Small Mouth Bass - Big Piney River

Yesterday evening, I was bored, it was looking like it was going to settle in and start raining. About 4pm,I loaded up my ultra light, a stringer, and a small box of my river lures. Now my lure selection for the piney , during the heat of the summer, is pretty basic, and fits in a small fly box, at least, that's what I call it! Several small spinners with different colored twisters or rubber minnows. About 6 or 7 small ultra light crank baits , like the rebel craw dad, bass magnets, to name a few, you should notice that I really down size my lures.

The river is only about a mile from my house, so it makes a short trip and a fast start at fishing. I had on some old sneakers, shorts, tee shirt and a hat! Into the river I waded. I had tied on a black and red crawdad crank bait, and about the 3rd cast, I snagged a nice goggle eye! Maybe I should say he snagged me! He was about a 10 inch goggle eye, and between the current and his pulling power, getting him on the stringer, was quite the challenge! Nevertheless, the fisherman , wins this battle!

This was a good beginning to start the evening, and I anticipated a successful event. It was still early, like 4:30 or so, as I didn't have my watch with me, I always seem to forget something! But, time really doesn't matter, when you're having fun in the outdoors, and especially when I am fishing! Time just seems to stand still.

It didn't seem to be a hot day,even though it was 85 degrees. There was a nice breeze a blowing , and the birds and frogs, where singing their songs, and it was just a down right , quiet, beautiful evening to be wade fishing and soaking it all in including the nice cool water, which is probably why I wasn't noticing how hot it was!

I waded on down a few shallow riffles and got into the little eddie, I call "goggle eye eddie!" The name I call it should be obvious as to the story fixing to unfold! I love to wade this quarter mile eddie as it has good current, lots of huge boulders and logs, it makes great cover for fish and the small mouth bass just love it! Maybe 5 or 6 ft deep at the most!

I had been just goofing off and killing time, trying to fish, this excellent water, the last 2 hours of sun light. Prime time for some nice small mouth and goggle eyes! But now the time has come to get serious, and I tied on a natural colored rebel craw dad, and proceeded to catch some nice goggle eyes and several small, small mouth bass! I had managed to keep 8 keeper goggle eyes and truly enjoying the fight on the ultra light. It really gives the fish the upper hand, but is a blast as these goggle eyes bend the ultra light rod double, wow, too much fun! Is it really possible to have too much fun? Not really!

I had waded back up to the upper end of the eddie and threw that crawdad crank bait into the back up swirl over by the bank and started the retrieval when , "wham" a nice small mouth had struck and was running all over the river at will! He wanted to go up over the riffle, but some how I managed to stop him and again ran, at will, wherever he wanted. He finally tired out and he was a 20 inch small mouth, not bad for the piney river and an ultra light battle!

The very next cast, another bigger, a lot bigger small mouth slammed me hard, and we fought for 5 or 6 minutes as he was not about to give up so quick and then he ran straight at me , and came off! In the next 30 minutes I would hook 3 more big small mouth bass, that came off! And a huge small mouth, did some tail walking and threw my lure back at me and slipped back into the river as if nothing had happened and left me standing there looking stupid!

I waded up on a raccoon, who was fishing for crawdads, in the riffle and he didn't even notice me for about 15 minutes. He was so busy catching, crawdads and eating them that I was able to sneak with 10 feet from him and observed him up and close, I guess you could say up close and personal! Very interesting, as I had never witnessed this in the wild before.

So to sum up the evening, man won a few, beast won a few, but all was enjoyed to the fullest! It is simply put, amazing what nature and the outdoors, has to offer! We have to help her maintain herself, and we have to do our part, and watch over her and manage her. In the end, we all, win!

So until next time, enjoy the "Great Outdoors!" See ya out there, I hope!

Sworming Hornet Lures! Hot Summer Time Lures!

Now that the post spawn bass are headed back to their summer time haunts, and the water heats up, we all know that the bass and other species of predatory fish can be illusive, and hard to catch. They get lock jawed and even suspend a lot of the time!

While even the most skilled bass fishermen will tell you that it is extremely difficult at best, to catch these stubborn fish. A lot of people have asked me how to locate these bass. While I don't think locating these bass is hard to do, catching these bass is where the challenge is at!

I don't think people have trouble finding bass in the heat of summer, they think that if the bass aren't biting, they are not there!
I know, there has been times I have been in that situation, and it can be very frustrating. I truely believe, that picking the right lure is the answer 80 percent of the time! You see, bass are like us they have to eat pretty regular!

This lure among a few other lures can help you during these times of difficult fishing. Sworming Hornet Lures, are go to lures when this happens! They are relatively new lures, and believe me when I say, these are just a few of the lures in my arsenal that is the ticket, for suspended bass and very well might keep you from getting skunked during these hot days, or the dog days of summer!

Below is a video that demonstrates how to rig and fish these sworming hornet lures, be sure to watch the video and then if you don't have any, get you some and use them, when the bass are not cooperating on those hot summer days, for whatever reason!
You will be glad you did!

Bass Fishing Humor!

Dear Dr. Phil,

When I retired, I could hardly wait to spend time enjoying my favorite pastime -- bass fishing. I got my own little fishing boat and tried to get my wife to join me, but she just never liked fishing. Finally, one day at the Bait & Tackle Shop, I got to talking to Sam the shop owner who it turned out loves bass fishing as much as I do. We quickly became fishing buddies. As I said the wife doesn't care about fishing. She not only refuses to join us she always complains that I spend too much time fishing.

A few weeks ago Sam and I had the best fishing trip ever. Not only did I catch the most beautiful bass you've ever seen, only a few minutes later Sam must have caught his twin brother! So I took a picture of Sam holding up the two nice bass that we caught and showed the picture to the wife hoping that maybe she'd get interested. Instead she says she doesn't want me to go fishing at all anymore! And she wants me to sell the boat! I think she just doesn't like to see me enjoying myself. What would you do? Tell the wife to forget it and continue my hobby or quit fishing and sell the boat as she insists?

Thanks,

P.S. Enclosed is a picture of Sam with the two bass we caught!


Dear Fisherman,

Get rid of that narrow minded wife. That's a nice pair of bass!

Dr. Phil

The above joke and photo can be found at http://www.rickroot.com/blog/1/2007/06/Bass-Fishing-Humor.cfm

River Fishing Post Poned Due To Rain!

Well folks, I started off going fishing today, but didn't get to go! I didn't have a break down, or any thing bad happen, but as you can see in the picture above, the Gasconade river was up, and muddy! So I turned the old truck around and sulked and pouted all the way home!

I know there will be another day, but dang it anyway, I was all excited and looking forward to another wonderful day on the river.I knew it had rained some but I guess up river it rained a
lot more than what we had experienced down river. So I hate to disappoint you all but it
couldn't be helped.

So, I have a story to tell, that I was going to post back during turkey season! I know it is a little late, but it is still a funny story and worth telling, I think! I will keep it short and to the point, so here goes!

I had hunted for 2 or 3 days and heard a lot of gobblers, but had no success in calling one up to me! So on the 4th day I changed locations and was hoping to change my luck. I got set up before sunrise, poured me a cup of coffee and listened to the gobblers gobble all around me before the sun came up. I was getting the buck acre so bad I couldn't stand it. I know it is turkey season but I still got the buck acre so hush, and just listen! These gobblers were no more than 200 yds from me, still on the roost, gobbling every breath!

By the time the sun came up I was wired for sound and Adrenalin was flowing strong. They flew down from the roost and settled just over the ridge where I was set up, of course just out of sight! I made a few calls and they blew up all around me, but I couldn't see any of them. This went on for about 30 minutes and then all got quiet!

Fifteen or twenty minutes later, I heard something behind me and I figured one of them gobblers snuck in behind me. I turned ever so slowly and .... well the picture below will tell....
the rest of the story!

Have no clue where this dang emu came from or who he belonged to but he totally caught me off guard and started chasing me around. I just called it a day and scurried to the truck and took shelter in the safety of my truck. I didn't want to shoot the darned old thing, but he ran as fast as me and he didn't get as winded as me either! ;-)

So the next time you are turkey hunting, watch out for stray emus and if you do, either climb a tree or run like hell, because they are fast and they nip hard! I left him with the turkeys and maybe next time I turn around to see what is behind me, maybe it will be a gobbler! I did get a gobbler but not on this day! ;-)

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Wade Fishing - Enjoyable, And Rewarding!

I haven't been doing much fishing as of late, due to catching up on all the things on my "honey do" list, you know, honey do this, and honey do that! Anyway, I finally caught them up,and checked them all off as I completed them.

Recently, the weather here in Missouri has been hot and humid! I finished my list, and was hot and soaked from perspiration, which can make a guy downright offensive, if you catch my drift. I grabbed my ultra light and a few lures, and headed for my favorite spot on the Piney River to do some wade fishing!

I immediately dove in and submersed my entire body, clothes and all and washed that stench off of me and then proceeded to fish a section of about a mile of pretty fast moving water! I had tied on a beetle spin and was belly button deep in nice cool water and was feeling just fine! Now mind you I caught several nice goggle eye, and some real nice small mouth bass!

Just as the sun was setting and the temperature started cooling down, I tied on a top water lure called a Jitterbug! I would stay with this lure until well after dark. Hoot owls were hooting, and coyotes started their thing howling and all, and the tree frogs were screaming for rain, some say! Bull frogs were yelling and all the night sounds of the outdoors came to life!

About 45 minutes after dark I caught a real nice smally, and was putting him on the stringer with the other 12 nice goggle eye, and was totally concentrating on this as I didn't want to lose this 21 inch smally! When I got the smally secured on the stringer, I lit up a cigarette, I know, this is a bad vice of mine that I am trying to do away with, but for me it will take time.

I was working my way slowly back to the truck and caught a few more nice goggle eye and bass and released them as I already had enough for a nice fish fry for my wife and I. When all of a sudden I stepped off a ledge and into a deep hole of water, you know, over my head and now I was swimming for shallower water. After dark when you are wet, it tends to get a little chilly and I was starting to shiver a little bit,but, still proceeded to fish to the truck!

About 100 yds before the truck , I had to wade thru a little eddie, and it was really quiet, I stopped to light up another smoke, which, when I am wading , I keep in a water proof zip lock bag! I lit up and because of the bright light and then, practically pitch black night, I couldn't see a thing, so I remain still, until my eyes readjusted to the dark. About the same time, a loud splash about 3 foot from me made me jump out of my skin. A beaver had been swimming up the river and practically ran into me.

I scared him and he scared the @%$& out of me for a second! I swallowed my heart back down into my chest and laughed so loud, that you could of heard me for a country mile! Then he smacked his tail again on the other side of me and got me again!

What a night, I totally enjoyed myself, got a good cool bath and caught a good mess of river fish! When I got home I cleaned my fish, and the wifey cooked them up, and I believe, that was the best fish I had ever eaten! My wife says That I say that every time we cook fish! ;-) I think she's right! She also said that I smelled better too! Can't wait until next time , but I guess I will have to!

So until next time, try your luck at an enjoyable evening, wade fishing, It really is super fun, and is a great way to cool off on those hot summer evenings! Oh yeah, when I got home a hot shower was necessary to knock off the chill of the Big Piney River. You wouldn't think you would get chilled on a 85 degree evening in June, But, it is worth it! The Piney is spring fed and is cold any time of the year!