A Date with Jake

Area - CVM

Wade/Float - Wade

Water Level - 6.16ft

CFS - 600, Water Temp - 80

Clarity - Stain 12" clarity

Fly/Spin - spin

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It's been years in the planning and the stars had finally aligned to give Jake and I a chance to get out and chase some smallmouth together.

We met up at Blackhawk Springs off of Peerryville at the confluence of the north and south branches of the Kish.

All geared up and ready to go, we followed a trail down-stream along the north branch until we were just down-stream of the confluence on what I consider to be the main branch after the two branches combine to become one. We both started off tossing the Whopper Plopper and couldn't find much action on the top. I think Jake may have landed one (1) little smallie with the Plopper and soon after switched to a Ned-Rig and began to get some strikes but failed to get decent hook sets and lost about six (6) fish. The river has changed from all the high water we have had this year and it seems that much of the river bed has been washed away making for deeper water than in previous years and a bit swifter current. There was also a bit of a stain which I believe to be caused from sandbars being shuffled around and moved around from the past high water, making for a lot of loose soil, sand and rock that has yet to settle. Jake nailed a good hook set on a solid fish with his ultra light and the fight was on. It was fun just to stand back and watch as Jake fought the fish that bulldogged it's way to the bottom in swift current. The fish broke the surface and we both could see that it was a nice one. A few more runs and a last change leap, the sallies was finally brought to hand and taped at 17.5 inches.

I decided that I wanted to take Jake back up-stream on the north branch as that stretch of river has some real nice areas that normally hold real good fish. I have not yet waded this section this year so what changes lay before us, I do not know. Unfortunately this turned out to be a mistake. The depth of the river has changed through this section making wade fish to be quite a task. I apologized a number of times to Jake for my unawareness of the river changes that made this outing difficult. Being the Smallmouth Hunter that Jake is, he told me to stop and we worked together to deal with and conquer whatever challenge the river through at us. I don't mind doing stuff like this when I'm alone but when I'm out with someone that really doesn't know the river as I do, I try not to put them through learning process of the yearly river changes. I will say that it was fun having a pal by my side for this learning adventure.

The bite was slow and we really could not find any kind of a top water. We would both switch from topwaters to tubes or Ned-Rigs, and Jake even picked up a couple throwing a swim-jig. Jake picked up a few more smallmouth along the way with the biggest going about 16 inches. He did nail a beast of a smallie with the Whopper Plopper that looked to 18+ inches but spit the lure back after a few leaps.

I was quite shocked at the new depth along this stretch and will wait until the water recedes about 5 more inches.

Looks like I'll be sticking with South branch for a couple more weeks.

The End