Kayak float trip on the lower river with some friends. . .
WATER: Around 3.5' at the Newport gauge; slight algae stain, especially along the south bank; did not record water temp.
WEATHER: Sunny and windy, probably around upper eighties, rainstorms after lunch, some torrential; mostly cloudy in the afternoon.
HATCHES/FORAGE: Not much; some damselflies, lots of small shiners in dense schools in areas with river grass.
Fishing was generally slow and we got soaking wet. During the morning a steady westbound, upriver wind made for hard paddling. Got a few fish, all on poppers, with a couple in the 12" range. I usually expect aggressive fish during periods of stable, hot and humid high pressure systems, especially when rain storms are approaching. Today did not fit the mold with the bass lacking aggressiveness. I got a lot of tentative looks and follows; when fish hit they were gentle and I missed a lot of them due to short strikes. With the arrival of clouds and rain, the action picked up a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped.
The river had a tremendous amount of algae in the section we floated and much of it was broken loose and drifting in the water column. This made for tough subsurface fishing and, after a couple tries, I stuck with poppers. River grass beds were prevalent in some areas, but not as thick as in past years. I spent a good bit of time, as I usually do, just looking around. I saw a LOT of bass - much as I would expect, including many fish in the mid teens and several I guessed in the upper teens. Also saw some catties, carp, quillbacks (I think there are fewer carp and quillbacks as there used to be) and redbreast sunnies. Unlike what I witnessed in the Susky recently, YOY bass were very scarce.
WATER: Around 3.5' at the Newport gauge; slight algae stain, especially along the south bank; did not record water temp.
WEATHER: Sunny and windy, probably around upper eighties, rainstorms after lunch, some torrential; mostly cloudy in the afternoon.
HATCHES/FORAGE: Not much; some damselflies, lots of small shiners in dense schools in areas with river grass.
Fishing was generally slow and we got soaking wet. During the morning a steady westbound, upriver wind made for hard paddling. Got a few fish, all on poppers, with a couple in the 12" range. I usually expect aggressive fish during periods of stable, hot and humid high pressure systems, especially when rain storms are approaching. Today did not fit the mold with the bass lacking aggressiveness. I got a lot of tentative looks and follows; when fish hit they were gentle and I missed a lot of them due to short strikes. With the arrival of clouds and rain, the action picked up a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped.
The river had a tremendous amount of algae in the section we floated and much of it was broken loose and drifting in the water column. This made for tough subsurface fishing and, after a couple tries, I stuck with poppers. River grass beds were prevalent in some areas, but not as thick as in past years. I spent a good bit of time, as I usually do, just looking around. I saw a LOT of bass - much as I would expect, including many fish in the mid teens and several I guessed in the upper teens. Also saw some catties, carp, quillbacks (I think there are fewer carp and quillbacks as there used to be) and redbreast sunnies. Unlike what I witnessed in the Susky recently, YOY bass were very scarce.
