River Smallies: Heating Up

Tuesday I took a half a vacation day and left work around lunch time. I loaded up the yaks and hit the road. The plan was to hit the lake in search of crappie, so we grabbed some floats and minnows from a local bait store and drove over to the boat ramp. I knew before I left that the wind was bad, but I didn't realize just HOW bad it really was until I saw the water. The wind was blowing 20mph with gusts over 30mph. The lake was throwing 3' waves and every boat that was on the water was parked along the banks near the sheltered coves. I didn't feel like competing with boats or the wind, so I asked everyone (Russ, Amanda, and Jake) what they wanted to do. We had two options, fish a local creek thats loaded with small crappie or hit a section of creek that offered smallmouth and saugeye. It was a quantity (crappie) versus quality (smallmouth) decision......at first nobody seemed to have a preference. After 20 minutes Russ spoke up and said he'd personally rather fish for smallies. That was all I needed to hear.

We unloaded the yaks and got our gear ready. I should mention at this point, I had 2 ultralight combos spooled with 4lb test, so a fish of any size was going to give me a battle. We paddled up to our first spot, a swift section of water near some deeper wood. If offered depth, cover, current, and current breaks which seemed to be a good habitat for post winter smallies.

Water temperatures were between 48 and 50 degrees all day, nearly 10 degrees warmer than my previous smallmouth trip. I started drifting baits through the various sections of the water column. I started in the current and then with each cast I worked my way toward the bank. On the third cast I watched as my float bounced and then slipped under water. I leaned forward and began to reel until I felt tension and then with a sweeping motion I set the hook. The 4lb test began to stretch as the fish made a quick run to the wood. A small burst of drag and a good leap later, I had identified my adversary.....a nice smallmouth bass. I kept tension as he cut in and out of the current, ripping a little drag each time he turned downstream. He made a few more good jumps and then swam within grabbing distance. After a few failed attempts to land him, I finally managed to nestle my thumb into its mouth.

16.25"...my biggest smallie of 2014. It was one of the fattest smallmouth I think i've ever caught too. If a 19" smallmouth had this build it would easily push 5lbs.

Creek fishing in April can be rather unpredictable, as was the case on this trip. We fished until dark, fighting the 20+ mph winds working every spot on the way downstream, but eventually failing to get another bite. I think the next trip we take is going to be a mile or so upstream. I have a feeling that the fish might be moving into those warmer shallow sections in the evenings. One of these days I'll figure these fish out, until then I'll keep having these one fish trips.