6/1/08

Back to the big W. 4:30 am alarm. Wait for the Joe to brew, hitch the boat. Made the river by 6 am. The water was up. I'm used to fishing this river at 2000-4000 cfs and the rumor mill has it up at 8800. I strung up the 7 and 8 one with a lead eyed fly and the other with a EP minnow (a dream to cast by the way). All of my usual spots were WAY under water and I had to do a little scouting before I saw the birds, which led me to the bait which led me to a pile of SMB's. Luckily they were all in 2 feet of water and the EP minnow was the ticket. I lost count...actually that's not true. I don't count, but I fished this run for an hour to an hour and a half and I had no more than 10 casts that didn't result in a smallie sharkin' my fly as it winked seductively just below the surface. Solid fishing. I don't quite understand smallmouth on this river, but I will say: if you find one, don't move. They really seem to school up in this section. Why the fish were holding where they were is a mystery to me...it was a nice spot, but there was saucier water below me and I only manged one white bass from there. By 11:30 I was satiated and trailered Jon Johnson back to his stall.