10 Hour Tour

Area -CVM/KM

Wade/Float - Float

Water Level -6.40ft.

CFS - 795

Water Temp - 81

Clarity - Moderately Stained

Fly/Spin - Spin

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15" smallmouth

Took Brandy out for a ride down the Kish. What started out to be a 5 hour trip ended up turning into a an all day 10 hour trip. Not that anything went wrong, just decided to float the next stretch instead of calling it a day.

I got Brandy loaded up with all my gear and we set float at 7am. It didn't take long to hook into the first smallmouth (dink), which nailed the bone colored Choppo90. I had just recently purchased the Choppo90 and a Whopper Plopper90, so these two baits would be getting a workout on this float trip.

I did notice that the two similar lures (Choppo is a knockoff of the Whopper Plop) have two different sounds when retrieved. The Choppo seems to have a much deeper and louder sound than the Whopper Plopper. If I can hear the difference then I'm sure the fish can to.

The bite was pretty slow and the smallmouth hard to locate. I still want to blame the stained water for the slow fishing. Other baits used besides there two mentioned above were tubes, Senkos, poppers, and stick-worms.

All fish came on the Choppo90 and the Whopper Plopper90.

Big Mean Smallmouth

The highlight of the trip was when I hooked into my best fish of the day which ended up being a 17 inch smallmouth with a bad attitude. She hit that Whopper Plopper and ran down stream stripping line from my reel like a kit caught in a hurricane. I released my drag-chain and got the kayak to hold steady. I really can't remember the last time a smallmouth put up a fight like this. I believe this is the best fighting smallie I have ever had on and I'm not kidding. The beast made a run directly at me and found a tree or stump on the rivers bottom to bring the fight to a screeching halt. She got all snagged up on whatever it was down there and I'm not sure if I'm going to get her out of there? I lifted my drag chain and floated over the spot. My line is super tight wrapped up around whatever it was she was hiding under. Was she even still on? I was snagged up pretty good and thought for sure my line would snap. Then I felt strong pull. She's still one! I opened the bail on my reel and prayed to the river gods that she would find away to swim out of there.

She did and the fight was back on as she darted from side to side of the kayak trying to shake me loose. She failed.

17" Smallmouth