8/23/06 Float and Hog Smallmouth

Jjwilson and I did a float on the North American continent on Sunday from 7am to 130pm. We did about 5-6 miles, Joe is Speedy Gonzales in the yak.

The water was clear and we scattered a lot of holes. It made it very difficult to fish behind someone the entire day. Fishing was slow until after 10am. When I started getting them on tubes, but occasionaly a buzz, and jerk.

Joe caught this monster on a crank at the back of a deep hole. Nice. I must be a big fish reverse black cat for him. He caught another pig last time out on 8/5/06.



I'll vouch for him this fish was a bonified 20"er all stretched out. Something was odd about this whopper, but I couldn't place it. Look at the tail on that thing!

I ended up with 15, Joe just a handful, but he had the hawg. Couple of nice 15"'s all I could manage, on a rough day. I'll get the hawg next time Wilson!

Oh, my car was gone when we got back to the put in. Took us an hour to track it down and get it back. -90$ for me. I'll post the bridge location so it doesn't happen to you. Wonderful feeling really, try it some weekend!

8/19/06 Float- The Buzzman Cometh

Wool (Mike) and I got out for an all day yak on Saturday on a new stretch. The water was clear, with visibility to 6 feet if the sun was shining. This made fishing difficult. Fish were spooking easily.

In the first 10 minutes, I had a fat 16 and 15, from in front of a riffle with some hefty boulders for cover. Both fell to a Wolkabuzz 1/8oz.

A hunchbacked 16"er:


Throughout the day, good fish were holding in choke points where the stream narrowed. Or just off the main current on the deep side of the stream. As the day went on, shade was key. It seemed we had a lot of reaction strikes. I picked up 2 fish and Mike 1 when the lure hit the water. I played around with a jerk bait with visible fish to see they weren't going for easy meals. The tube bite was light all day and pretty non existant. I probably caught as many as I lost on tubes, which was a handful. Nothing big.

Here's a fish just short of 17" that hit a Wolka buzz as soon as it hit the water. This one also had a pronounced hump.



To prevent spooking fish we got out and waded around several riffles and runs. Several fish were caught this way.

Both Mike and I agreed this was the best stretch of stream we had seen in Indiana. There were many rocky riffles to negotiate, with the heat we got pretty sore and exhausted.

Kept up with the buzz when this monster hit! Caught on Wolkabuzz went just shy of 19".




I ended up with 18 bass, 16 smallies and two runt LMB which will be food for the smallies on this stream. I had some size a 18.75, 17",16", 4 15". Mike had 12 including a sweet 16"er, which was the largest fish we had caught on a tube.

Once again Buzzbaits saved the day, last year I would have had half as many with no size. At times last year I struggled when fish weren't taking a tube. Terrific part of growing as a fisherman, gaining confidence in a new bait. Excellent fisherman who are kind with advice for loudmouth newbies deserve some thanks.

Mike and I worked hard to get these numbers, long day on the water with scant provisions + lots of dragging = aches and pain.

All the fish had awesome coloration and were well fed.

Smallmouth Bass Kayak Fishing 8/6/06

On 8/6 I got on some water with Willie (Pat). New section for both of us. Conditions the same as the previous day.

Started out well as I caught a nice 17"er on a Lucky Craft American Shad Crank. Popped it before I started the retrieve, and the fish nailed it almost instantly. What a fight. The smallie jumped full force into my kayak "Wham". Unfortunately, it was foul hooked in the tissue surrounding the right eye. In the course of the fight the trebles had traveled!



Pat and I were both picking up fish on WolkaBuzz and a tube here and there. When wading I heard a yell from upstream. Since I was the camera man, I had to abandon a sweet hole. A run upstream where I saw Pat wading towards what I thought was a snag. It wasn't a snag.



The carp was at least 2 feet long and had peeled drag behind a log where Pat had gone to retrieve it. He thought he had a 7lbs smallie.

The rest of the day we picked up fish here and there on tubes, buzzes, cranks, and spinnerbaits. It turned into a backbreaker, as the last half of the flow was bedrock with shallow water that ment a lot of dragging in the heat.

We were picking up a lot of 12"-14"ers maybe a 15" here or there, but no size besides the carp and 17.

We both were probably in the mid to upper 20's in numbers, but it was unsatisfying after all the work for 1 good fish.

I guess I'm getting spoiled. 8.5 hours and 50+ fish isn't good enough.

8/5/06 Smallmouth Bass Kayak Float

8/5-8/6/06


Got to a flow with Jwilson on 8/5. New stretch for us both, on the water by 7am off by 130pm. Water clarity was 2-3 feet.

Joe hasn't been out much this year and was a little down on his smallie catching confidence. Nonsense! We nailed em.

I got around 28 smallies. Biggest 17" no size after that, maybe a couple of 15 and some 14's. Lots of 11-13"ers. Here's a 17 I caught on Smoke Purple tube. You can see Joe fishing upstream in the pic. He had just got a 15"er in that spot I said to myself I need to cast a tube there, but I had a buzz on. So I passed it up!




Joe caught about the same number as me, we'd both go on runs but it was fairly consistent throughout the day depending on quality of habitat. We used Buzzbaits and tubes, I think I caught 4 on cranks too.

The highlight of the day was the fat 19"er Joe caught on a buzzbait. I have been talking Buzzes up for him, and to his credit, he stuck to it, even when he couldn't get hookups early.



As you can see by the pic, beautiful smallie! I love hearing people's comments when they have a hog on!