Like most parents, I want my kids to like what I like, and if I bribe them to play along, does that make me a bad parent?  If so, better get CPS on the phone, because a day of fishing with dad is likely to end with a stop for ice cream.  But a camping trip was going to need an extra special level of bribery.

As it turns out, Savannah did go on a camping trip with me two summers ago.  It was touch and go for a while when a seriously bad storm rolled through our campsite on the shores of a remote lake.  It really was bad, but we made it through it OK, just a little soggy.  Savannah still gets nervous thinking about that storm.  On our way home, we stopped in Royalton at one of Minnesota’s best known tourist traps and I let her pick something off their crowded shelves of treasures.

We drive by this store every time we go to Grandma’s house, and Savannah will generally remind Skylar of how she got to stop there, how great it was inside there, and don’t you wish you could go there.  So my bait to get them to go camping included a stop at Treasure City.  It so happens that there is a nice campground on the river right there, so plans were made, and on a fine July morning we pulled into the Sportsman’s Club Campground.

Since this was midweek, I wasn’t too surprised to find a lot of empty campsites, so we chose a site right on the river near the boat launch.  A nice breeze coming off the river assured the mosquitos would stay away, and we had our tent set up in ten minutes.

My camping gear consists of a tent, sleeping bag, a lantern, a folding chair, and an axe, so I’m faring a little better than the folks on “Naked and Afraid”.  I don’t have any camp cooking stuff, most of what cook in camp involves either aluminum foil or a stick.  Hot dogs are far from being a favorite food, but I like to keep it simple, less time cooking = less time cleaning = more time doing other stuff, like fishing or relaxing around a campfire.

So camp is set, boat is launched, and we’re now heading upriver.  This is a section of the Mississippi I had only been on once before, my memory of it was good fishing, but shallow and pretty treacherous for a prop boat.  The other time I was here I ended up having to walk the boat up through a particularly shallow stretch around some islands, and after studying the area on Google Earth I decided that a different channel would allow for easier passage.  Wrong.  I have often been in the predicament of trying to get through too-shallow water, when faced with this I will have my boat partner get all the way up to the bow—this will raise the transom up, giving a little more clearance.  On this trip my boat partners weigh about a hundred pounds between them, so not much help there.  Ended up having to walk the boat up though about 100 yards of knee deep water again, and dinged my prop a few times when I was trying to push my luck.  They did offer words of encouragement as I muled the Jon boat up through the shallow riffle.                   

Besides catching smallmouth, we have one other activity:  this section of the Mississippi is one of a few places on the entire earth where a special kind of stone called a “staurolite” is found.  These are also called “Fairy Stones” or “Fairy Crosses” and you can bet I talked these up to the girls who are all about anything that has to do with fairies.  A perfect fairy stone [I’ve only seen pictures of a perfect one] looks somewhat like a Maltese cross. It’s no secret where to find these stones, and as we approached the area I had learned about I could see there were several people in the area, stooped over and intently studying the gravel.  I’m no geologist, but I couldn’t imagine why the stones would only be found on one side of the river, and since we had a boat we went straight across from the publicized spot.  We found plenty of stones, but I think that finding a fairy stone that looks anything like an actual cross is pretty rare. Our best fairy stones are pretty boring looking at a glance, but it is interesting how they have a diamond cross-section. We also found some nice mica pieces. 

Once our rock hunt was over it was time to fish.  We alternated between drifting and anchoring, and while the fishing wasn’t red hot, the girls each got a few fish.  I had come up with a points system where various fish captured would equal dollars to spend at Treasure City.  This did cause argument over who got to watch the night crawler rod while anchored, as the crawler was likely to produce fish other than smallmouth.  We spent an hour anchored at one spot where smallies were aggressively feeding on damselflies.  I have seen this a few times before on my home water, and usually have a few damsel fly patterns on board just in case.  I took them out last week while consolidating fly boxes, so we just went through the tackle box, trying this and that.  The biggest smallmouth ate a crawler, but most memorable was one Skylar caught on a crankbait she picked out of her tackle box.  It was the first time she caught a bass on a lure where she made the cast and set the hook herself, and it while it wasn’t very big, I’ve never been more proud.

As the sun got a little lower, the action picked up, but the girls were a little spent.  I fished some likely looking shorelines myself and put on a mini-clinic on how to catch smallies on soft plastics—caught about 5 fish and missed a few others before we had drifted back to camp.

When we got back to the ramp we met a gal who was about 3 weeks into a Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico kayak trip.  She had the world’s smallest tent, but seemed to have everything she needed, including a pink flamingo for a mascot.  She looked just like someone I had met a few years ago doing the same thing, but when asked she replied “No one would do this twice!” A solar panel on the kayak kept her computer and phone charged.  The strange thing to me was that she is from California, and I didn’t get the vibe she had even been to Minnesota before.

Here she is just before I gave her a shove and on her way down stream

Our dinner that night was Easy Mac [turned out horrible, turns out you need a microwave for this kind of mac and cheese] and hot dogs.  I had foil and butter with in case a walleye or pike was foolish enough to end up in the boat, but our species this day included smallmouth bass, channel catfish, and redhorse sucker.  Skylar still can’t quite figure out why we eat some kinds of fish but not others.  After our nutritious dinner it was time for a Minnesota campfire classic– s’mores—I even ate one.  Finally the fire died down and it was time to turn in.  We soon found that a huge emergence of stoneflies was going on, and they were EVERYWHERE, including in the tent.  All of my explanations of how harmless they were fell on deaf ears, and the girls would not rest until all had met their demise by flip flop.  After my stories of sasquatches in these parts on the way up, it was decided that the safest place in the tent in the event of an attack would be in the middle.  Savannah [of course] claimed this spot for herself, and the girls watched a movie on their DVD player.  The night was uneventful, no sasquatches, no yetis, not even a woodchuck.

The following morning was the kind of morning we all hope for—a bit cool, but sunny and glorious in all ways.  The girls were delighted that I had hot chocolate fixins, so I made a batch and got the fire going again.  To keep the nutrition and chocolate theme going they had Cocoa Puffs for breakfast.  I made them wash the few dishes we had while I broke camp, and then it was time to get back on the water.  I backed the boat down to the ramp to let some water drain out, and a guy who was part of a party that had just launched a driftboat commented on how much water was coming out of my boat.  “Well this boat has seen a lot of use and yeah, it has a slow leak, and because of how I had it parked last night the water didn’t drain out yadda yadda…and it’s only a couple gallons yadda yadda…” was my response.  So I launch and tie up to the dock.  Then I notice that the driftboat that the three guys had just launched was about half full of water.  I pointed this out to the guy who had been so nice to point out how much water came out of my boat, and suggested he put the plug in.  Well it wasn’t his boat, it belonged to one of the guys doing the shuttle, and he didn’t know where the plug was, and the yeti cooler on the dock wasn’t going to be much help for bailing.  I had a spare drain plug, figured out where it went and grabbed a couple of buckets and we had it mostly bailed out in a few minutes.

By now, my girls were on the dock watching the show.  We all got aboard, shoved off and wished the guy good luck.  We headed off upriver to where we had caught fish the day before.  It was mostly a repeat of the day before, no crazy fast action, but enough to keep everyone interested.  They had a double header on at one point, the smallie Savannah had on was the biggest of the trip but it got away just as it got to the boat.  Skylar caught one that ate an errant cast that landed 5 five feet from the transom while we were anchored in pretty swift current.

Note the custom pink worm Beetle Spin thing we put together that it ate

I even broke out the fly rod and managed to get one on a craw pattern.

We were in the home stretch, maybe a half mile from the ramp.  The water was pretty clear, and I could see the bottom pretty well in five feet of water.  When the conditions are like this I enjoy drifting along, spotting different fish.  I was seeing a lot of fish that at first I thought were big redhorse, but I soon realized they were mostly catfish, and big ones at that.  There must have been 50 in one short section, most looked to be 5 to 10 lbs.  We were out of bait by this time, or we would have anchored up and exercised a few kitties.  Next time.

Back at the ramp I pulled the boat up on the gravel and told the girls they should make some casts just below the access, as I had spotted a couple smallies there the day before.  When I got to my vehicle, my buckets and drain plug were waiting for me, along with ten bucks—that was a nice gesture.  I pulled the boat out, and after I had it strapped down I went to check on the girls.  They were still casting, but hadn’t quite made it to the best spot, an area where there was a nice rock pile about 30 feet from shore.  I had a great vantage from up on the high bank, and when I walked just a bit downstream, sure enough, there was a nice smallie patrolling the rocks, on the hunt for a well-placed Beetle Spin.  I was just about to call the girls to the area when I spotted another fish out there—a muskie!  Looked to be in the low 30” range, and would be sure provide a large amount of excitement if it was at the end of a little girl’s line.  I had them take turns casting at it, they tried a Rapala and a wacky worm, but no luck, that muskie was having none of it and left for calmer waters.  Then Skylar had a smallie nose right up to her wacky worm, I said “leave it…leave it…now give it a little twitch!” and she proceeded to jerk it about 4 feet, and Mr. Smallmouth went the same direction the muskie went.

You can’t see it, but there is a muskie 30 feet in front of Skylar

So now we were left with only one more thing to do—the promised stop at Treasure City.  With all their fish they had each accrued $12 to spend, and they managed to spend most of it on knick-knacks.  If you’ve never been there, it really does deserve a stop, the amount of crap they have crammed in there is impressive. Less than two hours later we were home again, already making plans for next year.

EVER FISH WITH A FLAPPER?

No not that kind.  Not that it wouldn’t be fun, but I don’t think many fish would get caught.  Ever see someone set the hook while wearing heels?  It’s a disaster.   I’m talking about fishing with a Gambler Flappin’ Shad, or as I call it, “The Flapper”.

It’s no secret that I enjoy catching fish in a variety of ways.  Much of my summer is spent chasing smallies on the rivers of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and there is no way I would rather catch them than with a fly rod.  On the other end of the smallmouth fishing spectrum for me is fishing with bait.  Not to say that I won’t fish with bait, but I have caught enough fish that I personally don’t need to catch one that ate a live minnow.  When I have a kid or beginner in the boat—different story—I want them to have their rod bent!

So, fly fishing is at the top end of the smallie spectrum, bait is at the bottom.  But a lot of what I do falls in between.  Casting “chunk-and-wind-it-in” baits like spinnerbaits and crankbaits are very consistent producers, and don’t require much thought or effort to fish—pull one out of the box, tie it on, chunk and wind.  Try it, you’ll catch lots of fish [especially with a Storm “Sub-wart” crankbait, or with one of my top secret spinnerbaits, but that’s another story].  When it’s really windy, or when the bite is tough, I’ll throw them, but it is definitely not preferred.

One of my favorite non-fly presentations is using soft plastic jerkbaits.  Compared to a crankbait, these require a high level of skill, both in rigging and in actual presentation.  After posting a couple pictures of big smallies that fell for a “Gambler Flappin’ Shad” this summer, I was asked to be more specific about how I rig and fish these baits.  It turns out that a disproportionate number of smallies that I catch each year, and a lot the big ones, fall to this presentation.

Now, you can quiz a dozen guys who use these and get a dozen different answers about how to rig them.  By all means, experiment to find what works best for you. There are other ways that will work, but you can be sure that what I am going to describe is a proven approach.  I am always eager to hear how others rig plastic jerkbaits, I’d love to hear your suggestions.

The first soft plastic jerkbait that went mainstream was the “Sluggo”.  These showed up in the late 80’s, became popular in the 90’s and spawned an entire new category of soft plastic “Shad-style” baits.  One of the first that I used to use a lot was the Berkley Jerk Shad.  I still use these, as they are probably the most readily available bait of this category.  They were an instant hit with the local smallies, and also proved successful on largemouths [I used to skip these under docks a lot, pre-Senko], and salty species like Speckled Trout and Redfish down in Texas.  Since those early days I have tried many different designs, and the Gambler Flappin’ Shad is one of my top picks, and always the number one pick when looking for a big fish.

From those early years, some things about my rigging has changed, some things have remained constant.  I have always preferred a spinning rod, a med-heavy with a fast action, about seven feet long.  I mount a big spinning reel on it, a 4000 size.  This is critical for fishing with the relatively heavy mono that I still use.  Yeah I know, braided line, blah blah blah, it’s more sensitive blah blah blah, gives a better hook set blahbitty blah effin’ blah.  I spool with 12 pound Trilene XT or a line with similar DIAMETER [NOT pound test!] which is .015”—I like the way it casts, I like the way it moves the bait, I have all the strength I need, and if I need to break it off on a snag I don’t risk losing a limb in the process [this comes up regularly on the river].  The big reel also picks up line FAST, whether winding down for a hookset, or winding in to make a new cast.

My choice of hooks has fluctuated a bit, I have settled on a wide gap 4/0.  The ones that are currently my favorites I just learned minutes ago are no longer available [figures].  They were a VMC model, and I see they make a similar model that I’m sure will work fine, as will similar models from Gammy or Mustad.  Originally, I used heavy 5/0 Owner worm hooks[“irons” I called them], but along the way I realized a lighter hook with a big gap was easier to rig, hooked fish better, and put a smaller hole in both the bait and the fish.  It doesn’t matter what knot you tie it on with as long as it is a Palomar Knot.

I always rig the bait in the “Tex-posed” style, with the hook point run through the bait and lying flat along its back.   Having the bait hang straight once it is rigged is critical—rig one crooked and it will spin, run to the surface, or only go to one side.    Get it rigged right and the bait will sink nice and horizontal, and come through the water with an erratic ziggity-zig-zag, with its tail flapping enticingly the whole time.  I work the bait by starting with the rod roughly pointing at the lure.  I sweep the rod tip towards me along the water surface, usually in about 1 foot pulls.  You won’t believe how much that tail will “flap”—it almost buzzes!  It puts off enough vibration to call fish in, but when they get close, it just screams “Eat Me!” as the tail flutters on the drop.   Experiment with different retrieves and cadences, most of the time I’m doing a twitch-twitch-wait….twitch-twitch-wait….etc.  No surprise, most of the bites will come when you “kill it” on the pause.  What the bait does in the water is mostly dependent on how you work it.  When you get eaten [you will], reel down on the fish and set the hook hard.Notice how the hook is buried in this guy’s snoot!

There will be days when for unknown reasons you will miss a lot of bites.  Days like this make me question many of my beliefs, and I still lay in bed some nights thinking about a tournament I was in where the fish would not stop eating the Flappin’ Shad, and I could not keep them hooked.  [Sidebar—turns out I was using a different mono than I usually did, it was thinner and stretched more.  Also, the bag of shads I had picked for the day were of a harder consistency than others.  Combine stretchy line with plastic baits that wouldn’t compress and well, lesson learned, pay attention to details].  But stick to   the plan, heavy spinning rod, 12 lb. mono, 4/0 hook, Flappin’ Shad rigged straight, and most days you’ll end up well on the right side of plus/minus.

Some other notes….

I have tried to tie a fly to emulate the flapping action using “Sili Skin”, kind of along the lines of a gummy minnow.  These were an epic failure, other more patient and talented tiers may have more success.

Not sure that color matters much, be sure to pick colors you like.  I mix it up with dull and bright colors, not sure that it matters much to the fish.  Chartreuse is always good, and I’ve been working through a couple bags of copper colored ones lately.   What does matter is that it is rigged properly!

The Gambler gets a lot of play time with me, another favorite is the Bass Assassin brand “Shad Assassin”.  This bait is a little smaller, a little more subtle, and is a great choice in clear water.  If you’re missing bites on the Flapper, consider dropping down to the Assassin or other smaller bait

Flappin Shads are fair game for pike and muskies too, just rig with some thin knottable wire

I have no affiliation of any kind with Gambler, but here is a link to their website

http://www.gambler-lures.com/Flapp_n_Shad_s/164.htm

I have since added to my fleet and I do have a bigger boat in addition to my jon boat.  These days the big boat gets the most time on the water.  And the fact that for three summers in a row we have come into smallmouth season with crazy high water on the Mississippi hasn’t helped.  It brought me great pleasure to roll the Green Monster out of the garage the other day, but at the same time saddened me at how much dust had settled on the rods that live in there and the motor since it was parked last fall.  I moved the boat out into the yard, hooked the hose up to the lower unit on  the trusty 30 Yamaha, and hoped for similar results to every other time I went to start this motor.  I was not disappointed as it fired on the third pull.  I let it run for a few minutes while I rigged rods for the next day’s fun and games.

I have guide trips starting this week, and while I have fished on the Mississippi enough to know where the fish are likely to be depending upon the season and water flow, it is always nice to get a feel for the river.  With all of the family outings and tournaments this year, I hadn’t had much “fun fishing” this year.  It wasn’t until I was about halfway to the access that it sunk in that within 30 minutes I would be on one of my favorite bodies of water to fish.  Big Grin!

The River was still flowing high, but was at a manageable level, and soon I was buzzing upstream.  I decided to start on a favorite bank that is favorable in high water—the current is a bit lighter here, but there is lots of nice cover for the brown bass to wait in ambush.

I’m considered weird by many for a variety of reasons.  One of which is that while I’m known for being an avid fly rod angler, and there is no way I would rather catch smallies [or most other fish for that matter], I will be the first one to grab a spinning or casting rod when conditions aren’t just right for flycasting.  The world of fishing is divided pretty strongly on this—either you fly fish, or you don’t.  It turns out that I also really like pitching a jig and craw around fallen trees, I also like twitching soft plastic jerkbaits in more open water.  I’ll even cast spinnerbaits and crankbaits [sidebar–there is no better way to catch river smallies than on crankbaits] but fishing “chunk and reel” baits like these does get a little boring.  I believe that my rod count on Sunday had 6 baitcasting rods, two fly rods, and one spinning rod with.  I know that I used them all for at least a few casts.  Remember—flycasting is my favorite, and I’m pretty good with the long rod.  But when I’m out alone, controlling the boat in the wind and current, well sometimes flycasting stops being fun.

Pitching a jig and craw to fallen trees, in stream rocks and current seams requires a different skill set than other types of fishing, it takes some elements of largemouth bass fishing [pitching jigs to cover with accuracy] and combines them with drift fishing for steelhead [keeping track of your lure in the current, detecting bites].  You also must deliver a rock and roll hookset, which I also enjoy.  It can be fun to come up with a shout-out for every time you set the hook… like “BOOYAH!” or “SHOW ME THE MONEY” or maybe a Serena Williams style grunt.

Anyway, even though I got to the river at the crack of 11, the fishing was still pretty decent, probably landed about ten, mostly on jig/craw, a couple on flies, couple on a soft plastic jerkbait, and the rest on a crankbait.  I left plenty for my customers later this week.

I compiled some video clips into a short “best of” movie, check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwbRbltK2b4

The big fish of the day got away, and for unknown technical reasons the ones I caught on a fly rod didn’t get saved to video, but it still turned out pretty good.  As the water gets a little lower, the fly action will just get better and better.

“Nice fish!” Gunnar yelled from the back of the boat.  I  looked back to see a nice sized muskie closely tracking his spinnerbait.  “Why is he swimming sideways?” Gunnar asked as he went into a classic Gunnar figure -8 [too much line out, moving the lure too slowly (I never think anyone does it right though {I should talk, I can’t remember the last time I got one to eat on a figure – 8!})].  It was true, the muskie was tracking the lure off to the side instead of right behind it.  “I bet that fish only has one eye!” I said as I watched the curious behavior. Around one time on a figure-eight, and the around the back of the boat, the fish kept its left eye just inches from the lure. Eventually the fish grew weary of Gunnar’s boatside antics and sank back into the depth of the Lower Two Fish Hole.

It was another great day chasing river muskies. The stars had aligned perfectly for a mid-week outing, and Gunnar was as pumped as I was to get after them, as he was 20 minutes early getting to my house.  Last minute tackle wrangling ensued, but soon we were on our way.  When we arrived at the boat landing early that morning, we were greeted by water that was a little higher than I had expected.  Mind you, it was now at the PERFECT level, but it had jumped almost a foot overnight, and when combined with dropping water temps I was a little concerned that the fish might be in a funk.  My worries were unfounded though, as our first stop at the Big Cottonwood Hole had a hot fish behind my bait right away.  It’s always great to move a fish right away.

We had moved a couple of other fish in other spots before Gunnar’s weird follow, so things were looking promising.  After that follow, we fished down to the bottom of the hole.  I changed it up, and put on a Bulldog.  Bulldogs are a wildly popular muskie lure, but I rarely use one, and had never actually caught a muskie on one.  Working our way back up along the deep current seam, I pitched the Bulldog up and across, and allowed it to sink into the ten foot depths of the hole before beginning my retrieve.  They really look great in the water, and it is hard to imagine how a fish could resist one. Right when we got back to the spot where the unusual following fish had been sighted, my Bulldog got SLAMMED.  After a normal muskie battle–brief but spirited, I had the fish firmly by the gill cover.  A quick check of the fish’s face revealed that my theory was true–the fish’s right eye was glazed over.  I was glad the fish was still able to feed, and got it back in the river after a quick photo.  The fish doused me with a tail splash as it took off, giving me confidence that the fish was  none the worse for wear.   I hope someday One Eyed Willie and I will meet again.

We raised a couple more that day, and even came back to the follows with the Bulldog, which I was now sure was a sure-fire tactic.  It wasn’t to be, and the ran was increasing by the minute.  Our plans to end the day at a spot near the access was foiled by shore bound anglers huddled under an umbrella while they waited for a bite.  I’m not about to fish from my boat in front of shore bound anglers so we put it on the trailer.

Only one fish today, but anytime you are in the “plus” column at the end of a day of muskie fishing it was a good day!

I was on the section called “Pool 4”, this is the area from around Wabasha up to Red Wing.  I went down there for a change of pace, and while on an exploratory trip you can’t really expect the fishing to be great, I had gleaned some intel from a friend to get me started.  And I have been on this section before, but it was about 15 years ago and in the spring.

I was hoping to get into some walleyes, but was open to catching anything.  Turns out we caught a little of everything, except for walleyes.  Put a smallmouth guy on a body of water with smallies in it, and well I guess I just gravitate to any water that has a smallie look to it.

Smallies were caught, as were largemouth, black crappie, white crappie, white bass, bluegill, pike, sauger, and sheephead.  We mostly fished around the many wing dams in the area, and most fish were on the top or front side of the wing dam.  What was the biggest surprise were the bluegills–they were big [9″ers], and they were hanging in surprisingly strong current.  The bluegills were caught on bait, but most everything else was on jig/plastic or crankbaits.

Smallies were all sizes, from tiny to big– Sarah had top honors with a 19 1/2″ that ate a white Moxie.  This one ate during the middle of white bass clinic she was putting on–right in front of the oldest city in Minnesota–Read’s Landing.

Fishing in the shadows of the big bluffs was a cool change of pace, and although I can’t say I prefer it to my home water on the Upper Mississippi, I know I will be back next year.

I couldn’t take it any more, and decided to check a section of river I had not been on before.  Despite the low water, I convinced myself I could get up the river far enough from my chosen access to be worthwhile.  Just to cover all bases, I swapped out the good prop that was on my trusty 30 Yamaha to an old, beat up one.  I figured I would be doing more grinding through rocks than running at high speed anyway.  I also brought waders in case I had to walk the boat through any super shallow areas.  I have fished above and below this section, and was excited to be “connecting the dots” between a couple of access points.

I was really on a muskie mission, but this river section also boasts a nice smallie population, which can prove to be a major distraction when I supposed to be targeting something else.  I am convinced that the smallies that live in this part of the river are like a “subspecies”–they look different, and scrap like no other smallies–wild, red-eyed, hunchbacked, jumping freaks!

After about an hour of alternating between put-putting up the river at idle speed, and occasionally opening it up on deep bends [and once getting out to walk the boat through a very shallow section],I recognized a landmark and decided to start fishing.  Depending on the water, I alternated between casting for muskies and smallmouth.  It didn’t seem to matter what I threw or where I threw it, the resident pike were on fire and attacked everything. It was no surprise where the smallies were hanging–you smallie junkies know what I mean when I say “rocky shorelines with just the right size rocks and just the right depth and just the right speed”.  There was plenty of this water around, and wherever the shoreline was sand dominated, every logjam had either a brownie or a pike waiting to ambush something.  All water that was slower and deeper got flailed for muskies, and by the time it was raining hard enough to get me to quit, five nice muskies had shown themselves, no takers though.  That’s alright–I know where they live, and I’ll be back.

It was nice to see I still had it in me to do some exploring, and although I know I would have caught more fish had I spent the day on familiar water, I’m glad to have some new water to call my own.  It may look like all I have to show for the day is a couple more dings on an already beat up prop, but I do know where several 20 lb. plus muskies are living right now, and I do know a rock pile with a bunch of 15-20″ smallies on it, and maybe it’s just because I spend so much time fishing close to the metro, but I do know of a section of river that has far more eagles, deer, and otters than fishermen.

And the smallies were goin’!   Numbers were good, size was great, and fish were caught on a variety of presentation.  As far as flies go, I didn’t have much action on poppers [which is odd, conditions were seemingly perfect for popper fishing], but got a few on Stay Hungry Streamers, the biggest measured an honest 19 and 15/16″ long.  Spinnerbaits, soft plastics and crankbaits were all eaten by the brownies on a regular basis, although the highlight of the day may have been when a big channel cat absolutely destroyed a spinnerbait right next to shore.  Here is an example of the flies I used.  Feel free to contact me for tying instructions, or check with a fly shop that sells Umpqua FliesLots of good days to come, and I’m especially looking forward to the White Miller Hatch in a couple of weeks.