I replied that I had been catching some very nice fish, but none over 18”, which is my definition of a picture fish. He said to post some pictures anyway – he needed a fish fix.
The morning was spent cutting firewood, but then the temperatures started to climb even though the day was cloudy. I ate a quick snack and Fudge and I headed to the river. The water temperature was 43, and the river was very calm and weed free. I eased the boat about 50 feet upstream from the launch ramp and pitched out the small worm on my drop shot rig. It sank into the 10-20 depths and I slowly twitched it along the bottom. Within a minute I felt some weight on the line. There’s no strike or jerk at this time of year, just a slight change of feel when you move the lure. I raised the rod and felt the surge of a hefty fish. Here’s was Roger’s picture fish. When I landed the fish I found it to be 17”, so decided to take a photo and make Roger happy. Here’s that fish.
I landed two more slightly smaller fish in that hole and then moved across the river to another deep, rocky spot. After a few casts I got the same heavy feel to my line and again found a fish on the end. This one stripped line and fought very hard. When I finally got it to the surface I decided I needed the net. I unhooked the fish and laid it on my measuring strip and found this one was a dandy 20” smallmouth.
I caught one more fish in the same area, drifted down with the current for another half hour and found I was getting cold. A storm was blowing in and Fudge said it was time to head for home. It was a good day – 5 fish landed in 2 hours: 2 15 inch, 1 16”, 1 17” and a 20 incher, which is a picture fish anytime.
