Feeding Freenzy

Rich and I went on the river again Saturday.  We had some rain Friday, and the river had a little more water, and was stirred up so it was no longer crystal clear.   It is also getting noticeable cooler.  In preparation for the approaching colder weather, I purchased a pair of waders.  Not so much thinking I would wade in the river, but to make my entries and exits to and from the kayak more comfortable.  The lightweight, breathable waders I bought worked great.

Saturday was one of those really good fishing days.  For a while, we expected to have a strike on every cast.  I tried Shelly's Stupid Tubes, but that wasn't what the fish wanted.  When we're catching so many on Pop-R's, it would be stupid to change lures.  I caught the first nice smallie in a very narrow chute downstream of some rapids. Rich had casted in there several times and had no strikes.  After he moved on, I threw in the hole and wham!  I didn't think there was enough water to for a fish this big to swim in. You can see the shallow rapids in the background.

As I was removing the Pop-R from his mouth, I saw the two pinchers of a large crawdad sticking out of the fishes gullet.

Rich has a favorite spot on this stretch of the river where he always catches fish.  He calls it Jurassic Park.  Not sure if it's because the landscape looks so old, or if it's because the fish there are as big as dinosaurs.  Either way, it does hold some large smallmouth.

Rich had a much larger fish on shortly after catching the one in the photo.  He was in his kayak on a narrow bend in the river, and I was standing on the shore not far from him.  There was a log on the opposite shore, and he casted his topwater plug over to it. About halfway in, one of the huge dinosaurs smashed into the plug, but missed it.  When that happens to me, I can't help myself--I yank the pole to set the hook, and move the plug away from the fish.  But not Rich.  He has nerves of steel.  He gently twitches the plug.  Another giant splash, but again the dinosaur missed.  Again, just a gentle twitch from Rich.  The third strike pays off, and the fight is on.  Rich has had some equipment issues in the past with knots that come untied, and reels with the drag set too tight.  But not today.  The knot held, and the fish stripped line off the drag just as it should.  I grabbed my landing net, and waded out in the water to help land the dinosaur, but that only spooked the fish and he took off for deeper water.  Rich fought this fish for what seemed like forever.  He was very careful to keep constant pressure on it, and not try to horse it in.  But even when you do everything right, sometimes the fish wins.  For no apparent reason, the dinosaur just pulled the hook, and was gone.  I imagine Rich will be dreaming about that fish all winter long.

The bite was good most of the day. I ended up catching a "hundert" fish, including five about the size of this one.

Pre-Fishing

There's a kayak bass tourney on Morse Lake October 5th.

 

https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=jP%2ADEbhbn8tRI2-1cABHKQ

 

Rich, Charlie, and I are going to participate.  Maybe Dawg.

Rich and I went out for a short time yesterday, so I could give Rich all my "local knowledge."

That took a total of about 2 minutes.

We fished for a couple of hours, and if our results are an indication of how the tourney might go, neither of us will be on the podium.  But it was another great day on the water.

Here's Rich in his Hobie i9.

 

 

 

 

Stupid Tubes

Last week, I joined Rich, Secret Pond Steve, and Shelly for a fishing trip on the river.  We put in at Perkinsville, and took out at Kowteeti Park in Strawtown.
It was a fun trip, but the fishing started out a little slow. About half way through the trip, Shelly told us about "Stupid Tubes."  These are 3 1/2" long tube baits with a hook rigged weedless.  Shelly gave us all a rigged stupid tube, and I immediately caught 4 fish, and continued to catch more as we drifted down the river.  Wow!
So, I went to Dicks and Walmart, and purchased several packages of tubes.  Then, since I couldn't find them locally, I ordered several packages of special hooks like Shelly gave us from Bass Pro. I couldn't wait to get back on the river and try them out.

Today, Rich and I went back to the river.  Rich with a couple of new Pop-R's, and me with a fist full of stupid tubes.

Rich had a great day of finding and hooking big fish with the Pop-R's.  Sadly, he did not have a great day of getting big fish into the boat.  In retrospect, I can see that it was my fault that he had problems.  Well, actually, it was Don Argay's fault.  Several years ago, while Don and I were fishing for redfish in Florida, Don showed me how to tie a "canoe-man" knot.  It's so easy that I can do it without reading glasses.  So, I use it all the time.  I also fish with braided line and a flourcarbon leader all the time.  The canoe-man knot works great on flourcarbon.........but not so good on 6 lb mono.

The other day, when Rich was using one of my reels, with braid, I showed him how to tie the canoe-man knot.  But today, he was using 6 lb mono, and unbeknownst to me still tying the canoe-man knot.  When the first big fish broke off, I thought it was simply bad luck.  When the second even bigger fish broke the line, he said something about canoe-man knots.  I felt bad, that he was still tying a knot I had shown him, and it wasn't holding.

Rich did manage to get quite a few fish to the boat, but not the biggest ones.  I told him to blame Don.


As for the stupid tubes, today I discovered how they got their name.  I rigged the hooks just as Shelly showed me.  They were supposed to be weedless, but when a fish bites, the hook comes out and it sets.  I had several fish bite on the tubes, but not one of them got through to the hook.  On the other hand, if there was any wood anywhere in sight, the hook jumped out of the tube, and latched on for dear life.  I hooked every submerged tree in the river.  I think I might have hooked some telephone poles out on Allisonville Road. 

I know what you're thinking........maybe it's not the tube that's stupid. 

Still Crazy

Still fishing the river 2 or 3 times a week.
Still using the Pop-R.
Still catching fish.

Here's a couple from last week.

Today was 96 degrees.  The fishing was a little slow, but Rich caught some smallies.

And I found a couple largemouth.

Pond Scum

The water in the secret pond has turned green.  Some sort of algae bloom.  Lots of weeds, making fishing difficult.  However....................

Steve and I caught several nice largemouth.

 

Back to the river tomorrow