A grown up smallmouth

I wish I had a more exciting story, you know like one of those river monster episodes where he makes it sound like its a miracle he even survived at all. But the truth is I went to a good hole within a mile or two of where I grew up, a hole I've fished probably hundreds of times before. I threw a suspending minnow plug and on the second cast the fish simply ate it. I can't even throw in the part about how it was a miracle I landed it and the hook fell out as I lifted it out of the water cause she was hooked solidly with both trebles. And I guess if you fish enough your bound to get lucky every now and then and with the end of the season being near I'd fished 9 out of the last 11 days. So anyways here's the fish, I like her alot...

old muddy

I woke this morning to find the river a bit off color from last nights storms. Not muddy just a bit colored up compared to the clear water of the last few days. I fished right outside Loveland for a couple hours before starting work at the visitor center. Here the river goes around a bend out of sight in a big long hole with a gorgeous riffle at its bottom. I worked the riffle first with a bright roostertail, zip. So then I tried deeper with a grub, nada. A suspending minnow, zilch. Rebel craw, same result. Thinking the water might seem to the fish more off colored than it was because it had been so clear before, I dug around in the pack and found old muddy. Old muddy is the little two inch version of a cordell spot. Bright silver that you can see flash in any water and like its big brother noisy as all get out. Two casts in and a big drum slams it, boy they sure can fight. Then almost unbelieveably the next cast to the exact same spot and a shovelhead thumps the bait. This is after 45 minutes of fishing with no strikes. I ended up with seven fish, the drum, the catfish and six smallmouths including this guy...

fly rod smalljaws

Hit my favorite spot on the LMR this evening. Started off catching a few whites off of a riffle. Then dropped down to the next riffle which is deeper and has some big rocks in the riffle too. I was using a wooly bugger tied with tinsel and gold. Behind a big three foot around rock a solid smallie hammered the fly. I was feeling pretty good about getting him on the flyrod and caught three more about ten or eleven inches in that spot. Down at the end of the hole is a long rock in the riffle thats 5 feet long and maybe a foot around. I threw the fly upstream of that and let the fly sweep over the rock. Just as the fly got deep enough I could no longer see it I had a strike. I set the hook and a really good smallie cartwheeled skyward. He was all over the place leaving me feeling anything but in controll but I finally landed him. After that I landed several more smaller bass and ended up with 17 fish on the flyrod, definately one of the more memorable trips this year.

Dawn at the Dam

Went this morning early for a few hours at the dam in Hamilton. Hooked a big shovelhead ( one of the best I've had all year) and had him on long enough for my arm to get tired and then poof he was gone....was reeling in my lipless crankbait and a smallmouth grabbed it right as I was pulling it out of the water. He went crazy on two feet of line. Caught three more smallies about that size and the smallest shovelhead of the year all on a crankbait. So then I switched and tied on just a small baitholder hook and nothing else no weight at all. I'd hook a nightcrawler a couple times thru the middle and leave each end dangling to move in the current. I threw this just above the rock bar below the dam and let it work around in the current, then pick it up and cast again. For a bit there every other cast it seemed produced a nice channelcat. I'd drift the bait along with the bail open holding the line in my free hand. Then tap tap and the line would start to slide off. Usually all I catch here are mostly small channels but some of these were dandies. So I'm just fishing along catching nice channels and then thump and the line goes. I set the hook and wham the rod bends double and line starts screaming off. I eventually land this guy... A bigmouth buffalo! not the smallmouth ones you usually catch here. The buffalo hump isnt as high as the smallmouth's but this is the roundest fish you will ever see, I bet it weighs 30 percent more than a carp of the same length would. Heres some more fish pics from the last week or so I havent gotten around to posting...

Heartbreak on the Little Miami

Zipped out to fish the LMR before work today. The smallmouth were hitting pretty good. The rivers back down and just a little bit off color. Worked my way down to a long run below a riffle where the river runs about a hundred yards in a big curve about chest deep. Fished down it catching two small bass then turned around and started back up throwing a quarter ounce jighead tipped with a metalflake three inch grub. Thru across and let it sweep down on a tight line and thump. Up came a huge smallie easily the best of the year. She cartwheeled into the air with her going one way and my grub going the other. I just kind of stood there stunned with that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. You know that same feeling you get when the car breaks down and you really cant afford it right then...well nothing to do but keep fishing. five or six casts later and thump...but this time the ultralite bends double and the fish bores across the river. well, its not a smallie. Ten minutes later I finally land a beautifull shovelhead. Not a big smallie but a great fish on an ultralite and six pound test. I think these cool nights are getting the fish going pretty good this week.

Big Bass and Beavers

Caught this big old girl where a two foot wide trickle of water poured over a tiny beaver dam into a gravel pit. It seems like every time I find somewhere water is entering or exiting a gravel pit I do good. I've finally gotten to the point thats the first thing I look for at every pit I go to. I caught her slow rolling a white spinnerbait with a colorado blade. Sometimes in the really clear water of these pits you can do well by going big. Ill throw either a finese lure like a grub or a big flashy spinnerbait or plug.

A douple dip of paying dues...

AT first light my brother let me out about five miles from the truck. In between was all lovely woods, hopefully full of ginseng. Five hours later I staggered out of the woods with five paltry ginseng plants. This woods had taken the full brunt of the drought. All the plants Id found were just about gone and dried up. Two I found only because there was red berries on a bare stalk. No leaves at all. deciding to try and salvage the day I decided to go fishing at the site of the old kings dam. On the way down the bike trail I saw several deer and two wild turkeys. So I'm thinking hey thats a good start, its going to be a great evening. I get down to the river and wade in. Right away I catch a smallie and as I'm unhooking it I hear a deer blow behind me. I turn and see two deer bounding away from the rivers edge. Yep it's going to be a great evening... way away in the distance I can hear a storm. I'm thinking that sounds like its going around, should be just close enough to cool things down nicely. Just then the wind began to blow a bit as I made a few more casts. About that time lightning struck so close I just about jumped out of my skin. Two minutes later all the leaves were just about ripped from the trees as the wind hit hard. With the wind came more lightning. And rain. Buckets of rain. big buckets of rain. I backed up against a pile of rubble from the old dam to hunker down and wait things out. OK this will really turn the fish on after all this dry weather. Sure enough as I sat there I swear I saw fish swirling below the riffle between sheets of rain. But more flashes and thunder booming all around. Im ok with fishing in the rain but not lightning... So I sat getting wetter and wetter as it rained harder. Thru the heavy rain I could see the river coming up just a bit and coloring a little. Then poof no more rain. Even the sun began to peak out from behind the clouds. But across the hole I could see huge streaks of muddy orange water as runoff poured into the river. Ok I've got a vibrating crankbait with a rattle this will be ok. But withen minutes the whole river was orange and worse the storm had washed every leaf in the state into my section of river, you couldn't retrieve two feet without fouling on leaves. So driving home soaking wet and defeated I took the senic route home and drove upstream. Halls creek which had been dry yesterday was waist deep and going fast enough to drown in. All the way to Todds Fork the river was a mess. Crossing the bridge in Morrow looking upstream the river was beautifull. I bet the fishing was really something up there tonight...