Smallmouth on the Rise
7/02/25
A few days ago, when float tubing and fishing the Clarion River, a storm came in and forced me off the water. As I was floating downstream, in my float tube to beat the storm, I missed some great opportunities to fish probable smallmouth areas. I was determined to return to fish those areas I missed. This time I took my kayak with an anchor to stop me from drifting downstream without covering those areas thoroughly. Wednesday they were calling for sunshine and zero chance of rain. I was as excited as a young man waiting to pick up a new sports car as soon as I could find a ride to get there.
Early morning I got all my fishing gear in the kayak, making sure I had an anchor, and loaded it in the pick up bed. I drove down river and left my bicycle at a guys house that I know so I could pedal back to the truck when I’m done fishing. After dropping the bike off I drove back up to the boat launch. I assembled my 6 weight Compass fly rod and launched the kayak. It was going to be a 2 1/2 fishing adventure. I was more interested in the areas I missed because of the storm the other day so I wasn’t going to cover the areas for too long that I had already fished the other day.
The morning started out bright. The sun was up behind me and there was little wind to speak of. Green leaf trees lined the river on both sides along the journey with occasional boulders and debris along the banks.there wasn’t a person in sight as I started out. The water was tinted brown but light enough I was able to see bottom in the shallowest parts and boulders beneath in the deeper sections.
The first mile or so I was doing well when a smallie grabbed my popper. It wasn’t like I found them hiding every time I casted out but when they came up I usually hooked them. They weren’t the biggest but they were fighters.
I made my betting cast into the pool near the outcropping of boulders along the closest bank. Within seconds, after the popper hit the surface water, I gave a sharp tug of my fly line and a bass surfaced and gulped at my gurgling popper. I moved the rod tip down towards the water and then quickly pulled up and yanked the rod back. The line tightened and the rod arced towards the take. The fish went deep and swam to the far side of the pool taking line off the spool. I kept the rod up with my right hand and tensioned my fingers on the fly line with my left. Out near the far side boulders he surfaced. He was half out of the water shaking his head furiously, trying to throw the hook, splashing water in all directions. After his pandemonium uproar he went under and swam his way near the far bank, to my left, before returning to the center of the pool. When he gave me a chance I’d reel in line not wanting fly line to gather in the kayak. After I shortened the distance between us he tried to tug his way outwards again but I kept tension on the line not letting him bully his way further from me. I could feel the 9 foot fly rod bow into the mid section and maybe into the butt section at time as I fought the fish towards me. Close enough I grabbed my net and lifted the rod. He surfaced enough to splash about trying to swim deep but I was able to keep the rod up with one hand and scooped him in the net with the other. Now that’s what I was after. A nice fat smallie laid in my net. After lipping him and a picture I released him into the water.
My first cast was almost identical like my first cast in the previous pool. I laid the popper just out from a boulder that angled down underneath the surface water. The second the popper hit the water I saw a figure of a fish dart beneath it towards the bank. He swam by it as if he heard the surface splashing but didn’t get an eyeball on it yet. I stripped the popper towards me a couple of times making enough commotion to signal a hungry predator. All of a sudden a smallie porpoised across the water surface and gulped at my popper. I saw my popper fall to the surface as he splashed back into the water. Upon seeing he missed my popper I just let it lay there for a second and then swam it towards me as if it was sneaking away. This time the smallie wasn’t going to miss. He exploded out of the water straight up through the surface for a second try. My popper disappeared as his momentum took him completely out of the water. I yanked the rod up behind my left shoulder with authority. Upon his reentry the line tightened and I had another heavy weight tugging and pulling line off the spool. We fought in a give and take battle. He was too heavy to just reel him in with ease. He flexed the fly rod and line like a roped wild horse on the open range. It was if he went through this before. Instead of just trying to swim as far away as possible he stayed, practically, in one place shaking and tugging at the line trying to unhook himself. Well, that didn’t work! I let him tire himself out as I kept the line tight and rod arced towards his underwater antics. When he was tired of tugging he started to try and swim away but the pressure of the arced rod and tension on the fly line I pinched between my fingers was too much. I reeled in enough line, with him in tow, until I had only a few inches of fly line out from the tip top. I had my net ready when I lifted the fly rod and he flopped inside like a basket ball nicking the rim before falling in the net. The orange popper was well embedded in his mouth so there wasn’t much of a chance he was getting away.
I stuck around casting into the slow pool of water for sometime. I fooled a couple of smaller smallies and missed one that actually came up twice for my popper. I wasn’t sure if he was the same one but I had a hunch he was hungry and if I teased him enough he’d rise again.
I casted out far as I could to the other side of the pool and gurgled the popper towards me and stopped it to where I missed him. When he did try for it before I hadn’t nicked him with trying to hook him so I thought maybe after inhaling the popper he thought it just got away.. After gurgling it I let it set on the surface for an easy take by any smallmouth that followed the gurgles. I twitched the popper just enough to tease and for a little commotion on the surface. I watched as a mouth rose and the water around the popper swirled as it disappeared. I kind of chuckled as I waited long enough for him to take it under and yanked the rod back. It was if the water began to whirlpool as my rod tip bowed and pointed to the take. He went deep and took off like a thief that just swiped a wallet, from an old drunk, that was standing at the busy bar. I held the line and rod tight and only let him have a little of the line at times. I could tell he was a good heavy fish but didn’t appear to have the forceful energy as the last few I tangled with. Maybe he was the same smallmouth that already rose hurriedly at my popper previously and was now plum tired out? I got him in without much of a fight and was surprised how big he was. It was a good thing he didn’t fight very long before I had him under arrest. The popper was just hanging on by the skin outside his jaw.
I played around a bit longer casting the popper out in the pool of water without a take. Maybe all the commotion scared off other fish? There was wavy rapids coming up so I put my fly rod in the holder and steered my way through the rough water. After the water calmed down I let the anchor drag on the bottom and casted towards the boulders, rocks and debris along the bank. I picked up a few more nice smallies on the orange popper
By then I was near my exit point . The sun was bearing down behind me and it felt like a dragon breathing down my neck. I toted the kayak through the narrow path to the road and parked it on the lawn near my bicycle. From there I pedaled my bike to my truck. I couldn’t wait to have a cold mug of beer after being out all day in the humid heat!
~doubletaper
No comments:
Post a Comment