Time fished was from mid-day till dark.
WEATHER: Beautiful bluebird skies, light breeze, 80ish.
WATER: As clear as you'll see the river; 3.5' at Newport, 75 degrees F confirmed by thermometer.
HATCHES/FORAGE: No insects to speak of and no surface activity; some minnow busting here and there.
The river looked great on a very nice Labor Day weekend. In fact, I was surprised at the relatively light boat and angler activity today - had expected much more. All things considered, the J looks as good as I've seen it in awhile. Grass beds are lusher than normal although weeds are starting to break up (this is a predicable phenomenon in early Sept.) and I had to go to weedless flies in a few spots as regular hooks fouled almost immediately after hitting the water. This made for tough fishing.
I usually expect poor fishing on days like today with a high sun and post frontal conditions... and my expectations were accurate.
With the bright sun and low, clear water I started off with my typical bridge scan and saw many large bass holding on the predicable summer structure: rock ledges, logs, potholes, boulders, and woody debris mainly in the mid-river channel. Many of the big fish were in pairs and about a third of them were cruising. This is also what I expect to see. Smaller fish were closer to shore in the weed beds and I saw several schools of cruising bass in the 6"-8" range. Also saw lots of small redbreast sunfish in the shallows (no large ones, but small ones were everywhere), saw a large rock bass, a largemouth bass, a good sized muskie, about a dozen catties all in the 24" range, and perhaps a couple dozen large carp and quillbacks. Hogsuckers were extremely numerous (I have noticed this on many waterways this year and last year - don't know what's up with this). The only fish I didn't see today was a walleye.
Bass of all sizes were numerous and everywhere. I was particularly pleased with the numbers of YOY and 1-2 year class SMBs that were visible. I suspect a strong year class has been wrought on the J if today was an accurate impression.
The bass were not in a mood to eat. Many would follow the fly halfheartedly until they lost interest, or the fly got junked with weeds. Managed a handful of small bass but fishing was slow and I spent much of my time just paddling around and looking. Right at dusk there was a brief popper bite and I managed several more little ones.
Slow fishing but a great day to be out on a river.
WEATHER: Beautiful bluebird skies, light breeze, 80ish.
WATER: As clear as you'll see the river; 3.5' at Newport, 75 degrees F confirmed by thermometer.
HATCHES/FORAGE: No insects to speak of and no surface activity; some minnow busting here and there.
The river looked great on a very nice Labor Day weekend. In fact, I was surprised at the relatively light boat and angler activity today - had expected much more. All things considered, the J looks as good as I've seen it in awhile. Grass beds are lusher than normal although weeds are starting to break up (this is a predicable phenomenon in early Sept.) and I had to go to weedless flies in a few spots as regular hooks fouled almost immediately after hitting the water. This made for tough fishing.
I usually expect poor fishing on days like today with a high sun and post frontal conditions... and my expectations were accurate.
With the bright sun and low, clear water I started off with my typical bridge scan and saw many large bass holding on the predicable summer structure: rock ledges, logs, potholes, boulders, and woody debris mainly in the mid-river channel. Many of the big fish were in pairs and about a third of them were cruising. This is also what I expect to see. Smaller fish were closer to shore in the weed beds and I saw several schools of cruising bass in the 6"-8" range. Also saw lots of small redbreast sunfish in the shallows (no large ones, but small ones were everywhere), saw a large rock bass, a largemouth bass, a good sized muskie, about a dozen catties all in the 24" range, and perhaps a couple dozen large carp and quillbacks. Hogsuckers were extremely numerous (I have noticed this on many waterways this year and last year - don't know what's up with this). The only fish I didn't see today was a walleye.
Bass of all sizes were numerous and everywhere. I was particularly pleased with the numbers of YOY and 1-2 year class SMBs that were visible. I suspect a strong year class has been wrought on the J if today was an accurate impression.
The bass were not in a mood to eat. Many would follow the fly halfheartedly until they lost interest, or the fly got junked with weeds. Managed a handful of small bass but fishing was slow and I spent much of my time just paddling around and looking. Right at dusk there was a brief popper bite and I managed several more little ones.
Slow fishing but a great day to be out on a river.
