- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 7,470
Time: 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Flow: USGS gauge at Newport hasn't been updating since late Friday. It was 1070 then. Correlating with the Lewistown gauge (800), I'd say 1200ish would be in the ballpark at Newport.
Skies: Mostly sunny, occasional passing cumulus.
Air Temp: 80
Water Temp: 83 in the main current.
Clarity: Essentially clear. Perhaps a shade off of perfectly clear. I could see my feet easily at waist deep.
Tallied 79 by my likely inaccurate headcount, but any way you slice it I caught a lot. All Smallmouth, no Fallfish, no panfish. It was b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Classic Summer set up. They were mid-river in medium current/medium depth. Boulder filled runs produced best, but fish were caught out of the deeper soft riffles too. I just fished a chartreuse Bugger all afternoon, but they likely would have hit any reasonable streamer. Classic bombing it from below type hits. In the right habitat it was every cast type action. Drift, swing, and active strip all took fish. Once I figured out exactly how aggressive they were willing to be, I switched to an all active strip approach, because well, that's the most fun. Interesting size breakdown...I'd say 75% of them were 8-9"...2012 YOY?...give them another couple years and that stretch will be full of bulldozers. I had 2 go 11ish, one 13ish, and one 15ish. Along with a dozen or so dinks. I saw a 20" range fish cruising the tail of a pool, but it showed no interest. All fish caught were healthy with no sores, lesions, or spots. The smaller fish were blowing up damselflies in the riffles. Probably could have caught a few with a popper, but I only saw smaller fish actively doing this.
I also inadvertently spooked out a pod of carp that were sitting in the mouth and spring seep of a small cold water trib. Felt bad doing it, but didn't see them there until they were spooked.
Overall this was probably my best day ever Smallie fishing. I've broken the century mark WW fishing before, but there was always some panfish and Fallfish mixed in. After catching nothing but Trout all year, and a few Fallfish on my only other WW outing, those Smallies felt like freight trains. An 8" Smallie pulls like a 14" Trout...and if you don't believe that...try it.
Edit: The two canoe parties that floated by me in 4 hours were both courteous and we coexisted without incident. No yaks though.
Flow: USGS gauge at Newport hasn't been updating since late Friday. It was 1070 then. Correlating with the Lewistown gauge (800), I'd say 1200ish would be in the ballpark at Newport.
Skies: Mostly sunny, occasional passing cumulus.
Air Temp: 80
Water Temp: 83 in the main current.
Clarity: Essentially clear. Perhaps a shade off of perfectly clear. I could see my feet easily at waist deep.
Tallied 79 by my likely inaccurate headcount, but any way you slice it I caught a lot. All Smallmouth, no Fallfish, no panfish. It was b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Classic Summer set up. They were mid-river in medium current/medium depth. Boulder filled runs produced best, but fish were caught out of the deeper soft riffles too. I just fished a chartreuse Bugger all afternoon, but they likely would have hit any reasonable streamer. Classic bombing it from below type hits. In the right habitat it was every cast type action. Drift, swing, and active strip all took fish. Once I figured out exactly how aggressive they were willing to be, I switched to an all active strip approach, because well, that's the most fun. Interesting size breakdown...I'd say 75% of them were 8-9"...2012 YOY?...give them another couple years and that stretch will be full of bulldozers. I had 2 go 11ish, one 13ish, and one 15ish. Along with a dozen or so dinks. I saw a 20" range fish cruising the tail of a pool, but it showed no interest. All fish caught were healthy with no sores, lesions, or spots. The smaller fish were blowing up damselflies in the riffles. Probably could have caught a few with a popper, but I only saw smaller fish actively doing this.
I also inadvertently spooked out a pod of carp that were sitting in the mouth and spring seep of a small cold water trib. Felt bad doing it, but didn't see them there until they were spooked.
Overall this was probably my best day ever Smallie fishing. I've broken the century mark WW fishing before, but there was always some panfish and Fallfish mixed in. After catching nothing but Trout all year, and a few Fallfish on my only other WW outing, those Smallies felt like freight trains. An 8" Smallie pulls like a 14" Trout...and if you don't believe that...try it.
Edit: The two canoe parties that floated by me in 4 hours were both courteous and we coexisted without incident. No yaks though.
