11/22 Fished Friday too. Air temp dropped from 42 Friday to 32 Saturday to 25 Sunday. I said what the hell and fished them all. 
Fished large water in the kayak on Friday. First time I've been out there in the cold, so it would be a challenge. I tried all the places where bass were concentrated on our wades, or the next logical place for the bass to travel. Caught one bass early on a lucky strike jerkbait that imitates the famous Megabass one-ten. The last rain had removed leaves from the water column. Eddies still had them, but you could work a suspending jerkbait. Probably too much water to fish by myself, so I relied on the jerk. No additional jerkbait success. I did nail another channel catfish in one large pool, about 16-17" long on float and fly. So just when I'm thinking the fish aren't biting, I come upon a shallow cleft nestled in between two riffles. The correct deflection for high current was there. Just not the depth I'd have liked. Mike and I had spooked fish in this spot a month ago on a wade.
First cast- bass. This continued for 30 minutes and 9 smallies, 4 of which were in the 14.5-15" range and fought like crazy.
Pushed on quickly to my large pool target, where I'd caught a couple of high 18-19.5" bass in the early Fall late Summer period. I found one fish. A nice 17.5", who hit a hair jig.
Headed back in, the current in the side eddies was all right for paddling so I made better time than I thought. Really just that one spot I nailed them. So much potential. Really didn't feel like I learned anything fresh on WInter hole location. Water faster, but still to low to pack them tight.
11SMB 17.5", 3-15" 1 Channel Catfish, 1 Northern Hogsucker
11/24 Sunday- Cold (25F) and sunny. Brown tannic meant it was hard to see much down in the water until I was on top of it in the kayak. Again tried a couple large pools. 3 fish quick at the first spot, all 14-15.5". Floated down to a spot where a pig eyeballed my kayak anchor then swam away. Pulled another 14" in an eddy next to an ice flow. A 12" at the original spot on the way back up. Bummer. Only wanted a drift, fights less energetic, in contrast with the previous two days. Still I could have done better without the kayak and walked the high bank for visual clues.
As it got colder, I could only get bit on hair jig by dead drifting it under the float. Total change from Friday, where they were after that jig on the bottom, or Saturday, where they wanted the jig hopped or drifted.
5 SMB in 5 hours.
Fished large water in the kayak on Friday. First time I've been out there in the cold, so it would be a challenge. I tried all the places where bass were concentrated on our wades, or the next logical place for the bass to travel. Caught one bass early on a lucky strike jerkbait that imitates the famous Megabass one-ten. The last rain had removed leaves from the water column. Eddies still had them, but you could work a suspending jerkbait. Probably too much water to fish by myself, so I relied on the jerk. No additional jerkbait success. I did nail another channel catfish in one large pool, about 16-17" long on float and fly. So just when I'm thinking the fish aren't biting, I come upon a shallow cleft nestled in between two riffles. The correct deflection for high current was there. Just not the depth I'd have liked. Mike and I had spooked fish in this spot a month ago on a wade.
First cast- bass. This continued for 30 minutes and 9 smallies, 4 of which were in the 14.5-15" range and fought like crazy.
Pushed on quickly to my large pool target, where I'd caught a couple of high 18-19.5" bass in the early Fall late Summer period. I found one fish. A nice 17.5", who hit a hair jig.
Headed back in, the current in the side eddies was all right for paddling so I made better time than I thought. Really just that one spot I nailed them. So much potential. Really didn't feel like I learned anything fresh on WInter hole location. Water faster, but still to low to pack them tight.
11SMB 17.5", 3-15" 1 Channel Catfish, 1 Northern Hogsucker
11/24 Sunday- Cold (25F) and sunny. Brown tannic meant it was hard to see much down in the water until I was on top of it in the kayak. Again tried a couple large pools. 3 fish quick at the first spot, all 14-15.5". Floated down to a spot where a pig eyeballed my kayak anchor then swam away. Pulled another 14" in an eddy next to an ice flow. A 12" at the original spot on the way back up. Bummer. Only wanted a drift, fights less energetic, in contrast with the previous two days. Still I could have done better without the kayak and walked the high bank for visual clues.
As it got colder, I could only get bit on hair jig by dead drifting it under the float. Total change from Friday, where they were after that jig on the bottom, or Saturday, where they wanted the jig hopped or drifted.
5 SMB in 5 hours.
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