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What a great day! I met up with Michael Jarvis (https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelJarvisFishing), I got to see a family of otters, and as the tile indicates, I caught a giant!!
I got to the river a while before Mike and fished around the ramp area waiting for him to show up. It was actually quite slow for me to start the day. I only picked up one dink on a Ned rig before I saw Mike unloading his kayak. I pedaled over to him and we chatted briefly. The wind was calm but it was overcast and I had figured I could hit some fish up shallow but that was not the case (at least until the end of the day when the wind picked up).
Mike immediately started hammering some bass out deeper so I decided to stop being stubborn about the moving bait bite and head out to join him. I was throwing a 1/2oz wobblehead and Zoom Z-Craw. I love that combination. I was working it along the bottom in about 25' of water when I felt a thunk. I reared back on the rod and 'POP" there goes my line.
I must have had a weak spot in my line because it did not take that much effort to break off. It turns out that this was fortunate because I had to retie and I checked my line carefully in doing so and ended up cutting off about 10' of line. On my second cast after retying I felt another thunk. I reared back on the rod and it was like setting the hook into a giant boulder. My rod flexed almost all the way to the handle.
I knew it was a good fish. I put a ton of pressure on that fish. I did not want to give it any chance to shake off. I was actually able to get it to the surface pretty quickly. It made one jump right at the kayak and then it was in my net. I yelled to Mike, "I got a giant!".
Mike pedaled over as I zeroed out my scale. I clipped the fish on a, boom baby, it settled at 5lb 0oz. I then went to measure it and Mike made me guess its length (I am terrible at that). Based on the weight I guess 22", MIke guesed 21.25" and it turned out to be just shy of 21.25 so it was a 21"er. I was so fired up!!
We kept slowly working our way downstream after that. I picked up a small bass or two and Mike got a 20.5"!! At that point, I told Mike I really wanted to fish upstream. The wind was light and out of the East which is what I am looking for when I head upstream (into the wind). Mike said he wanted to fish downstream so we ended up parting ways. We did talk on the phone a few times during the day but we never met up again on the water.
The first spot I went to I was pretty fired up to fish. I have caught a lot of big fish of that spot in this kind of weather. However, today was not one of those days, so I continued upstream to another spot that I like. I stopped here and there along the way and picked up a few decent bass but nothing over 3lbs.
The next spot I wanted to fish turned out a lot better. I picked up some nice bass around 2 and 3/4lbs and missed a couple that felt pretty good as well. I was trading off between the wobblehead and roboworm on a drop shot. Both were catching fish. That would stop biting one and I would switch to the other and kept the bite going for a while.
Eventually , that bite slowed and i decided to head way upriver to another spot that I really like but rarely get to fish due to the wind. This turned out to be the spot of the day. I pulled up to it and on my first cast with the wobblehead I caught a nice bass. After that I was getting bit on most casts for quite a while. Once again, as soon as I made a couple of casts without a bite on the wobblehead I picked up the dropshot and went to work.
This structure is pretty huge and I spent a long time fishing all over it. My best off that spot was an 18.5" 3lb 0z but I caught a lot of bass over 2lbs off that structure. Eventually, it started getting late in the day. I talked to Mike and he was fishing his way back to the ramp so I figured I would do the same.
By now the wind had shifted to be out of the West and had picked up a little. I decided that meant it was spinnerbait time. So I fished my way back hitting high percentage spots with the spinnerbait. I caught a few, had a lot of missed bites and quite a few bass follow it to the kayak. It seems like it was not quire right but I just kept throwing it anyway.
On the way back I did run into a family of 4 otters. They got on top of rock and were checking me out. I tried to pedal a bit closer to get some better video but they just hopped in an took off on me.
While I mostly threw the spinnerbait on the way back to the ramp, I did stop at a couple of the deep spots I had fished earlier. They were all still holding fish but I just caught a fish or two of each of those spots and continued on.
Eventually I got to a spot I had not fished earlier in the day when I was racing upstream. It is a nice rocky spot on the inside edge of a weedbed. I tossed my spinnerbait into about 2' of water and it was almost immediately smashed. I could tell this was another good bass! I worked that fish to the kayak and scooped it up in my net. It was a beautiful 19.75" 3lb 13oz bass. That was my 32nd and final bass of the day. It was a great fish to end on!
I only made a few more casts after that and then just high-tailed it to the ramp. I just kept think about that beast I caught earlier and I could not get the smile off my face
So I ended the day with 32 bass with the best 5 going 17lb 4oz and 94". Here are pics of the best 3 and my video!
I got to the river a while before Mike and fished around the ramp area waiting for him to show up. It was actually quite slow for me to start the day. I only picked up one dink on a Ned rig before I saw Mike unloading his kayak. I pedaled over to him and we chatted briefly. The wind was calm but it was overcast and I had figured I could hit some fish up shallow but that was not the case (at least until the end of the day when the wind picked up).
Mike immediately started hammering some bass out deeper so I decided to stop being stubborn about the moving bait bite and head out to join him. I was throwing a 1/2oz wobblehead and Zoom Z-Craw. I love that combination. I was working it along the bottom in about 25' of water when I felt a thunk. I reared back on the rod and 'POP" there goes my line.
I must have had a weak spot in my line because it did not take that much effort to break off. It turns out that this was fortunate because I had to retie and I checked my line carefully in doing so and ended up cutting off about 10' of line. On my second cast after retying I felt another thunk. I reared back on the rod and it was like setting the hook into a giant boulder. My rod flexed almost all the way to the handle.
I knew it was a good fish. I put a ton of pressure on that fish. I did not want to give it any chance to shake off. I was actually able to get it to the surface pretty quickly. It made one jump right at the kayak and then it was in my net. I yelled to Mike, "I got a giant!".
Mike pedaled over as I zeroed out my scale. I clipped the fish on a, boom baby, it settled at 5lb 0oz. I then went to measure it and Mike made me guess its length (I am terrible at that). Based on the weight I guess 22", MIke guesed 21.25" and it turned out to be just shy of 21.25 so it was a 21"er. I was so fired up!!
We kept slowly working our way downstream after that. I picked up a small bass or two and Mike got a 20.5"!! At that point, I told Mike I really wanted to fish upstream. The wind was light and out of the East which is what I am looking for when I head upstream (into the wind). Mike said he wanted to fish downstream so we ended up parting ways. We did talk on the phone a few times during the day but we never met up again on the water.
The first spot I went to I was pretty fired up to fish. I have caught a lot of big fish of that spot in this kind of weather. However, today was not one of those days, so I continued upstream to another spot that I like. I stopped here and there along the way and picked up a few decent bass but nothing over 3lbs.
The next spot I wanted to fish turned out a lot better. I picked up some nice bass around 2 and 3/4lbs and missed a couple that felt pretty good as well. I was trading off between the wobblehead and roboworm on a drop shot. Both were catching fish. That would stop biting one and I would switch to the other and kept the bite going for a while.
Eventually , that bite slowed and i decided to head way upriver to another spot that I really like but rarely get to fish due to the wind. This turned out to be the spot of the day. I pulled up to it and on my first cast with the wobblehead I caught a nice bass. After that I was getting bit on most casts for quite a while. Once again, as soon as I made a couple of casts without a bite on the wobblehead I picked up the dropshot and went to work.
This structure is pretty huge and I spent a long time fishing all over it. My best off that spot was an 18.5" 3lb 0z but I caught a lot of bass over 2lbs off that structure. Eventually, it started getting late in the day. I talked to Mike and he was fishing his way back to the ramp so I figured I would do the same.
By now the wind had shifted to be out of the West and had picked up a little. I decided that meant it was spinnerbait time. So I fished my way back hitting high percentage spots with the spinnerbait. I caught a few, had a lot of missed bites and quite a few bass follow it to the kayak. It seems like it was not quire right but I just kept throwing it anyway.
On the way back I did run into a family of 4 otters. They got on top of rock and were checking me out. I tried to pedal a bit closer to get some better video but they just hopped in an took off on me.
While I mostly threw the spinnerbait on the way back to the ramp, I did stop at a couple of the deep spots I had fished earlier. They were all still holding fish but I just caught a fish or two of each of those spots and continued on.
Eventually I got to a spot I had not fished earlier in the day when I was racing upstream. It is a nice rocky spot on the inside edge of a weedbed. I tossed my spinnerbait into about 2' of water and it was almost immediately smashed. I could tell this was another good bass! I worked that fish to the kayak and scooped it up in my net. It was a beautiful 19.75" 3lb 13oz bass. That was my 32nd and final bass of the day. It was a great fish to end on!
I only made a few more casts after that and then just high-tailed it to the ramp. I just kept think about that beast I caught earlier and I could not get the smile off my face
So I ended the day with 32 bass with the best 5 going 17lb 4oz and 94". Here are pics of the best 3 and my video!
