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.