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It's true! Get your minds out of the gutter. I had a long, productive day and the story will take a while.
I got on the water before 6AM. The crew team was just getting their boats in the water. I ran up to my normal mid-river starting area and it was frustrating. Nothing would bite. Hookup and I did a quick evening float here last night and only caught 2 fish. George was nice enough to lend me his anchor, so I ran up to my high water spot (even though the river is coming down to normal). I started a little above where I fished Tuesday and I was quickly rewarded with an 18" smallie that was in spawn mode. I caught it on the jig from a Riversmallies trade.
I then missed 3 fish before I caught my next one, which chomped a Keitech Sungill swimbait.
I then kept alternating between a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper in Sungill, the Keitech in Sungill and Green Pumpkin Shad, a tube and the jig. Lots of chunky fish, all pre-spawn.
I was moving up and down the few current break spots, fishing until they stopped biting. I lost at least 6 fish and 2 broke me off. I kept saying, beat my 8 from Tuesday, then catch 10, then a bakers dozen then I got to 14. After lunch I hooked number 15 and it was big. I finally netted it and saw this.
It was one of the fish that broke me off and it still had George's SWM jig in the top of the mouth next to where I hooked it! It was number 15 and it was 20 inches!!
But did I stop? NO!
I did not sleep well last night and I was getting tired. Just to change the pace, I threw out a crankbait off the other side of the boat and
I ended up with 19 in the boat and I thanked my friend who was looking over me.
Oh yeah, I also snagged some line with my crankbait and it had a ned rig on it. It turned out it was the one I broke off on Tuesday. Really cool day. I was exhausted and gave up at 19. I got to the ramp at 3:30pm
Last edited by drxfish (May-04-18 4:23PM)
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Most good fishermen would have caught 20 for the 20/20 day!
Great work John!
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sweet trip and report!
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The morning was nice and the cloud cover made a difference. The overall fish activity picked up significantly today in the afternoon. I was supposed to do a half day and quit by noon, but could not stop when they were biting. The sun drove the fish to scatter away from the shoreline I think. It was getting hot, blah blah blah. I also saw 3 Turkeys fly across the river and saw a deer and Hawk on the island I was fishing. So many bald eagles up there now!
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Wow...what a day. I think you matched my smallies catch for all of 2017. Great job.
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Awesome day with some beautiful smallies! Congrats!
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That's quite the day - nice work and great pics!
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In surfer lingo we call that a cinderella session
Good job John
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Nice trip, I really need to get out on the river. Too bad I have to work next weekend.
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