Fishing trip was way way overdue. Finally having a "free" day, I planned a marathon session. However after leaving my niece's birthday party the night before, I knew something was wrong. Bad stomach cramping. I still packed up everything hoping it would end soon. Finally got the gear loaded, but stomach was still turning. I had not chit in my pants but it was 1 am. I decided it would be wise to turn the alarm clock off and go for a more modest day. Kids woke me up early, I decided I felt fine (and that I could handle a couple of Hardee's biscuits for breakfast), so I quickly bolted before the wife found something for me to do.
So I am about 2 hours behind my original goal, but still have a long day of fishing ahead of me. I finally arrive at the upper end of a local trout tailwater and as I am prepping for my hike above the tailwater, the gentleman parked next to me was asking some basic questions about the area. I decided to be nice and show him a spot or two that was wadable at the current flow. I continue my hike in (with float tube on the back), but rather than going all the way into the gorge,
I drop in just below it, and paddle the float tube and wade up as far as I can. Took me awhile but finally started to get into the groove just as the fog was lifting. Shortly their after I figured what the heck, I need to toss some big wtd topwater. Soon after I started noticing surface activity in the shallows and started catching fish. This little guy throw a wake for about 3 ft before slamming the plug:
Things stayed exciting but I need to keep moving downstream. I ended up fishing way too long but who can resist topwater bite. Here is one of the nicer ones (condensation not fog):
I ended up paddling and wading out about the bottom mile without even casting. At one point, my rod slid in the water while portaging a 2 ft drop. I almost grabbed before taking a rock to the shin and falling face first into the water. 10 minutes of searching and I was returning to the drop point for one more last try to salvage it. And low and behold I feel it brush against my leg in mid chest deep water. A quick dive down and I have her back. Lure attached to eyelet, but line is broken and probably what saved the rod. The line wrapped around a basketball sized boulder and forced the reel/butt down into the substrate and keep the rod tip up which brushed my leg. Shoo, that was close, loosing a custom rod is no fun.
I hustle on to the truck and off to grab a quick bite, as my friend was waiting at the takeout (and no cell coverage in this area). I run to the very bottom end of the tailwater to set up shuttle as I was chowing on my food. I get there and I am "only" an hour late. We set shuttle then it is off to fish a float that neither of us has every fished and has been over 15 years since either had floated.
We got a few holdover trout (which we expected due to good flows this spring and summer). Nick caught a monster perch, well over the minimum TARP size. Nick also got a few smallies (which we were targeting). Here is Nick's largest:
and my only smallie (which about knocked the rod out of my hand, the same rod and lure that I recovered earlier):
Ended up having some trout takes on the same lure closer to the takeout, which surprised us being so far downstream. While the numbers on the float were disappointing, my smallie made it a very worth while float.