Fitting end to a great month.

[Reel Geezer]

August has been a very good month on the river. The fine fellowship when hosting Roger and Dave added lots to the pleasure of fishing a fine smallmouth river. I ended the month today by landing this wonderful 21" beauty. He was almost too big for my Meisselbach boat net. When I first saw it in the water I thought it was even bigger than it turned out.

Along the way I boated 32 other fish and finally another very nice 18" fish. At that point I decided it couldn't get any better and I quit. I had only fished 3.5 hours. As you can see from the picture the weather has taken a sudden dip from the 80's and 90's of a few weeks ago. It was 43 degrees this morning.

For the month I boated 416 smallmouth (669 counting Dave's & Roger's), including 2 that were 18"+, 2 at 19+, a 20" and the 21" fish on today's trip. This was in 17 days on the river. In those 17 trips I saw three other boats, all on different days. How could you ask for a better August than this?

[Teal]

In a short two words, Geez, you cannot.

Awesome fishing. Just awesome. And we truly appreciate you sharing your exploits for those of us who are fishing challenged.

-- Dr. Todd

[Brian F.]

Amazing fishing, Geeze.

[Roger Schulz]

Some of you probably have trouble believing the number of fish Phil indicates that he caught in August. In reality, he probably caught even more fish than the number indicates. Keeping track of that many fish is not easy and he is probably missing a few in his count. The fishing I witnessed again this year on the Snake River for smallmouth is truly outstanding. It is the best fishing I have ever had. Also, what makes it even more fun is that Phill is a great host, guide, tackle adviser, biologist, and even a cook. It was a great week with him and Mariyln and Fudge and Dave. Nothing is more fun than fellowship, fishing, and talking fishing tackle.


Roger

[john elder]

So, where is the closest airport? ...great fun, phil...and yes, I'm sure Phil's directions on baits and water to fish had a lot to do with the catching, eh Roger? After all, he has names for every one of those smallies after that many hook-ups!

[RAM]

Geez: If I had known you were going to post the pic of that monster SM I would not have asked Deke to post the one of of my puny little LM. Great fish, and an incredible month of fishing. You are hereby crowned top fisherman of ORCA for 2010!
Cheers! BB

[Steve]

P.S. Kraft lived in Battle Creek.

[RAM]

My record small SM was 4", caught on a bass fly nearly half its length. Don't know how he was planning to manage devouring it.
BB