Thursday night, 12:00 AM, my friend Knox and I decided to swap from trying for hybrids on the lake (due to a dead bite) to chasing browns. The clear, starry sky with occaisional clouds made for nice conditions on the warm April night. Many large fish were missed, and several were brought to hand. The first trout I've chased in a while. I'd say we landed between 20-30 fish...largest was near 20"...beautiful fish for sure:
Friday, had to deal with plumbers all day…missed a chance at fishing, but made up for it Sat and Sun.
Saturday: A dream I’ve always had: Wiies family outing to our favorite river. We loaded up and drove 3 hours to launch the boat. As Crystal was pulling the trailer, I caught a glimpse of a nice musky cruising nearby..It was going to be a great day. Perfect weather to introduce Breelyn to the water on the Skiff.
After introducing Breelyn to the tight quarters in the boat, I was a bit nervous she wouldn't like being so confined...WRONG! She absolutely loved it. She soon hopped up on the benchseat and grabbed the tiller handle just like she saw her Daddy do it. Poor Jazzi dog couldn't get a break, Breelyn kept chasing her from one end of the boat to the other.
Life jackets on and we made our way out to a nice gravel shoal and island to see if any smallmouth were fiesty yet. The water temps were 52 degrees, too chilly for the shoal fish. We played in the shallows and ate a good lunch in the Perfect spring weather.
Afterwards, I manned the trolling motor and entertained Bree, and let Crystal fish for about an hour, trying for her first musky in a couple years. No fish were spotted. When she handed me the rod to take a break, I rose a nice fish in about 10 casts...just a whiff at the boat.
We made our way downstream to some promising water, and it was Crystal's turn again. About 20 mins in, she's yelling..a NICE mid 40's fish is closing in on her spinnerbait...She froze!, I hollered to figure 8, the fish swam off, and she got mad for me yelling at her.
10 minutes later, same fish comes up, even hotter than before. Crystal gets him to spin twice, but he veers off, and back to the depths. I could tell by the frisky tail shakes that this was a catchable fish. After another rest, and pass at the fish’s rock ledge…once again, the fish follows again to Crystal’s bait. This time when he cruised off, I flung out a fly by his nose, and he gave an incredible chase…swirling atleast 8 turns nipping at the tail, about to crush the fly any second. The line gets tight, and I sink in….only to land the fly into a shallow rock ledge. We watched our fish swim away, and couldn’t get another follow. Aaagghhh! Musky fishing at it’s finest. The kind of moment that burns a haunting passion in your blood. What I wouldn’t give to see Crystal land that heafty, gorgeous fish. Now, Crystal’s more than eager to have another go at one of these brutes.
We changed locations, and couldn’t raise another fish as we stayed on the water till dark. Afterwards it was off to our favorite restaurant. We were entertained by good music, and enjoyed a superb meal of Spicy shrimp dip, Elk steak, and French style pork chop with roasted pepper/brie cheese grits and fresh vegetables. Breelyn and Jazzi were tuckered out, and slept like rocks on the drive home. We arrived back at the house at 1:30 AM.
The next day, Sunday, I called up my friend John to see if he wanted to chase smallmouth where I grew up. We hadn’t fished together in over a year. This Spring, the normal fish runs all appear to be a couple weeks behind. This river is no exception. We found a couple nice fish, but not the incredible numbers that I remember as a teenager. Still, wet wading in 70 degree water was a perfect way to spend an 80 degree day.
Happy Spring Everyone.
Travis