Tuesday, April 15, 2014

4/11 - 4/12 Smallmouth , Largemouth and a Nice Bonus Fish

 photo P1070903_zps9c7c85b6.jpg
It's happening again , and a little earlier than it did last year as well. These first few weeks of nicer weather have got me thinking that it's time to put away the trout gear for awhile and focus on my new favorite quarry...the smallmouth bass. I know it's still early for this part of the country , as a matter of fact the below freezing temps I encountered when I woke up this morning reminded me of Winter not Spring , but I still can't shake the urge to get out on an Ozarks stream and huck streamers for smallmouth.
This past weekend I had the chance to get out on a couple of beautiful days and fish two different smallie streams , one that I've fished before and one that was totally new to me. Most of the fish I encountered were still playing hard to get but I managed to find a few willing players over the course of the weekend.
I rolled out of KC early Friday morning with the pontoon on the back of the truck , ready to spend a couple of days chasing ole Mr. Smalljaws. Due to some last minute plans that came up for a buddy I was going solo today. The plan was to float about 5 1/2 miles of river , new water to me , and see if I could find a few smallies that had finally shaken their winter inactivity for the urge to chase a big ugly fly.
 photo P1070921_zps57206022.jpg
After working out the shuttle and getting dropped off at the put-in I was on the water fishing by 9:30. This particular stream was a little smaller than what I had experienced while fishing several other Ozarks smallmouth waters in the last year , but it didn't take long to find a good looking section to strip a big streamer through.
 photo P1070907_zpsbac41646.jpg
 photo P1070912_zpsb3bdbd71.jpg
The fly of choice was a double deciever again today and I was able to convince the first fish into eating it on only my third or fourth cast of the day.
 photo P1070909_zps0a6a2203.jpg
I was a little worried about catching a fish so quick , often times for me that seems to be the "kiss of death" and the rest of the day goes downhill from there. After missing another fish out of that same hole I started floating my way downstream , fishing any of the likely looking spots as I went. I wasn't in any hurry seeing as I had the entire day to finish out the fairly short float before I ended my day camping streamside along the river I had plans to fish on Saturday. I caught a decent little largemouth and a couple more smallies before I decided to pull over and break into the cooler for a little lunch.
 photo P1070932_zps8e2965f1.jpg
 photo P1070939_zpsd30416d4.jpg
 photo P1070910_zps08d2b5aa.jpg
After enjoying a nice break and a tasty lunch , a cold-cut sandwich with an even colder PBR , I continued working my way downstream looking for willing players.
 photo P1070914_zps254d60df.jpg
 photo P1070916_zps61092c1f.jpg
It turned out to be a pretty good afternoon all things considered , I emptied the cooler of beer , caught several more decent sized smallmouth and even managed the first sunburn of the year.
 photo P1070923_zpsafa8705b.jpg
 photo P1070941_zpse64ff42e.jpg
 photo P1070927_zpsa6584546.jpg
 photo P1070933_zps201ec6ba.jpg
Seeing as though everyone I had talked to told me it was still a little early for successfully catching smallies on big streamers I was pretty pleased with the days results.
After loading up the pontoon I made my way down to my home for the remainder of the evening , a nice little streamside room with a view.
 photo P1070943_zps191d03ef.jpg
After a dinner of cold fried chicken I spent the rest of the night sitting around a campfire staring up at the stars and listening to the hoot owls carrying on conversations from one side of the river to the other. My favorite way to spend an evening....
 photo P1070950_zpsadbc0af6.jpg
 photo P1070952_zpse31027a2.jpg
The next morning I was up early to tear down camp and meet up with Sean and Raz for another day of floating.
 photo P1070957_zpsc12c5132.jpg
 photo P1070958_zpsbebad909.jpg
We were at the access by 7:30 and after visiting with a few buddies that happened to be in the area as well , were on the water by 8:30. I was pretty excited about the days possibilities considering my success the day before on a nearby body of water.
 photo P1070972_zps22df22e2.jpg
Despite the warm temperatures and abundant sunshine (same M.O. as day 1) the day started off a little slow. We both caught a couple of fish on the first half of the float , including one nice largemouth that just smashed my double deciever , but it wasn't quite as good as what I had been expecting.
 photo P1070937_zps0e02b4a5.jpg
 photo P1070963_zps254d389e.jpg
 photo P1070966_zps8107c3ce.jpg
About midway through the float we came upon a small backwater that was home to several pods of cruising carp and decided to kill a little time trying our luck at tempting one. Sean got a couple of follows and an eat and miss before I finally hooked up with one on a small olive sculpin pattern. I had told Sean that it would be a battle if we actually hooked one and I was right , five minutes into the fight and we were pulling anchor and rowing back upstream chasing the fish and hoping that I didn't run out of backing! After finally getting most of my line back on the reel he finally began to tire and I eased him into a net that was way too small for a fish of his size. I never do hero shots , but I broke my own rule this time simply because I couldn't get a good picture of the fish by myself.
 photo P1070969_zps308638cd.jpg
It took both hands to handle this beast properly. After a quick mugshot he was released gently and swam away no worse for the wear.
 photo P1070970_zpsd477c19a.jpg
After that fish I was ready for a break so I hopped behind the oars , lit up a cigar and watched my buddy fish for awhile. We had some good chases after lunch and caught several more fish but just like last weekend we had some issues with getting the fish to fully commit to eating.
 photo P1070974_zps02febc3a.jpg
 photo P1070924_zps675d05e2.jpg
I liken it to a small child that wants to play with his food because it looks interesting but just won't take that first big bite. We finished out the day around 6:30 , both of us with newly acquired sunburns and smiles on our face. It may still be a little early to really crush it out on the smallmouth streams , but it's definitely not too early to enjoy the hell out of trying!!
 photo P1070976_zps622922ab.jpg
 photo P1070911_zpsf3688395.jpg

27 comments:

  1. What a trip brother! Those are some beautiful smallmouth and that carp is just something else! Great job and glad you landed him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fishing seems to pick up each time I get out , should be getting really good here before too long. We'll have to plan that trip....

      Delete
  2. Indeed! Beautiful fish, beautiful water.... sounds like a great trip, and now YOU are the expert on some new water! Great post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave... I plan to get back down there and do some more "studying" real soon.

      Delete
  3. Thanks for sharing your trip with me and others. I don't get much opportunity to fish for Smallmouth in any moving water so it was a treat to read and see such beautiful fish from your weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment Mel....Some of these Ozark smallmouth streams are definitely beautiful and the fish that reside there are fast becoming one of my favorite quarries as well.

      Delete
  4. How do I hate (envy) thee? Let me count the ways, said the land locked cubicle dweller.
    Dave

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's that time of year Dave...call in sick , tell them your great aunts brother died , do whatever it takes to get out of that cubicle!!

      Delete
  5. That's a lot of nice fish for one trip. Very nicely done. I've seen some of those big Ozark salmonflies too, and I started adding Bitch Creek nymphs to my arsenal... which is supposed to be a salmonfly nymph pattern... and they have been pretty productive. Just thought I'd share that since you posted that pic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jay , it was a pretty good trip all around.
      The stream we floated was just loaded with those salmonflies , when I woke up Saturday morning the outside of my tent was literally covered with them. I didn't even think to try a nymph imitation for the smallies , I always carry a box of Pat's Rubberlegs which is basically the same as a Bitch Creek. Next trip I'll have to give it a try.

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey,

    That's a very nice group of photos and an awesome early season blog post. Like the previous Jay said "Nicely done" indeed. I was living vicariously through reading this.

    I love the Ozarks but can't get there often enough to suit me. (Went for a 3 and a half day trip 3 weeks ago - was cold and rainy most of the time ... but we'll be back! :)

    Thanks again - the other Jay (in Indiana)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comments Jay (from Indiana)...It was still feeling like winter 3 weeks ago but I think most of that weather is behind us now. The streams are starting to come alive right now and the fishing is getting better every time I venture out.
      Appreciate you stopping by....

      Delete
  8. really good looking fish! but that carp! holy carp! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Those were (almost) my exact words when I hooked up with the fish , I might have added a few adjectives that I won't repeat on here.

      Delete
  9. How many pounds of fish do you think you've already held in your hands? Nice start, I'd say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jim...It hasn't been a bad start to the year so far ,as long as this weather holds out it should only get better from here.

      Delete
  10. Outstanding my friend! We have an 18 miler to get on soon.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Been looking forward to it since last September when I did that float the last time. Only thing I might like more is getting a shot at one of those toothy sumbitches!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That was an amazing outing. And I thought my outing went well last Friday. I've used Double Deceivers and not been very productive where I've been fishing but I know of several guys that catch a lot of nice smallies on that fly. What are you using to keep the eyes on? Goo? And are you using sinking tip or full sink? I love those smallmouth bass photos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Appreciate it man....As far as lines , I've been using a full sink 250 grain line for almost all of my smallie fishing. I find it works good on most of the Ozark streams I fish. I use either goop or recently I've tried gorilla gel super glue. So far so good on it as well.

      Delete
  13. I read this three times Jeff and I kept thinking that I had posted a comment. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I love it when there is a surprise thrown in to keep you off balance. What an amazing trip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Howard...It's been a long winter of thinking about trips like this , I'm just glad Spring's finally here!

      Delete
  14. Another amazing HPFF adventure! Hats off to ya on the carp! Amazing fish and always a fan of the pics. Great post and thanks for sharing. Hope to be chasing smallies soon. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks man , much appreciated. It's that time of year around here for sure , can't wait to get back out there.

      Delete
  15. Hell of a Trip buddy! That's one pig carp. Need to put a trip together and hook up some smallies

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks man...I'm checking weather forecasts and water levels this morning at work and hoping to head back South in the morning to give it another shot.
      One of these days it's gonna break loose and get REALLY good!

      Delete