On Friday evening 8/14 I fished a local creek with a friend from work. He hadn't been out fishing in years so he was extremely excited to get out on the water. I let him borrow my spare kayak for the trip. He was using spinning gear and threw soft plastics all night and caught a variety of fish including Smallmouth, Rock Bass, and Sunfish. He had an absolute blast and I'm glad that he was finally able to get out and fish with me! I was fly fishing with a big streamer and landed quite a few Smallmouth including several very nice fish. The first picture is of a 17''er that demolished my streamer in a deep run. As I was fighting it, there was a second fish chasing it that was just as big or bigger than it was. It gave me a great fight and several jumps on the 6 weight. The second picture is of a 15 1/2'' fish. I could see it chasing my fly and it didn't take until I let the fly just sink slowly in front of it. It was awesome getting to see the fish react to the fly in the clear water. I threw a spinner bait in known Pike spots and didn't come up with anything.
On Saturday 8/15 I fished a section of the Elkhart River. I have been looking at and scouting this river for a while now and I finally had a chance to get on it and give it a try. On my way to the access site, I noticed a sign that said "road closed 3.8 miles ahead" I was hoping that 3.8 miles was further than the access point. It was not. The bridge over the river was out and the access site was just on the other side of the river. Needless to say I had to find another way around and it delayed me by 15 or 20 minutes. Once on the water, I was very impressed with my chosen stretch of river. The water itself is a clear but tea color similar to rivers I've seen in Michigan or Canada. The river meanders quite a bit and overall is very fast flowing. It has nice riffles and runs, some deep pools, and a multitude of laydowns and other cover. Truth be told, I was fishing for Pike on this trip and spent the vast majority of the time fishing with a spinning rod and a large spinner bait looking for that river monster. However, I immediately started catching Smallies and that seemed to be the overall theme for the day. In a particularly deep and awesome looking pool, I felt a large fish grab my lure and head shake over and over again. I thought for sure I had finally managed to hook up with a large Pike. After some impressive runs and several good shows of strength the fish came into view. It was a HUGE Smallmouth. At 18 1/2 inches long, this was by far my biggest Smallie of the weekend. It's length did not do it's true size justice. This fish was tall, wide, and thick! Truly a trophy river Smallie. I did start to see a few pike and before long I had landed my first hammer handle Pike below a small spillway. After releasing the Pike, I pulled out my fly rod to try for some Smallmouth below the spillway. On a retrieve, I noticed a Pike sitting on the bottom. My fly was less than 10 feet away from it and approaching fast. Before I knew it, the fish lunged forward and grabbed my fly. I hooked the fish perfectly and the battle was on! It was a good fish, I'm estimating around 30 inches and it was an absolute handful on the 6 weight. It ended up running under a log and quickly broke me off. What a disappointment! They always say that you remember the fish you lose better than the ones you caught. I definitely think there is some truth to that. Later on I did end up catching a fat, healthy 24'' Pike. The only downfall to the evening is that the mosquitoes were awful! I reapplied bug spray 3 times and still ended up with a fair amount of bites. All in all though this river is a true Indiana gem. I will be making the trip back before long.
The last trip on Sunday 8/16 was an altogether different story than the other two. I took Randy Bush of Predator Pursuit guide service out after some river Pike. I had high hopes for the day but the fish never did materialize. We spent almost 4 hours pounding the river and never did see a pike. It was a tough day and I'm disappointed that we didn't even see a Pike. I did however catch a decent 15 1/2'' Smallie. It was my only fish for the day. We did get to see a couple of eagles over the river and spend a nice afternoon on the water. Upon returning to get my truck, I realized that my spare key was not working to unlock the doors. I spent the next 10 minutes breaking into my own truck before finally getting it unlocked and driving back to pick up Randy. So I take a Musky guide Pike fishing, don't catch any Pike, and then lock myself out of my own truck. not my most stellar day ever but hey, it was an adventure.
