DHaun
Well-known member
Beetlespin and I talked about getting on the water via PM last week before he and churly won the CFF night tournament. Our schedules aligned and we were able to meet at the RiverPark ramp last night. I'm not a big bass angler these days but I'm always thrilled to learn new productive methods for river smallmouth.
We launched about 5pm in his new Ranger/Etec (which deserves a thread of it's own but that's another post) and started to target cover and river ledges...current was just about right and I think water temp was around 87. I had a crankbait, a grub, and a spoon-jig tied on and he was armed with his own custom crawfish jigs and some p-line fluorocarbon. At the first channel ledge he handed me a Curado to try, with some flouror and a jig to drag along bottom and it was not long until we had our first short bass in the boat. I have never fished with fluorocarbon on a baitcaster and was impressed with the sensitivity and although beetle warned me of an increased likelihood of backlash I was glad to be casting it with ease.
As we worked further downstream we fished a bit more in river structure forming eddys in about 15-20ft. I couldn't stand it anymore so I decided to jig a 1 oz Cordell spoon. On the third cast I nailed a nice smallmouth about 3 lbs (we estimate) and slung him into the boat only to have him shake off over the hull and bounce off the windshield like a backboard back into the river...I missed the pic opportunity, but Beetlespin was sympathetic and said I could count him anyway...
As we continued to fish eddys and other spots downstream, BeetleSpin's Jig Clinic 101 was in session and he took me to school hauling in some great fish calling out good areas to pitch our jigs. He nailed a 3lb largemouth, a 3lb smallmouth, several nice spots, then I finally tagged a decent 2lb spot off a rock point and other small bass. We ended the evening with Beetle carefully bringing an acrobatic 4lb smallmouth to the boat near a downtown bridge. The total was 3 smallmouths ranging from 3-4 pounds (one quick released), 1 Largemouth at 3 pounds, a 2lb spot, and numerous other fish...I may have forgotten another keeper as I was not keeping track that well...and I can't remember the total weight that BeetleSpin said we would have accumulated if we were in a tournament so I hope he can provide that detail. All fish were safely released.
It was a great learning experience and now that I know more about it I plan on blowing the dust off my shimano flipping rod and tying on a custom made Bettlespin jig to keep on my boat now that I have seen what great fun it can be to jig fish the river. Thanks for being such an entertaining host and showing me the ropes on jig fishing Beetlespin! emoThumbsup
We launched about 5pm in his new Ranger/Etec (which deserves a thread of it's own but that's another post) and started to target cover and river ledges...current was just about right and I think water temp was around 87. I had a crankbait, a grub, and a spoon-jig tied on and he was armed with his own custom crawfish jigs and some p-line fluorocarbon. At the first channel ledge he handed me a Curado to try, with some flouror and a jig to drag along bottom and it was not long until we had our first short bass in the boat. I have never fished with fluorocarbon on a baitcaster and was impressed with the sensitivity and although beetle warned me of an increased likelihood of backlash I was glad to be casting it with ease.
As we worked further downstream we fished a bit more in river structure forming eddys in about 15-20ft. I couldn't stand it anymore so I decided to jig a 1 oz Cordell spoon. On the third cast I nailed a nice smallmouth about 3 lbs (we estimate) and slung him into the boat only to have him shake off over the hull and bounce off the windshield like a backboard back into the river...I missed the pic opportunity, but Beetlespin was sympathetic and said I could count him anyway...
As we continued to fish eddys and other spots downstream, BeetleSpin's Jig Clinic 101 was in session and he took me to school hauling in some great fish calling out good areas to pitch our jigs. He nailed a 3lb largemouth, a 3lb smallmouth, several nice spots, then I finally tagged a decent 2lb spot off a rock point and other small bass. We ended the evening with Beetle carefully bringing an acrobatic 4lb smallmouth to the boat near a downtown bridge. The total was 3 smallmouths ranging from 3-4 pounds (one quick released), 1 Largemouth at 3 pounds, a 2lb spot, and numerous other fish...I may have forgotten another keeper as I was not keeping track that well...and I can't remember the total weight that BeetleSpin said we would have accumulated if we were in a tournament so I hope he can provide that detail. All fish were safely released.
It was a great learning experience and now that I know more about it I plan on blowing the dust off my shimano flipping rod and tying on a custom made Bettlespin jig to keep on my boat now that I have seen what great fun it can be to jig fish the river. Thanks for being such an entertaining host and showing me the ropes on jig fishing Beetlespin! emoThumbsup
