7/25/15 Time Flies When You're Having Fun

After a few more rain events, the White River was on it's way back down again. Hope turned to optimism and as we approached the weekend, the forecast called for nice weather and the USGS gauge was looking really good. Saturday came and we were on the road by 06:30 to head south. This was Larry's first river float in a kayak. For the most part, he did well keeping himself upright and out of trouble. Although at one point he did run a riffle backwards on accident. I had a lot of success two weeks ago throwing a nose-hooked fluke on a spinning rod so over the two weeks in between trips I tied several big streamers similar in size to the flukes. My favorite was a clouser minnow I tied on a size 2 hook, with large dumbell eyes, 3 colors of craft fur, and some flashabou. I also brought a spinning rod in case the fish were not into the streamers. This proved to be pointless as the fish were eager to take my streamer all day. The technique for fishing streamers like this is pretty simple. Cast out and retrieve with a strip-pause technique. The fish usually seem to strike on the pause. I usually try to mix it up from cast to cast until you figure out if the fish are liking a fast or slow retrieve. This style of fishing is so much fun because you get to see almost all of the strikes. Over the course of the day I caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 fish, 6 of which were between 14 and 16 inches. No monsters but plenty of nice fish to keep my rod bent all day. I continue to be extremely impressed with how these fish use the current to their advantage. At times it was hard to move them with the 6-weight! There are few things better than a visual strike, a couple acrobatic jumps, and some bulldogging runs. I can tell my fly casting has improved greatly over the last several years. Two years ago I would have a hard time even catching a couple fish during a day with the fly rod! At one point during the day I hooked a decent fish. As I was bringing it to the boat I could see two other bass chasing it. When I got the fish to the boat, it jumped and spit the hook into the air. The fly landed back in the water and one of the other fish darted up and grabbed it! Pretty ridiculous and I love seeing Smallmouth doing crazy stuff like this! Larry got to experience first hand how difficult it can be to navigate a river, manage your fly line, and try to catch fish all at the same time. He caught a couple decent fish and I hope he wasn't too discouraged by the day. Kayak fishing can certainly be challenging and quite a learning experience. One of the few times during the day that I picked up the spinning rod, I ended up getting my crankbait snagged. I thought "no problem, I'll just paddle over and get it". Boy was I wrong. The crankbait had actually gone underneath a rock ledge and wedged itself at least 5 inches underneath it. No amount of pulling from the kayak was ever going to get it free. I thought about breaking it off but I decided that the water didn't look too deep so I was going to get out and see if I could get it out. The water was almost up to my waist. I had to bend over with my face literally less than an inch from the surface of the water to be able to get anywehere near my lure. I had to reach underneath the rock ledge and pop it free. Somehow I was able to manage to free it. I almost can't believe that I got it back at all. All in all, I spent close to 10 hours on the water. The weather, water, and fish were all very cooperative. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Once we got off the water I stopped for dinner at Cammack Station just north of Yorktown. While eating my burger, I read yet another newspaper article about the proposed dam and reservoir in Anderson. The lake would extend 7 miles upstream from Anderson and flood some beautiful portions of the river that I've fished the last several years. If you love fishing, kayaking, and free-flowing rivers please see my post about the dam, sign the petition, and contact governement representatives in Anderson, Chesterfield, Daleville, and Yorktown and tell them that you don't want to see a dam on this section of river. It would be an absolute shame to lose a big part of one of the best Smallmouth rivers in the state!

Don't Dam It!

An absolutely beautiful 7-mile section of arguably one of the best Smallmouth rivers in the State is being threatened by a proposal to build a dam in Anderson. If you like fishing, you like kayaking, or just don't like seeing a beautiful river lost forever at the bottom of a reservoir please follow this link moundslakereservoir.org, sign the petition, and contact state and local government officials to respectfully tell them that you don't want a dam in Anderson. The future of one of central Indiana's best natural resources could use your help!

Video - June Musky Fishing

I finally got my Musky footage edited! It's some pretty amazing footage. This is a compilation of two Musky trips from June. Just getting this edited makes me really wish fall was here so I could get back out after the fish of 1,000 casts! Enjoy!

7/12/15 Monkey Wrench

Well...the weather has once again thrown a monkey wrench in my fishing plans. All week I had been planning on fishing the White River for Smallmouth Bass. I tied some really nice streamers and was dreaming of smallies chasing them down. The river was dropping and was looking to be in great shape by the weekend. Larry and I made firm plans to meet and hit the water early Sunday morning. By the time Saturday evening rolled around, it was obvious that our plans were in jeopardy. A massive storm front was rolling through Illinois and into Indiana...again. I contacted Larry and told him that we would have to check the gauges in the morning before making the final call to go to the river or not. Listening to the rain on the roof while I was in bed was giving me serious doubts for the following day. I woke the following morning to check the gauges and wouldn't you know it, the White was on the up and up with no signs of slowing down. I called Larry and after a bit of lollygagging we decided to head up North and fish a lake for Largemouth. Yes, you read that right: Largemouth. Those of you that know me are aware that Largemouth Bass are pretty close to the bottom of my list of things to fish for. After a bit of heel dragging, I went to pick up Larry and his kayak and head for a small, natural lake up North. Upon arriving at the lake we discovered that the water was slightly off color and the wind was much stronger than anticipated. We decided to make a go of it and got to fishing. I was having very little luck on a streamer with only two small fish to show for an hours worth of effort. I met back up with Larry to check in and see if he was onto anything. He had been having some luck throwing a popper to shoreline weeds. After hearing this, I made the switch and within 5 minutes I caught 2 pretty decent fish. I'm not much of a Largemouth fan but I have to admit watching them come up and whack a surface lure is still a ton of fun! We both had moderate success the rest of the day with several more fish each. I'd guess we both caught in the neighborhood of 10 fish or so. All in all not a terrible day but certainly not what I had in mind all week. Once again we made the best of a bad weather situation. I'm still praying for better weather the second half of summer. Maybe someday it'll come true.

7/5/15 River Fishing. Finally!!!!

Wouldnt you know it, the stars finally aligned. The rain stopped long enough to let the rivers finally come down. I made plans with fellow WCO kayak fishing team member Kyle Polk to fish a stretch of the White River. After an eventful drive down I-69 (crazy Holiday traffic), I met up with Kyle to float a section that I had not visited in 8 years. While setting up our shuttle Kyle noticed that he had forgotten a somewhat critical piece of kayaking gear: his paddle. Much to his credit, he made the best of the situation and successfully navigated the river with a length of PVC pipe, using it both as a paddle and push pole. I'd like to give him some major props as I don't know that I would have even attempted it. The section of river we fished is amazing! The bottom is nice and hard featuring sand, gravel, and rock. Rock ledges and occasional boulders are also thrown in for good measure. The current was relatively fast and there were many small riffles and quick moving sections. The banks are mostly wooded with an ocassional house or bridge.  The fishing was outstanding! I didn't bother counting but I'd say that we both caught over 20 smallies each. Most were in the 8-12 inch range, but we each got a few better ones. I got one that was 15 1/2" and one that went 17". Kyle got several pushing the 14" mark. I caught the majority of my bass on a white, nose hooked Zoom Fluke. My two biggest fish came on a small crayfish pattern Bomber crankbait. Honestly, I feel like you could have thrown just about anything and got them to bite. At one point I hooked a decent fish. As I was fighting it to the boat, another fish came up and the stole the Fluke off of my line! It was a wonderful day and Kyle and I had an absolute blast! I can't wait to get back out and do it again.