optaylor823
02-18-2011, 07:35 PM
I had my first trip of the year and it was a good one for me. I got the kids on the bus this morning, so did not leave the house till 8 am and was on the water around 9. I started the motor to make sure it was ok and then shut it off and started to float. I caught a spotted bass in the first 100 yards on a jerk bait, but not much else in that stretch. Move to another area and started fishing a spinner bait in chartreuse color and caught a few more spots. I found some stained water and fished it with the spinner bait and picked up my first decent fish of the day and it was a largemouth, that hit the spinner bait, but I missed the hook up. I had to make another cast at him and caught him on the outside of the mouth. Moved to another spot and tried a few different baits, but no luck. I floated on down and changed to a craw colored crank with rattles and picked up my first smallmouth. I caught 4 fish in just a few cast of each other. 2 of them spots and 2 smallmouths. After fishing down that stretch for a little while I motored back toward the boat ramp and stopped at one more spot. I fished the craw crank and was able to pick up one more smallmouth. Then heade back home to get kids off bus. I managed 10 fish, 4 smallmouths, 1 largemouth and 5 spots in a trip that started at 9 and ended at 1. The water temp was around the 46 degree mark, but in the stained water it did climb to a little over 48. I consider the river at a water stage that I love. It is high enough to run and not have to worry about missing your marks going across a shoal, but is plenty clear, maybe could see down about 4 or 5 feet.
Yea I am running the river with a jet.
I just realized that I may have left off some useful information. The fish seem to be where there was little to no current along rocky banks that had deep water close by. I guess by this I mean that my boat would be sitting in water 5 feet or more and throwing toward the bank. The smallies came in areas were the boat was sitting in 8-10 feet.
Let me know if there is anything else I should add.
Yea I am running the river with a jet.
I just realized that I may have left off some useful information. The fish seem to be where there was little to no current along rocky banks that had deep water close by. I guess by this I mean that my boat would be sitting in water 5 feet or more and throwing toward the bank. The smallies came in areas were the boat was sitting in 8-10 feet.
Let me know if there is anything else I should add.