Yak'n, Bass'n With Glass

 

Yak’n, Bass’n With Glass

9/18/22

  I assembled my 2 piece 6 weight President Glass Wonderod. My kayak was filled with all the necessities for floating the river including smallmouth poppers and Woolly Buggers if needed. I looped a new 9’ 3X tapered leader to the F6WF fly line and threaded it through the rod guides. By 9:00am I was in the water 2 miles up from my camper and ready to enjoy the day.

 

  Above me was a clear baby blue sky with streaks of white clouds. The air was already warming up. Green trees lined the river and threw shade upon the lightly stained water half way across the river. There was a slight breeze that didn’t have much effect on the surface water.

  I was casting aimlessly, as I was drifting, getting a feel for the slower action of the fiberglass rod. My first take was a gulp after I watched my popper drift after a couple of strips across the slow current. I reared back on the rod and the line tightened. The rod bowed on the hooked fish as it went deep and gave a tug. The line went limp and the rod straightened. I knew right away what happened. I didn’t yank the rod back hard enough to set the hook into the bass’s mouth. I knew better that with the slow action of the glass rod I have to set the hook with stronger authority than with a graphite rod. Lesson learned!

  It took an hour or so for my next take. I was kind of stopped in a back eddy behind a big exposed boulder casting out from the bank downriver some. My frog popper plopped in the slow current under the shade of over hanging leafy branches like a fallen acorn. I gave a couple of strips towards me and let it drift down with the slow riffles caused by a boulder of some size just below the surface water. A fish rose in a surface swirl and sucked the popper like a high power car wash vacuum cleaner on a floor dropped milk dud. This time I gave a good strong yank and I could feel the glass rod flex almost into the cork grip I held tightly. The bass dove deep and took off with my popper. The glass rod arced as the tapered leader cut through the surface water heading upriver. I lifted the cork handle high as the rod bowed towards the fleeing fish as it took out line. Fly line slipped through my tensioned fingers briefly before I threw out the anchor to try and stop my drifting kayak. My anchor caught and I held the rod steady as the fish fought the tight line and bowed rod. Slowly but surely I brought in line getting the smallmouth closer to the yak’. He stayed deep till he was a couple of yards from the yak’ before rising to the surface. He splashed water in all directions as his body struggled upon the surface. He dove deep and the rod flexed and bowed towards the escaping fish. I put the rod butt into my gut for leverage as tensioned line again slipped through my fingers. He took off downriver with the help f the undercurrent and pulled out more line. I gave an upriver tug as he slowed and he turned upriver.

  Maybe with a medium to fast action rod I may have tired him out sooner but the thrill playing a tough fighting river smallmouth is nothing compared to graphite.

  I thumbed him carefully when he got to the side of the yak’. He inhaled the frog popper which was still firmly within his mouth.

 

    After a few more casts while anchored I took out a Gilberto Oliva 6x50 and lit up the light brown cameroon stogie. Looking up the puffy clouds started to move in and dot the blue sky. The breeze picked up some now and again and riffled the water surface like a washboard.

 

  I had to put a little more oomph in my casts to get the popper out further with the soft flexing glass action.

  I was casting the popper out from the banks in deep pockets. I had hooked 2 smallies and missed one as I drifted down river. I was heading towards an exposed boulder so I dropped the anchor to slow my drift. Every so often the anchor would catch and stop my drifting. I covered the area around me as far as the breeze let me cast before lifting the anchor momentarily getting the yak’ drifting downriver closer to the bank side boulder.

  The wind was hampering my casts so after the popper hit the surface I let it drift further downriver with the current before stripping it back towards me. I was stripping it towards me, from a distance, when a smallmouth porpoised after my popper as if the temptation of a swimming frog was too much to ignore. With the eruption he completely missed my popper as I saw it fly up in the air like a popped kernel from an open lid popcorn popper over hot campfire coals. He and the popper came down upon the distorted water surface. I gave a few quick strips that gurgled and splashed waves like a dazed escaping frog. This time the bass wasn’t going to let it get away. He porpoised again and swept the popper in like a Jai Alai player catching a fast moving ball in his wicket cesta. I waited a second and yanked back the rod with authority. The rod arced instantly and I could tell I had another nice size smallie. He took off towards mid river in a flurry. I gave an extra tug to make sure the hook stuck good as he took line. The extra tug must have hit a nerve like a dentist drill hitting a live nerve not completely numb from the Novocaine shot. He exploded out of the water, fully exposed, shaking his body frantically from the pain. He dropped back into the water and exploded again out of the swirls of disturbed water. He gave a big tug in mid air before plopping back into the water surface. He took off and the line tightened again so I knew I had a good hook set.

  I’ve fought hooked largemouth in pond water and steelhead in shallow slow current on my 8 weight glass rod. They don’t compare to the thrill and fight of a struggling smallmouth in river current.

  I got him near and he decided to try and swim under the yak’. I extended my arm out as far as I could holding the line tight in my left hand. The rod bowed in a full arc like a horseshoe magnet. I could feel him rise as the force of the arced rod kept him from getting under the yak’. The bowed rod lessened and the fish swam outward. He than gave a burst of energy across river strong enough I let him take line through my fingers. When he turned down river I tightened the line between my fingers not giving him any more leeway. He turned and swam towards the yak’ again as I took inline. Near the yak’ he rose to the surface splashing water in all directions. It took a few tries to lip him not wanting to get stuck with the sharp hook of the popper that hung from his mouth.

 

  After that the wind picked up drastically. It was blowing upriver most of the time into my face. It was around 3:00 when I got the yak’ and gear out of the water and back up to my camper. I didn’t hook many but the two big’ns made for another excited time on the river. Catching and fighting them on glass was an extra thrill.

 

~doubletaper