he caught nothing of any size).

So after a few more days of cold weather (at night at least), I got the chance to float a stretch of river that is becoming one of my favorites.  I've already caught a couple 19 inch class smallies and a couple 6 pound plus largemouth from it (last year).  I had no idea what to expect today, though.  I started out in the cold of the early morning, trying first a spinnerbait (nothing), my shallow running crankbait (a couple little spotted bass), a walk the dog topwater (a couple more little spotted bass), and a plopper (a couple more little spotted bass and a decent largemouth).  By the time I'd gone two hours and, really concentrating on fishing different types of water, less than two miles, my score was 14 spotted bass, 3 largemouth, and 4 smallmouth, none over 14 inches.  I had NOTHING figured out except that nothing was in fast water.

And then I came to a nice bluff pool, one of many on this river.  I was using the crankbait, and as soon as I came through the riffle and the current slowed, I started catching smallmouth along this rocky bank.  I caught a half dozen or so, all good fish 14-16 inches.  So, curious, I picked of the dog lure.  And the smallies proceeded to go absolutely nuts.  I was getting a strike on almost every cast.  The wind was blowing downstream so I was working to keep the canoe from drifting into the water I wanted to fish.  And these were really good fish.  In a 50 yard stretch of rocky bank, I caught 20 smallmouth, with at least 8 of them 17-18 inches, capped by a heavy, thick 19 incher.  And I lost several more, including one that was about the same size as the 19 incher I'd just caught.  These fish were chasing the lure from 10 or more feet away.  If one missed, I'd make a few more twitches and it would whack it again.  

Once I got past that stretch of rocky bank, I was out of the fish.  I fished through the rest of the pool, almost dead water, with nothing but a couple more spotted bass.  So, maybe the pattern was rocky banks in the upper portion of bluff pools?  I hurried down to the next bluff pool.  It was shorter, with a shorter section of good looking bank, but the fish were doing the same thing.  I caught 12 good smallies off that little stretch of bank, and lost a 20 inch class fish at the canoe.  And it was obvious when I got to the end of the good water...nothing.  

Okay...I paddled through the next stretch of riffles and mud bank pools, heading for the next bluff pool.  I just knew the next one would really produce a big fish, because it's one of the prettiest in this stretch...

I caught one small spotted bass from it.

And in fact...for the rest of the day, I didn't catch another smallmouth!  All I caught was a spotted bass here and there.  And there were plenty of pools just as good as those two pools where I'd caught all those fish.  So...ten miles of river, 10 hours of fishing, and I caught 32 smallies from just 75 yards of bank, and only four other smallmouth the whole float.

The weirdness continues.

Sounds like a dang winter pattern

[fishinwrench]

Has the flow you're fishing had a good spring rise yet ?  

None of the rivers that I frequent have even come close to blowing out as of yet.  

[Al Agnew]

23 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Has the flow you're fishing had a good spring rise yet ?  

None of the rivers that I frequent have even come close to blowing out as of yet.  

Good enough.  It got up a couple feet with some reasonably warm rain.  It's still flowing enough to allow fairly easy fish passage.