mud fishing

The river has crept up a bit the last two days. But the weather was fabulous so I went fishing anyways. Visibility was virtually nil so expectations were low. Sometimes fishing is just an excuse to spend time along a river and this was what I thought today would be. So I started off taking photos of wildflowers, watching redtails fly overhead and throwing a few obligatory casts. I'm walking along and here was this clump of willows that in summer was normally dry but now had water gushing all round it. The clump of willows created a current break which along with a curving bank created a slack water area maybe ten feet long and six or seven feet across. I pitched a paddletail  swimbait underhanded up close to the willow clump and blam! a big smallie just nailed it. The Little Miami rod bent into the cork as the fish screamed away. A few wild jumps and I landed a gorgeous smallie. Hmm... I continued up the river but now looking hard for little cuts out of the current. The next spot was a channel behind a small island that would be way too shallow in a few days but now was full of muddy water and on the far side was another pocket of dead water. Sure enough two casts an a nice smallmouth again hammered the swimbait. As did a half dozen other fish out of similar spots over the next couple hours. None as big as the first but a really nice average size. I know legendary baseball announcer Joe Nuxhall used to say "if you swing the bat you're dangerous".
Which I guess is sorta what happened today by going fishing even though it seemed like a lost cause.
The fish don't get to stay home when the rivers up, the river is their home.