It seems that I have established a routine of fishing on the weekends because of school. I fished Friday afternoon after work and man it was tough. The sun was bright, it was hot and there were lots of kids and dogs swimming in the river. I walked downstream from where all the kids were swing and I caught an average smallmouth on a clouser minnow. At lease the skunk was off me. I continued to fish on downstream and fished every nook and cranny of water that looked like it could hold fish. I paid particular attention with the very limited amount of shaded water. I didn’t have another hook up for hours. I fished as far down as I could go; there is a big logjam that prevents me from walking further down river from this spot. I decided to put on a popper and fish my way back covering the same water with a different fly. I fished a shaded bank near a down fall and right in front of where a run slows into a pool. I had already fished the ruin with a clouser minnow, but had not fished the bank or down fall thoroughly yet. On the second or third pop of the bug brought up a huge smallmouth. The fish violently hit the fly, breaching the water on the way up and making a huge splash on the down. I set the hook as I saw it disappear below the surface. The fish leaped out of the water a second time shaking its head and tail-walking across the surface. After the second big jump, the fish turned down river and ran hard. This bass ripped line off my 5 weight reel so fast, I thought it was going to burn out the reel’s drag. This is the first time I’ve had a bass rip line off the reel. I worked the fish side to side and slowly tired it out and worked it in. I beached the fish like I would a steelhead. This fish was a serious player. I took a few pictures and quickly released this beast to fight another day. The fish was at least 18” long and about 4 lbs. Most of the river bass I catch are 10”-12” and about 1 lb. or less. It was a big and old fish. This fish made up for the tough afternoon and the low numbers. If all I had caught was this beast of a bass, I would have been thrilled. It was the fish of the summer. Hell, it was the best smallmouth I’ve ever caught in the river! This was one memorable fish. I cast back to the same spot after I had released the monster bass and hooked into another good bass. The second bass from this spot was not as big as the first, but was an impressive size too. I wound up losing the second big bass. I really didn’t care after catching that beast that made my day.
I fished again on Saturday morning at dawn. I immediately caught a carp, and continued to catch several smallmouth, creek chubs and some rock bass. It was a great morning on the river. It was cool and mist was rising off the water. The fish of the day was a huge rock bass; the biggest rock bass I’ve ever caught. I fished a remote section of river that does not get any angling pressure and is tough to access. It was cool to explore new water. The area I fished did not have the best water; the river was either too shallow to hold fish, or the current was extremely slow. The fishing was not as good as I had hoped it would be. I really expected some sexy water back in this new streatch of river. Regardless, I managed several good fish. It was a nice way to start the day. By the time I left it had gotten HOT!!! It was time to go. I was glad I got out early while the temperature was comfortable and fish were biting.
