Here's what I need right now.
1 - If you're interested in the float
2 - If you have a boat to fish from (kayak or canoe)
3 - If you have room for another in your boat or an extra vessel to share with someone who doesn't have a boat
I decided that I could probably make it through the AM, so I unloaded my gear from my boat, packed the truck and was on my way. We both would have liked to get out earlier before the sun got hot, but Jeff was patiently waiting for me at the ramp when I showed up...and off we went.
that they would be attracted to a location easy on their eyes.Amazingly we were corrected too.
We fished buzzbaits,grubs,flukes,poppers,and Jack's worms catching fish on them all.This area has got some really nice structure,and will definetly be remember for future reference when the river gets back up to where it normally belongs.
I've been telling Randy that I was going to take him to the river fishing for ages, and it was about time I came through on my promise. He's on "vacation" this week, so there was no better time than now to make it happen. I text'd him last night around 7PM and it turns out he was out on the river with Spotthogg, but he was still interested in going out in the AM anyway....at least until I told him that he needed to be at my house by 0400. :D
We got a slightly later start than we had planned...*cough*, but it was about time that someone else was late for once. I don't have a leg to stand on as far as being late, so I just had to roll with the punches. We arrived at the river about 0530 and away we went. We started by trolling a bit, but didn't have any luck so we headed up to another spot to start beating the water to a froth. Within a few minutes Randy had his first river walleye, a nice ~20"er that fought like a rabid dog. Good start for the day for sure.
Well, it got better for Randy but not so much for me. He ended up catching 9 more fish over the next few hours without me even getting as much as a nibble...and believe me he was enjoying every minute of it.
The I decided to switch up again (for like the 4th time) and go to the old reliable jerk bait, and things started to pick up. I landed a few fish, but not nearly enough to catch up to Randy's awesome display.
The highlight of my trip was a 22" Catfish that hammered my jerkbait about 5 feet from the boat and then took off like crazy...that was fun.
We ended up with 20+ fish in the boat in the couple hours we were out, with several 14"-15" fish in there. Not a huge numbers or size day, but a real good day. Can't beat fishing with good people, that is what it is all about. And I still got home to take care of couple things around the house before I had to settle in and do some work. Man, am I tired right now.
Muskalungeeee!
-Mike
I broke down and decided to go fishing this morning.Now it's pretty bad when you don't have the get up and go to fish a river you
have within two good casts distance (seriously that close)from where you live.Anyway...
I bailed over the bank and hit the railroad tracks.I figured I'd go upstream above the old mill and start right below a spot we call "The Fishin Hole".I had a L/C Sammy 65 in ghost minnow,and wound up landing between 15 and 20 Smallies,7 Sunfish,and 1 Redeye.Most fish were dinks from 5-7" and the best a tad bit over 12.Not a bad three hours of peace and quiet,no humans,just birds and a couple deer.
I was looking for a monster I know haunts a certain section,but was unable to even get that one hit that takes your breath it's so awesome.I've had it whack a buzzbait twice and I'd love to be able to just get a tape and photo of it.Definetly a trophy in my opinion.If I ever am able to land it I'll be sure to share that triumph right here.

>Took Kaylie & Jacob out to a local stream to do little wet wading and hopefully for Kaylie to catch her first Smallmouth. It's nice when a plan comes together! After some instruction and practice she was soon casting the small crankbait as well as her little brother. Well enough in fact to target a medium sized rock I told her to cast to. As soon as she did her rod bowed and the fight was on! It's great to watch her face as she realized a fish is actually on her line. After a little drag tightening, a nice smallmouth was landed. After some high-fives, photos, Jacob tried to show Kaylie how to hold and release her fish. Jacob kept telling his big sister how proud he was of her! It was a good day.
OGBUDHA needs to work the city seniors to build a separate parking lot for the bike riders..........
Out to the reever and started pitching plastics. Tubes, 5 inch grubs, and my secret plastic smallie killer were the recipe of the day. Caught 6 smallies over 12 inches. One nice catfish and one walleye. Pulled chocks at 12PM and trailered the boat. Ran the gas out of the engine and headed for the ranch.
Rivers dropping like my 401k account. Time to grab a cold beverage and wait for rain.
I took "Minnow" out for the first time in my jet last Sunday, and boy was it awesome. On the way to the car after church I asked her if she’d like to go to the “Big River”, and she got really excited and said, “Do you think we can catch some walleye?” I knew I better set expectations so I told her that we would try real hard, but I know we’ll catch something.
Before I opened my big mouth, I should have probably checked the weather. As we pulled out of the parking lot it started to look REAL cloudy and even started raining a bit. I started telling her that we may not be able to go, and she replied “But I have a rain jacket and boots Daddy, and I love playing in the rain.” Now how in the world can a Father say no to that? So I gave theDuder a call and he decided to come along. By the time I got everything all settled and all Minnow’s toys/trinkets/books/raingear/snacks/etc in the boat it was almost 4PM. So off we went.
At first I wasn’t sure how she was going to handle the boat and the motor, as she’s not a big fan of loud noises. But she didn’t skip a beat. As we motored up river she wanted to stop and fish right away, but we pushed forward. Once we got up to our spot…it was on and it didn’t take her long to hook up for the first time…..and it was a smallmouth! I decided to try something new this time and I let her use my 4ft Ultralight (trout) rod spooled up with 10/2 powerpro….what a blast to watch her reel those fish in on that thing. But she held on tight and fought them all the way in.
All in all she probably landed 10 fish on her own, and probably a dozen of mine as well. She caught (on her own) 3 real nice catfish, and a bunch of smallmouth. We thought one of them was a walleye for a bit, but we were disappointed when it ended up having whiskers.
While she was taking "breaks" Minnow decided she wanted to be in charge of taking pictures, while she mastered the fishing rod in record time I'm still teaching her how to point the camera AT the subject. Oh well, you can't win them all.
Oh yeah, speaking of winning...I doubt I'll be winning any father of the year awards based on the looks I got from people when I brought minnow into McDonald's at 9PM on Sunday night. I promised her that I would buy her McDonalds and Ice Cream if she listened well on the boat....and Daddy never renigs on a promise. Mommy wasn't too happy about the whole thing....but Minnow was. :D
Another great day on the river, and now Minnow has her first smallmouth.
Muskalungeeeee!
-Mike




