Smallie Update

[Reel Geezer]

We are really into more strange weather - Fall mornings and Summer evenings. We are having 40 degree swings in temperatures daily. Temps in the high 30s or low 40s in the AM and then up near 80 or more in the PM. Whatever the cause it sure has turned the Smallmouth on.

I have had several days in the past two weeks where I have caught close to 100 fish in a 6 hour trip. Most of these fish are in the 12" area, but there are occasional larger fish. I kept four 12-13" fish for a meal the other day. One of the 13" fish weighed in at 1.5 pounds - now that's a tank. I caught a very nice 18" fish yesterday, and he was very stout also. Here it is.

I have found that the fish in the 15" area seem to fight the hardest and consistently lead me to believe I have a giant hooked.

Bert and I see mule deer along the river almost every trip. They seem to like to wade or swim to the islands like this doe was doing when she passed us about 50 yards upstream.

These two does and a fawn were feeding along the bank of an island as we ran up the river this morning. I ran around another island and got out my camera and then when we drifted back down I took this photo.

The dry hills in the background are the foothills of the Owyhee Mountains, which were misnamed after some Hawaiians that moved into the area. Brian's Hawaii became Idaho's Owyhee in the mid-1800s. Owyhee county is the least populated county in the US, and it is huge - larger than Rhode Island.

[Brian F.]

Nice fish / great scenery as usual, Phil, and thanks for the history lesson! What kind of lures did you use?

Wow, I had a friend that went to school in Idaho and thought that was about the only possible connection. Owyhee - I'll be...had to look up the story behind this and found: IDAHO STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY REFERENCE SERIES

[Teal]

Phil,

I for one truly appreciate these fishing updates, as I don't get to fish nearly as much as I used to. We had a name for 13" smallie that weigh 1.5 pounds--footballs.

I would get out to my cabin an hour after school let out in late May and not return home until the Sunday before school started. First thing we would do was set up a 50 gallon fish tank, and when the Smallies spawned in early June, we'd seine a few (they are jet black as fry making them easy to spot). Then we'd put about 10-12 of them into the tank, along with some other fish (sunfish, bullheads, etc). We'd feed them worms, insects, and especially shiner fry.

It was fascinating to watch the school of smallies form, and then fight for dominance until one fish emerged as the alpha of the school. This would usually happen after one or two of them had cannibalized the "runts"--they could literally eat another fish almost as big as them (the tail would sometimes stick out their mouths for a day or two as they digested it). By Labor Day, the head smallie was sometimes twice as big as the other fish in the school.

I figure this happens in nature, too, and that these fish later become the "football" you caught, and maybe even that 18" monster as well.

The fish you catch are stunning in their beauty and I really appreciate you sharing the photos.

-- Dr. Todd

[orourke]

Ok, Phil takes the nice scenery shots and dear shots. Does that mean Bert takes the pictures of you holding the fish?

Gotta get that dog on Letterman!

[Reel Geezer]

Todd, that's an interesting story. I caught a 12" smallmouth a few days ago that had a tail protruding from its gullet. The fins of this meal were digested enough that I was able to ease it out, and it turned out to be what I believe was a carp about 5" long. I'm also glad you appreciate the beauty of them. Most of these fish look almost black when looking at them from above, and they are just beautiful.

Dave, after two years of posting photos of fish lying on the deck of my boat, I put my half of our stimulus check into a Canon Powershot S51S camera. It has a pivoting LCD screen, which I turn to face forward. I put the camera on a small tripod and am able to see the photo composition before pushing the shutter release with a 10 second self timer going. I measure most of the decent fish I catch, and if I get one worthy of a photo I put it in my live well immediately and get out my camera and equipment. Bert is no help at all - he just yawns through it all.

[Jack Bright]

As usuall a fine travelog of Idaho fishing/scenery, I`m so glad you are
having such great weather allowing the Smallmouth to fatten up for
Winter, ought to be gangbusters next Spring ! Keep `em coming `til
the snow flies, that size you kept DO make good eating IMO.

[Jack Bright]

As usuall a fine travelog of Idaho fishing/scenery, I`m so glad you are
having such great weather allowing the Smallmouth to fatten up for
Winter, ought to be gangbusters next Spring ! Keep `em coming `til
the snow flies, that size you kept DO make good eating IMO.

[Ron Mc]

great photos - is someone going to tell us what Owyhee means, or should we not know?

[Reel Geezer]

Owyhee is just a corruption of the word Hawaii.

Nice fish / great scenery as usual, Phil, and thanks for the history lesson! What kind of lures did you use?

It finally dawned on me that I never did answer your question. I fish almost exclusively with soft plastics of some kind. The 18" fish was caught on a Zoom Fluke, which I fish almost exactly like I used to fish streamer flies for trout and bass - cross stream casts with twitches now and then. The greatest number of fish are caught on a very light drop shot rig with either a tube or finesse plastic worm as the lure. I alternate each trip between spinning and casting drop shot rigs.