July 23, 2009

When the Fishing Sucks…

Filed under: Adventures, Reflections — admin @ 9:51 am

When the fishing is tough on a river float trip, it’s easy to find other ways to enjoy the day. A float trip on a river can often stand alone as a worthwhile and fun activity in and of itself, regardless of fish activity.

We took a float trip yesterday on the Mississippi and fish were extremely inactive.

Why? Who knows? There’s always tons of plausible excuses, but it happens frequently in this game.

Instead of brooding during and after the trip, we instead focused on the aspects of the trip that made for a great day. Here are a few of the wonders we experienced yesterday. These are things often encountered, but rarely appreciated, as we fiercely flog away, hungry for the next fish.

Here are a few things that made for an intriguing day on the water:

  • We saw deer and several bald eagles.
  • We witnessed two giant snapping turtles surfacing close enough to the boat to cause excitement from those who had not seen them in their natural habitat. (Road kill is not a natural habitat for an animal).
  • There were about six different colored species of damselflies, flittering about, showing off brilliant iridescent colors.
  • Cedar Waxwings joined us periodically along the way, plucking mayflies and caddis from the blue sky above.
  • My daughter tried and succeeded in fly fishing (as opposed to spin fishing), throwing from the boat and drawing reluctant rises from lethargic (or over-fed) smallmouth. Although she complained about my constant coaching, she was proud to be able to lay a fly out with sufficient skill to draw strikes.
  • My daughter got her first lessons on the oars - handling a drift boat, learning how to position the craft to aid the anglers in executing precision target casting.
  • I had the pleasure of my child’s company without interruption from today’s ubiquitous electronic devices.

When the fishing sucks on a river trip, chances are it will still be a memorable day - better spent here than almost any other place imaginable on the planet.

Get out there and do it.

July 15, 2009

Summer Smallie Take & Fight

Filed under: Adventures — admin @ 2:01 pm

Nice Surface Popper Hit from a Smallmouth Bass.

Watch closely by the log for the dark dimple on the water as Bruce Miller lays a fly on a fish we’d spotted up river. The fish revealed itself after  hitting a bug or minnow on the surface.

We got in position, anchored up, and got ready for the shot. I started the camera and he threw to the spot.

Not a big fish, but a beautiful day in a nice setting.

As you head down river or on the lake, always keep your eyes scanning for water movement or disturbances at or just under the surface. Many times these are very active bass pushing minnows or chasing something. These fish will almost always take a popper or other fly. If you have a movie camera or such a function on your digital camera, set up on the fish and take your own action film!