I left work a little early on Firday, grabbed my rod and headed for the river. Shortly after I arrived I caught a nice carp. The pool where I caught the carp usually produces some good smallmouth and rock bass; which is what I was fishing for. This carp went on some drag burning runs; it did not want to come to hand. Eventually the fish tired and I beached it for the obligatory picture. This carp trashed the hole in the fight. It ran up and down the length of the pool and thrashed wildly. The carp probably spooked every fish in that section of river. There was no way that this pool was going to fish after that fight so I moved on down river. I caught a couple of smallies as I worked my way down. They were average to small fish. I worked all the way down to a spot that is normally not very good for smallmouth. It’s a slow bend pool with a muddy and sandy bottom. I tied on a white popper and proceeded to cast to the far bank where there was some shade. I would pop the bug hard when it first landed, let it rest, then swim it under water and begin the process again. The appearance of a dying minnow was irresistible to a nice sized smallmouth it came from the depths and quietly sipped in the popper. I set the hook and the fight was on. The fished jumped several times and put up a respectable fight. I love catching fish on the surface. It has to be the most exciting fly form of fishing there is. There is nothing like seeing the fish take the fly. I released the smallmouth, pricking myself with the hook in the process, and moved on downstream. I fished some normally productive water to find nobody home so I kept on moving. I made it down to a tailout that is about 2’-3’ which has large numbers of rocks, bolders, and broken concrete on the bottom. The current here is somewhat slow; this is good habitat for crayfish. So I tied on a small clouser crayfish and fished it across the bottom so it scooted from rock to rock like a real crayfish. On the second or third hop, I had a fish on! It was another pretty decent smallmouth. I fished on down and caught a blue gill, and a crappie; they were not big fish bit it was a nice change of pace. At this point I decided to change venues and drove a few minutes down river to a spot I like to fish where a creek comes into the river. I fished the junction of the river and creek first- nobody home. I worked on downstream to a nice pool with a medium current and some big boulders on the bottom in the deepest part of the pool. I have caught fish around those boulders in the past so I gave them a little extra attention. I fished a popper first and brought up a smallie. After releasing that fish I changed flies and put on a clouser minnow in chartruse. I worked the fly between the two biggest boulders and something wacked the fly. There was a brief fight and then the fish just seemed to give up. It was a rock bass the size of my hand. I was surprised that such a large rock bass would just give up the way it did. Usually these fish are good fighters. I worked my way down river fished every nook and cranny of the river as I went. I didn’t find another player until I got to the tail out of a large slow pool. This tail out also had a lot of rocks on the bottom and some nice deep pockets between. I tied the crayfish on again and hopped it across the bottom. I caught a couple of nice smallies here doing this. At this point it was pretty dark so I fished my way back to the access point, catching a creek chub, another sunfish and a couple of dink smallmouth. I caught several good fish, I had the river all to myself and I had some and I had a nice relaxing afternoon/evening. It was really good to get out and fish. Being back in school; I truly cherish each and every time I have a chance to get out and fish. I used to get out almost everyday. Now I get out a couple of times a week at most.
