Spring 2018 — Qfor23

Well, a lot has happened since I wrote my last post. I took the Indiana Bar Exam in February 2018 and was admitted to the bar in May 2018. Obviously, I have been a little busy for the last 6 months, but I managed to carve out a little bit of time to get on the water.

The weather this Spring has been a bit strange. We went from snowing in early April to weather consistent with the middle of the summer by the end of April. The normal spring flooding did not really happen. As a result of the more constant flows, fishing this spring yielded some pretty nice sized Smallmouth. I am confident there was a good hatch this year as well.

Of note, my brother and I both brought our personal best fly rod Smallies to hand this spring. Both measured just a touch over 20" and mine, a local fish, weighed in at close to 5lb. We also had a pretty gruesome trip on the Menominee this Spring, which Josh has already wrote about. We traded in our Drift Boat for an inflatable boat, a Stealthcraft Hooligan XL, just in time to portage it several miles through the Upper Peninsula's wilderness. Honestly, that Menominee trip was BRUTAL! I also got to take my son to the river for the first time, which was pretty awesome.

It has been a pretty memorable Spring. One of the more memorable trips was an impromptu after work trip to one of my favorite spots with a new fishing buddy, Derek Burton. We arrived separately to the river with Derek running about 45 minutes behind. I packed up my stuff and started wading downstream. I landed probably 12-15 fish in the first 30 minutes, most of them on topwater. Things were looking pretty damn good. Fish were chasing shad and eating eagerly on top. Then, I broke my fly rod retrieving a fat little 16" fighter. Fortunately, I had a spare. I really hate walking out of a spot when I know there are big fish ready to eat though.

I linked up with Derek back at the truck, grabbed my spare rod, and headed downstream. We had a little trouble moving fish at first, then we started picking a slower portion of the river apart. We noticed some fish tucked up against the bank and began picking fish up with some regularity. I noticed one fish guarding a nest about 6' to my left. I told Derek to cast his tube there and watched as the Smallmouth nosed up and ate his tube almost right at my feet. Derek, of course, couldn't see that it was guarding its nest! haha. The fish wiggled off about 12' into the retrieve and went right back to guarding his nest. We caught a couple of 16-17" fish and several more in that mid-size range before moving on to the next spot.

We moved downstream to the next decent looking spot and by then, it was getting dark. I was fishing with my spare fly rod with a black Amnesia Bug in Size 4. and Derek was using his spinning gear to cast out a little tube. The next riffle is one of those spots that you look at and know there are big fish in there. Derek was fishing in front and started fishing the opposite side of the river. I slid into the current and began fishing the large eddy. I put my fly up near a rock sticking up in the bottom of the eddy. The fish came out of the water to eat it. Just crushed the fly. He pulled like a horse and took me out into the current. The 14lb leader I had on wasn't going to snap, so I easily brought this 18" with beautiful markings to hand.

Derek ended up catching a really decent fish out of the top of the eddy. Almost in the exact spot where I just caught that 18" I hooked another really decent fish. I ended up brining a spawned out 20" fish to hand. Out of that one spot, we ended up catching three fish over 18"

We ended the night with several fish in the 16-17 inch range and three fish over 18 inches. Each of the larger fish put up a serious fight and put some severe bend in our rods. The weather was perfect and the fish were eager once we established a pattern. It was, perhaps, the most memorable trip from this Spring for me. I didn't catch my biggest fish and the numbers weren't crazy, but it just sticks in my mind as a peaceful and successful trip. Sometimes, a trip like this just sticks in your memory. When I think about all the trips that have added up to make me love Smallmouth fishing so much, this one, and ones like it, certainly will tip the scales.