I spent the day chasing smallmouth and wade fishing a variety of access points on the river between Tidioute and Oil City while also scouting these same areas for places I could throw the inflatable yak in the river and have a half mile or so of relatively flat water I could fish thoroughly and then take right back out, thus avoiding the need for a 2nd vehicle or the involvement of other humans..🙂 This was a plan that served me very well last year on the Penobscot and helped me spend more time fishing and less time fadiddling.
Despite some pretty robust rains over the past 10 days or so, the river was actually low for the date as checked on the various USGS gauges in this section. Probably running a few hundred cfs below mean, or in the 2000-2300 cfs range. Clarity was good and the fishing should have been as well. But it wasn't. I'm not a big river bass guy and I think I'll defer to to the wisdom in DaveW's Susky report for same day. The post spawn and June in particular don't seem to be the most propitious time of year for this fishing. It'll be better next month, hopefully.
I did find some fish, but am unsure if I happened onto them because of the time of year or because they were in a type of water more like what I usually fish and which I understand better. The Allegheny in this section is a maze of islands and I found a channel that was probably carrying 10% or less of the total flow and had a few deeper pools with high banks, About a good long cast or 50 or 60 feet wide in this channel. I was able to bounce black fur leeches off the far banks and pick up a half dozen small to medium bass by slow walking them back to me. None of the fish were over 13" or so, but a bass is a bass. I also found a half dozen good candidate locations for my future solo kayak adventures, so that was good. I may have to mount a harpoon or a small cannon on the front end of the yak though to keep the "Look at me, I'm wearing an empty 12-pack box on my head" recreational yakkers at a safe distance. They are everywhere and in considerable numbers. I think to myself that it was a dark day for all of us when WalMart began selling serviceable kayaks for $149.95. But then I admonish myself not to be a grump and make another cast.
Nice day to out and about...
Despite some pretty robust rains over the past 10 days or so, the river was actually low for the date as checked on the various USGS gauges in this section. Probably running a few hundred cfs below mean, or in the 2000-2300 cfs range. Clarity was good and the fishing should have been as well. But it wasn't. I'm not a big river bass guy and I think I'll defer to to the wisdom in DaveW's Susky report for same day. The post spawn and June in particular don't seem to be the most propitious time of year for this fishing. It'll be better next month, hopefully.
I did find some fish, but am unsure if I happened onto them because of the time of year or because they were in a type of water more like what I usually fish and which I understand better. The Allegheny in this section is a maze of islands and I found a channel that was probably carrying 10% or less of the total flow and had a few deeper pools with high banks, About a good long cast or 50 or 60 feet wide in this channel. I was able to bounce black fur leeches off the far banks and pick up a half dozen small to medium bass by slow walking them back to me. None of the fish were over 13" or so, but a bass is a bass. I also found a half dozen good candidate locations for my future solo kayak adventures, so that was good. I may have to mount a harpoon or a small cannon on the front end of the yak though to keep the "Look at me, I'm wearing an empty 12-pack box on my head" recreational yakkers at a safe distance. They are everywhere and in considerable numbers. I think to myself that it was a dark day for all of us when WalMart began selling serviceable kayaks for $149.95. But then I admonish myself not to be a grump and make another cast.
Nice day to out and about...
