Saturday Spent Streamside

This past Saturday I met up with a couple of buddies for an early morning wade.  We were done by 12:00 noon.  25 smallies with topwaters doing the majority of the damage.  Here are pictures of our top three fish:

I did catch a few smallies on the long rod.  My “Casper” fly did the trick.  I will try to post a picture of this fly before week’s end.

AS ALWAYS….........................HAIL TO THE SMALLIE

Fishin’ with the Camachos

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of fishing with the Camachos.  Dad (Ben sr.), and sons Tim and Ben Jr. joined me on a five mile float.  Weather was great and the river was in great shape as it was low and fairly clear.  The smallie gods treated us just fine.  Their final total was 45 smallmouths.  No giants, with the biggest smallies running around 13 inches.  Caught them on a number of baits with topwaters and flukes being the most consistent producers.  Here are some pics of our enjoyable day:

Catfish on a crankbait caught by Ben Jr.

Son, Tim with a nice bronzie.

Ben Sr. displaying his nicest smallie of the day.

Just a reminder if anyone reading this was considering booking a trip, my available dates are running out fast.  If you are interested, I do have this Saturday and Sunday open.  Give me a call at 309-399-7055.

AS ALWAYS…....................HAIL TO THE SMALLIE

Hot Weather = Hot Fishing

This past Thursday I was able to “hook up” with my good buddy Gabe.  Gabe is die-hard river rat like myself and just loves to chase the beloved bronzeback.  Gabe and I have done some wading the past few years, but never a float trip.  Thursday all that changed when we jumped into my canoe and floated a small creek.

The creek was clear and incredibly cold!!  Yes, cold.  The water must have a strong spring influence somewhere or maybe some drain tiles running into the creek are pumping in some cold water.  Fishing was outstanding.  35 smallies, one Pike, two bowfin, and one walleye.  What was great was that only a handful of smallies were under twelve inches.  Lots and lots of good sized, healthy stream smallies.  Don’t feel like typing right now, so I will let the pics tell the rest of the story:

By the way, that smallie in the above picture was just a pinch over 18 inches, but check out how stocky/fat this fish is.  Giant smallie for such a small waterway.

While I tried the fly rod throughout the day, the fish just would not cooperate.  In the past I have had great success on this waterway with the long rod.  While Gabe and I tried many, many different lures, the hot bait was my Scout swim jig.  It caught probably 90 percent of the fish.  Just a great day to be on the water.  Thanks Gabe.

AS ALWAYS…...................HAIL TO THE SMALLIE