Pigs 6/30/2011

Smallmouth Hungry 6/11 and 6/12

Waded Saturday. Late start. Caught bass on spinnerbait, crankbait, wakes, and buzzbait. Black fry under the bridge I ditched the bike at.




Pulled a lamprey off one fish's head, thought I had severed or crushed its spine, but it swam off. Leech on my shin when I got home. Took about 45 minutes to stop the bleeding (leeches secrete an anti coagulant as well as a local anesthetic.



22 SMB in 4 hours (16.5",16")
Sunday again started late. Brand new water. On the water around 1:30PM. Brought Wendy with. Wakebaits to begin and cranks just to check. Lots of 12-15" smallmouth. Had 22 in the first 2 hours. We waded downstream after finishing the job up. Wendy had an incedent with a softshell turtle on a beach. Staredown. When he swam away, she thought she'd find him.

Walking downstream- the deeper water pools, I pulled a 1/4oz grub with some good results. Pool-riffle after riffle pool. Smallies were fighting like nuts, lost more than a few on jumps.

Black fry were clearly moving around and eating now, maybe 3/5" long and getting thick. Weren't many places I didn't find them on this stream. Wendy was getting tired so we headed back upstream. I ment to cover ground so I threw a WBZ. Nailed a nice greenie then a spawned out 18" off a laydown.

Thin, spawned out Smallie that taped the same as the LMB above.

47 bass 45 SMB 2LMB (2-18", 2-16, 5- 15-15.75") 4 Googs and a chub. All that action in only 5.5 hours

Heartattack and Vine

Legend.



Liar, liar with your pants on fire, white spades hangin' on the telephone wire
Gamblers reevaluate along the dotted line, you'll never recognizeyourself on Heartattack and Vine.
Doctor, lawyer, beggar man, thief, Philly Joe remarkable looks on in disbelief.If you want a taste of madness, you'll have to wait in line, you'll probably
see someone you know on Heartattack and Vine.
Boney's high on china white, Shorty found a punk.
Don't you know there ain't no Devil, there's just God when he's drunk.
Well, this stuff will probably kill you, let's do another line.
What you say you meet me down on Heartattack and Vine?
See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top, with the peddle pushers
sucking on a soda pop. Well, I bet she's still a virgin, but it's only twenty-
five 'til nine. You can see a million of 'em on Heartattack and Vine.
Better off in Iowa against your scrambled eggs, than crawling down Cahuenga
on a broken pair of legs. You'll find your ignorance is blissful, every goddamn
time, you're waitin' for the RTD on Heartattack and Vine

Compilation of Indiana Smallmouth fishing reports 6/4,6/5/2011

6/5/11- Water came up and stained due to last night's tstorms. We hit 2 streams with decent results in each on crankbaits, wakers, tubes, buzzbait. Visibility 12" in the first, 16" in the second, larger stream

The big boy was caught off that white cap area in super quick water. Fought like a devil in that current. Mike didn't make a cast over there, it looked too fast, but I remember a couple years back we hit a bunch of dinks in the current there, so felt it was worth a throw. Like a lottery win to find that fish there!

Happy to report Strike King RC LC 1.5 knockoffs catch fish and good ones for about 3:1 cost ratio!

BT 18 SMB (18.5", 17.75", 17.25", 6-15-15.5", some 14"'s) 3 Googs,  10 lbs snapping turtle, shiner.
MC 9SMB 2-3 15"'s 6+ Googs2011:7


6/4/11- Got on the water about 12:30-1. Targeted near riffles. 15 in the first hour with a nice 19"er while people were kayaking by. Up a half mile then down a half mile. Got 30 and called it quits. The big boy looked cool, but all the fish were crazy head shakers with the sharp trebles today. I dropped him before I could snap his mug.

Lots of fish on nests on the slow sides of wide pools. They were everywhere, but action in the faster stuff and mostly shade worked. Stayed in the water and kept cool. Wasn't too bad except the gnats. Lots of decent 14-15.5" smallies, couple of 16"ers, a 17.75" and the 19". One on a crank, the rest plucked baits on splashdown or slightly subsurface.

Of note, not one apparently pregnant fish or worn fin. I think they dropped the load this week and the males are guarding nests.

3 hours 30 SMB (19" 17.75", 2-16",5 -15") Goog

I had them patterned, but opted to go home and rest up. Been doing too much floating and the current was fast as the 97F heat was wearing.

Recap: These two days were quite enjoyable. Aggressive bass hitting surface/subsurface reaction baits, then the stained water and more of the same plus a crankbait bite. I am really getting the feel for the square billed, wide wobbling crankbait. Smallmouth were rocketing out of the water like crazy.

Dig Yourself Lazrus.

After Work 5/19/11

Cut from work and got on the water by 2:30. Fished some rip rap in current on an outside bend.

Fish were still on the Chartreuse Rick Clunn 1.5 crankbait. Also got a couple shallow on wakecrank. Big girl measured 19.5", then got a double two casts later.

Walked a little ways noticed my RC's bill had broken.

5 outings in a row with a 18"er or better.

Got my first topwater smallie- a 5"er on a 4" sammy 100. Went home early worn out from all the walking recently. did 3.8 miles at lunch, I was burnt so headed home.

12 SMB and a goog in 2.5 hours

21 Gun Smallmouth Salute. 5/15/2011 Wade

Smallie fry- this stream is legendary for slow/low flow. So these fish are ahead of the curve. Much of the wade was a trickle.


Highlights were the laughter. Mike, Nate, and BT banter is not to be missed. Worth being pinched and bumped on a small stream by two other guys with that dialouge.

21 gun salute refers to the rapid plopping off of large crank baits in rapid sucession at a single small target from a bunch of dudes lined up side by side in a small area. It was like watching gun fire impact. VOOM! POP! BOOM! KERSPLASH! KRACK!

Nate's current rod is a rocket launcher. Kind of. Sounds like a rocket launcher, though the results be less impressive. He won 'Tree Boy" gold medal. Couple that baby with a 2:1 gear ratio spinning reel. The reel seemed to bring in about 12" of line per crank. The smallies got bored and just hung out after a while. [romance]All that is ok because his ear to ear smile was eternally stretched for nocturnal carnal reasons[/romance]. Also, I have yet to fish with Nate without Nate swimming. He apparently walked the last two miles with an extra couple gallons of water aboard.

Mike may need to drink less coffee. Just saying. For the first .5 miles he set a blistering pace.

Hey, neat: MC walked on the bank while I walked along it. Spotted a couple old beds. Then a slight undercut in 1.5' of water in the middle of long expanses of bedrock. A 15-16"er and then a larger 18" ish smallmouth shot from under that smallest of undercut and spooked off. Beds, fry, beds, fry, fry, fry. New fry, less than a week hatched.

Hey, neat II: We spotted some fish in a deeper pool inbetween like a mile of bedrock on each side. The fishes seemed to spot us so the other guys moved on. I was still working the RC LC 1.5 in chart. There was a nice fish hanging just off the current. I plopped the RC down, swung it upstream, let it float up and drift downstream, Bass took notice. Then like I've tried to explain before, I cat and moused him into striking. It was awesome to see that nice smallie take notice of the repeated diving, wobbling the drifting up. Then it struck. and I saw it all from less than 25' away.. Very cool. Still can play the movie in my head. The 17"er above.


Hey, Cool: Mike catches a fish on a crank, while he's fighting it I throw in and grab the follower on my crankbait. Nate sees this and throws in and catches a third as we've landed ours. How about some Gold points for all of us? Maybe +5? Yeah or nay?

Hey, Cool II: Nate is given a confluence to fish as he is lagging behind early in fish count (we were calling him sucker due to catching one in the mouth with his crankbait). At the confluence, Nate gets a nice 14"er or so. Mike and I come up to look at him. After a few casts, I get thumped by the largest fish I've caught out of this stream. Small, small pool. The 18" spawned out female above. Complete with black parasites.

We got 57 SMB (18", 2-17", 3-16",several 15") 1LMB, a sucker, chub and a handful of rock bass. Crankbaits and some action with tube baits at the end of the wade. 31-13-13


Smallie fry and abandoned nests everywhere. Flow was low and slow

Everything Grand. Almost. 5/14/2011 Wade

After instructing Cub Scout Troop how not to hook each other, I rolled up on my river at 3:30PM. Bike stashed in the woods a couple miles up.


Water looked good. A stained green, fast. Overcast and promise of rain.

Caught a few and was kind of bored, contemplated heading home. The heavens opened up and poured a quick bone soaker. Mosquitos were as bad as I have seen. Stopped back at the car for change of hat and some spray. Still thinking about leaving when I discovered the pattern of the day. Chartreuse Rick Clunn 1.5 crankbait wobbling along current seams and in the full current in some areas.

Started catching lots of fish. Lots of action. Ended with 30 SMB in 5 hours including (2-18", 4-16", 1-15") 2-Googs. I ripped through river like a high speed chase.

The rain had muddied the hillside I parked on. I couldn't get out and had to call a tow truck. Lesson learned. Leave a tire on road. Lots of thin fish that were in need of a feed. Guess they haven't spawned much. With water finally down have moved up in the riffles for food. Overcast and rainy with above average flow have been killer this Spring. Sorry I left the camera at home, but here is some word flavor on arranging the tow truck:
 

I was standing at the crossroads of this near vacant town near midnight dialing my wife (tow truck), when a black cat rubbed agin my leg and purred.


I stood under the only street light, blackness quickly surrounding the stage. Wondering if I should chance a knock. Mud oozed between my toes, fingers pruned from rain, soaked to the bone. Has the phone stayed dry?

I could see a sawmill where no furniture is made, the door hanging half off. Rusty implements on the floor from an age gone.

The abandoned(?) houses rotting. High grass with paths pushed aside by many small animals. A dim blue light, sheets over glass muffled. Decay. Paint chipping.

Eyes, eyes. Always the eyes and the purring. The trip across the oaken bridge swallowed whole both sound and light alike. Heartbeat, silence, and breath.

The people here wear straw hats. The people here wear straw hats. Hurry Jay, hurry.

Tom Waits destroys piano: Tango

Stumbled across this on youtube. Love it. Dude kicks piano. Sounds like a precusour to Tango 'Til Their Sore"

The Lone Floater 5/7/11

Had the zany idea of hauling my kayak (complete with new fangled Deathlock camcleats) and bike shuttle in the hatchback. It fits . Now to find somewhere that isn't posted or muddy. Dropped the bike in the woods at a confluence launched 5 miles upstream. Everything looked good. Maybe I'd be lucky and get another good spinnerbait bite.

First cast with a 3/8 ths oz spinnerbait slow rolled along slower water side of a straight run nailed a 16"er about 30 yards away. Got in the boat and test out the new cammies. No slipping. Marine grade nylon slides so nice when I pulled the anchor up. More expensive, but the anchors aren't going anywhere. I'll just leave them on all the time. It was great to have a functional rear and front anchor for the yak. Never leave home without. Drift downstream and towards the first eddy below the bridge, the spinnerbait got thumped again.

Here I am anchored in the riffle facing downstream. Just pulled this 17"er from the eddy on the right:

Kind of got slow after that. Nothing doing. I decided to start throwing a tube. Nailing 7 smallmouth and a couple googs under a bridge. Biggest were 15" and 16". First three fish were caught working the current seam upstream anchored in the shallow fast water from behind. Methodically picking apart the holes so that no fish saw me before they saw a bait. Easy bites, just keep the jig bumping the bottom, some pauses, and reeling slack.

Slow again, some dinks here and there. A couple spots that should produce didn't. Then I got in town. The fish in that hole were on fire. Think I got like 11 out of there, largest 16" all on tubes. The tube bite was really picking up. I was in the 20's and they were still hitting spinnerbait as I picked up a couple that way.

At a big bend, a big fish exploded on the spinnerbait and drug me all over the place. She was FAT. Was almost using the SB like a tube when the blades got spinning get it down and a the thump would come.

Another nice 16.5" on the spinnerbait. The Pflueger Supreme's gear box broke on that fish. To crank was like driving with a flat tire. That was bass 29. Got #30 at the confluence and called it a day.

The bike ride was about 5 miles, but went really well.

The googs were going crazy today, I got 14 and a longear that hung on to tube tails back to hand. Some were huge for Indiana creek 10" or so and mega plump.

8.5 hour float- 30 bass 29 SMB and 1 KY (18.5, 17"4-16-16.5, 15") 14 Googs and a sunfish. Missed grand slam by the LMB. 30+ fish on tubes, maybe 8 on spinnerbait, but most of the good ones.