Labman
Well-known member
This is the story of 2 old men and the river. It was too windy to fish Chick for Crappie so I met Pete at 10:00 at the Riverpark Ramp. He had picked up some shiners so we were prepared wear out the fish drifting shiners. There was about 35k current running, North wind, and bluebird sky. Water temp in the upper 50's.
Well to make a long story shorter, we never caught a fish on live bait. emoBang
However while I was valiantly drifting my minnow Pete sneaked on a homemade Silver Buddy with Chartuse sides and made a cast. Bam, nice little spot. Second cast Bam, 5# 5 oz. Largemouth. What is going on?? Well I am not too smart, but I knew enough to drop my shiner minnow and get a silver buddy on very quickly. I quickly caught a nice White Bass, and then a small LM. By then we had drifted downstream a ways and decided to run some soft plastics through a deeper hole. Pete had a peck and missed the hookset. I had peck and caught a fair SM. Then Pete caught a nice SM and I got a spot. We both mised a couple more pecks (probably SM). That bite stopped so we moved on to try another couple of spots. Had 3 guys in a bass boat drift by us with about 6 rods out in holders drifting bait for bass. They said it was pretty slow.
We moved downstream to an area the 3 guys had drifted through and started throwing soft plastics again, nothing happening, but on about my 20th cast had a "Peck" and stuck what felt like a pretty good fish. After a couple of headshakes I was pretty sure it was a SM. Finally got it to the boat (not easy in the strong current), and Pete did an admirable job neting a 5# 2oz. SM. Really nice fat fish and almost as big as Pete's LM. That will really get your heart to pumping, and the hook fell out when the fish was in the net. Thank goodness it didn't jump.
We tried a couple more spots drifting minnows and throwing spinnerbaits, and lipless plugs, and soft plastic without another bite. We decided we had all the fun we could stand for one day. Had a great time Pete and thanks for all your help on how to fish for the river SM. All fish released in good shape to fight another day.
Regards, Labman
Well to make a long story shorter, we never caught a fish on live bait. emoBang
However while I was valiantly drifting my minnow Pete sneaked on a homemade Silver Buddy with Chartuse sides and made a cast. Bam, nice little spot. Second cast Bam, 5# 5 oz. Largemouth. What is going on?? Well I am not too smart, but I knew enough to drop my shiner minnow and get a silver buddy on very quickly. I quickly caught a nice White Bass, and then a small LM. By then we had drifted downstream a ways and decided to run some soft plastics through a deeper hole. Pete had a peck and missed the hookset. I had peck and caught a fair SM. Then Pete caught a nice SM and I got a spot. We both mised a couple more pecks (probably SM). That bite stopped so we moved on to try another couple of spots. Had 3 guys in a bass boat drift by us with about 6 rods out in holders drifting bait for bass. They said it was pretty slow.
We moved downstream to an area the 3 guys had drifted through and started throwing soft plastics again, nothing happening, but on about my 20th cast had a "Peck" and stuck what felt like a pretty good fish. After a couple of headshakes I was pretty sure it was a SM. Finally got it to the boat (not easy in the strong current), and Pete did an admirable job neting a 5# 2oz. SM. Really nice fat fish and almost as big as Pete's LM. That will really get your heart to pumping, and the hook fell out when the fish was in the net. Thank goodness it didn't jump.
We tried a couple more spots drifting minnows and throwing spinnerbaits, and lipless plugs, and soft plastic without another bite. We decided we had all the fun we could stand for one day. Had a great time Pete and thanks for all your help on how to fish for the river SM. All fish released in good shape to fight another day.
Regards, Labman
