we only managed 3 smallmouth a piece and 4 cutthroat and 1 small spawned out steelhead buck. We started out our morning very well fishing tandem rigs Johnny caught back to back smallmouth, the first on a cut down super fluke style bait on a football head and the next eating the suspended bait which was a Fisher Brothers leech. I got thumped on a Berkley Powerbait Power Goby and set the hook only to get the fish halfway to the boat before it came off.
Then it hit, not the fish, but the pouring down rain we bundled up tight and kept fishing, we hit a bunch steep rocky break lines in 35 to 45 feet, with a couple more bites but no hook ups. I was starting to think that I wasn't even get another chance at a fish, then finally we hit the right break and I got bit right away, and heart break halfway up to the boat and the fish came off! I was disheartened at this point but kept fishing, my partner and I know the value in high quality rain gear and we both were still dry and comfortable.
5 minutes go by and bam I hook up again, and again the fish comes unbuttoned. At this point on my tandem rig I had been bit on the bottom confirmed by teeth marks on my gulp goby. So I thought maybe it's not this rods lucky day so I grabbed up my Loomis BCR853 baitcaster core 51 combo and quickly threaded on one of my special dyed brown gulp gobys onto a 1/2 oz. Football head and first cast whamo! My first fish! Next cast I broke off my football head and my hands looking like prunes from the deluge of rain I didn't really want to take the time to retie. I grabbed up my tandem rig and immediately got bit and landed the fish which I immediately knew to be a trout. I brought it up to the boat and it was a skinny 18" cutthroat.
The day was quickly drawing to a close and I wanted to hit a couple more spots. I sat down and retied my BCR853 during a slow down of rain and we were off. I set the boat down and grabbed my BCR 853 1/2 oz. Combo and soon as my goby made it to the bottom in 40 feet bam, fish on and it came to the boat. Johnny quickly got into the action catching his 3rd bass and 2 more trout all on the top bait of his tandem rig, a Sniper Snub. At this point I will catch anything trout, bass, sculpin, sucker, whatever! So I went back to the tandem rig and quickly caught a spawned out buck steelhead, to bad it was only a 2 pounder! Johnny then got my disease and hooked a good fish getting it halfway to the boat and it came off. I then followed it up by doing the same on a 3/4 oz. Football power goby combo! What is going on?
Now it was almost dark 1 last cast on 1 last spot! I fired out my tandem rig with a gulp goby and Yamamoto Shad shape worm I scavenged out of the trolling motor recessed tray, it looked haggard, but I thought oh well! My baits got to the bottom and I drug it about 20 feet bingo fish on, and guess what it ate the faded out haggard Yamamoto Shad Shape worm. This made our 6th bass for the day and it was time to go!
After the day was over I always think back about the day and what could have been done, to make it more successful. How could I have made those fish that were hooked that came off get in the boat? Sometimes lost fish and not getting bit is uncontrollable, but I think tiny tweaks in equipment, location, tackle, and how you fight fish, things you can control, can be changed to up your landing percentages and bites. This day the fish weren't biting really well, maybe a slighter stouter rod on my tandem rig is needed, maybe I should have reeled faster. Maybe I should have hit even more areas and fished faster, it seemed if we did get bit in an area it would happen in less than 5 minutes. I don't really know the correct answers, we as anglers come up with theories, of how why and when. Fishing theory is a while other topic for another day! This is why I love this sport, the challenge to put together enough answers to questions during the day to catch a boatload of fish.
BTW Go Hawks!
Advertising