Monday morning found us on the river bright and early...
This spot was a terrific producer in 2011, but the change in water levels moved some of the fish out. Last year we bagged 24 fish in this one riffle alone.
Before I even had my rods rigged and laid out, Roger started off with a dandy fighting smallmouth on a soft plastic Fluke bait.
Here's a better look at that fish, a very healthy Snake River 14" fish. We ended up catching 54 fish on Monday, with the best ones around 17".
This is the view you get of the river from the top of the rim, after you climb the 12% grade to get out of the canyon.
Due to jet lag and two hours time change a nap was needed in the afternoon.
We alternated between Monday's spot and a four mile stretch of river just downstream on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday we had our shore lunch for dinner on our deck. Bass filets and corn on the cob. Yum.
Although we never did top our 17" fish on Monday, we did land many beautiful smallmouth in the 13-16" range. Here Roger shows off a typical 16" Snake River Smallmouth.
The fishing was hot all week, as was the weather. We were out at dawn and quit a bit after noon each day. Our tally for the week was:
Monday = 54 smallmouth
Tuesday = 74 "
Wednesday = 100 "
Thursday = 82 "
Friday = 32 " . This day we had a bit of different fishing. The upstream dam had released a lot of water overnight and the river was choked with floating weeds. We caught most of our fish in deeper water using a drop shot rig.
As we were getting ready to quit on Wednesday, I looked at the counter and saw we had 88 for the day. We decided to try for the century mark. It took another hour for those 12 fish. On the way back to the ramp we hit a floating clump of weeds and clogged the jet intake. We went from 25 MPH to 0 in an instant. Fudge, who loves to ride on the bow vaulted into the air and hit the water with a huge cannonball. The splash soaked both Roger and me. When we got the boat shut down, Fudge was 25 yards upstream dog paddling for all he was worth. He climbed aboard and jumped right back onto his spot on the bow. However, that night he did seem a little exhausted.
The total for the five days of fishing came out to 342 smallmouth. We had no channel cats this year, and couldn't find any sturgeon swimming in shallow water. In all, it was a fun week with lots of good eats and fishing and collecting talk. Roger is a fine guest.
