Summer on the River

[Reel Geezer]

It's been a while since I posted anything about the river, but fishing has been excellent. Today I got 52 smallmouth from 11-16". I fished from 6:30 until 12:30, and Fudge and I had a great time. Here are a few photos from the past few months:

I thought I had a state record smallmouth for a few minutes when this 9 pound channel cat hit my tube.


This 18" smallie hit the tube shown in the photo and put up a great fight. Ne submitted when he saw my T shirt.


How about a smallmouth in blackface! This 17" fish had one side of his head jet black, even the eye. The other side was normal bronze color. The fish looks like a spawned out female, and seemed to be in excellent health.


I was fishing a 2-4' riffle this morning, anchored along the edge of the current. I looked down and suddenly realized that the "rocky" bottom wasn't really rock. It was mostly made up of mussel shells. I've seen a lot of fresh mussel shells in the river, but never realized that the river bottom was covered with them. I wonder how old some of those might be?

The woolly dog at my feet just told me that I forgot to post his picture in this report. So, here he is. As you can see he still is guiding me to the good spots

[Teal]

As always Phil, remarkable photos.

Amazing stuff, and I've never seen a bass with a black head like that. Nifty.

-- Dr. Todd

[Brian F.]

Great pictures, Geeze!

[john elder]

Wow, 5!... that means you must not have made more the 10 casts that DIDN'T get a fish, eh Phil?! Can't beat that! ...and Fudge looks above it all posing on the boat. Are those freahwater mussels edible or is the water still a bit too scary for that, even in your neck of the woods?

[Robin Sayler]

awsome pictures. I love the fish and more so I love the way fudge looks. Heather and I are picking our Boykin up July 31. I hope ours looks as good as fudge does...feel free to tell him that. So how much do you charge for a day of guiding?

[Reel Geezer]

that means you must not have made more the 10 casts that DIDN'T get a fish, eh Phil?! Can't beat that!

I hooked a fish while drifting this riffle. After landing the fish I got the boat in position and anchored on the edge of the riffle (over the mussels), and I'd guess that a fish hit my worm on every cast for the next 20 casts. If one got off, another hit before I could get the bait back to the boat. And the count is kept on a golf stroke counter, so it is pretty accurate. I imagine those mussels would be OK to eat. The river does have some phosphates and other fertilizers in it from run off from farm fields, but is pretty clean. The fish are very healthy.

Heather and I are picking our Boykin up July 31. I hope ours looks as good as fudge does...feel free to tell him that. So how much do you charge for a day of guiding?

Fudge is getting pretty swelled headed reading his fan mail. And if you ever take a trip west, just stop by with your Boykin and vist. Fudge would love it, and we'll take a trip on the river with no fee.

[RAM]

Yo Geezer! Amazing! 51 SM in one trip all in the same spot. I have fished SM all my life. My best year (I went a lot then) was (this is true) 51 SM in one SEASON. My only claim to fame on that is that they were all landed using a barbless bug and I caught at least one each trip.
If we had a stream like yours here the fishermen would be shoulder to shoulder or boats would require traffic control-seriously. No one (NO one) catches 51 SM a day here. Pros or clutzes like me. And this is the native home of SM.
An interesting comparison: Just yesterday a friend and I were discussing the fact that a lost SM in a hole in one our creeks means a writeoff for that hole. Might as well move upstream. If you hook one, no others will consider striking there the rest of the day. Now, the creeks here are small, and water is gin clear (but so is yours apparently) but our native SM are about the wariest fish out there-period. Trout are dumb. You can fish over a pod of them all day and they keep hitting a fly.
I am guessing that your SM, although not a sub-species, are at least more genetically altered to some degree than natives in native environments. Either that or they are fished over so seldom that there is no impact on their psyche!
I would truly love to go with you there sometime!
Bad Bob Again, beautiful fish!

[john elder]

Hey, Phil! Wasn't doubting your veracity, just expressing awe! I think you need to get one of those ticket machines like they have at Baskin-Robbins and put it at the end of your driveway: "Now serving schmoozing fisherman #55"!

[Reel Geezer]

Yo Geezer! Amazing! 51 SM in one trip all in the same spot.

Yo Bob. The counter said 52 - don't cheat me out of that last fish. And I didn't mean to imply that all 52 came from that one riffle. I would guess it was more like 25 out of that spot. After fishing the spot for a while I looked at the counter and it said 40. I decided to stay until I had 50. It probably took about 15 more casts, and I reached 50. Then I picked up two more at the head of the next pool and decided it was time to quit.

Roger Schulz enjoyed the same type fishing when he came out here last year. We were about 1/4 mile above this riffle at the time. I think we had 90 something that day between both of us.

Our smallmouth are extremely aggressive. At this time of year there are often several fish following a hooked fish trying to take the bait away from it. They always seems to look bigger than the one you've got on your line.

I'll have Roger and Dave Erickson out here next month, so I'm hoping the fishing holds like it is now.

[Roger Schulz]

Phil:

I think next month a record may be set on the number of SM coming out of the Snake in a single week. We may have to invest in another counter if we wear it out. Fudge will really be scratching his head to figure out how his life might change with three people in the boat. I guess we could always toss Dave out because I know Fudge likes to fish with me.

Really looking forward to coming out next month.

Roger