My good buddy and fishing partner, Josh, has finally landed his first smallies of the 2010 Season!
I had an early morning (8:50 a.m.) dentist appointment (yuck!) which kept us off the water until 10:30 a.m.
It was a slow start and we fished for well over 90 minutes without a single hit. Josh was getting a bit edgy in anticipation of his first 2010 smallie. He even started making jokes about my mom who passed away five years ago... vicious, I say! :)
I told him that when I get to heaven and see my mom, we'll come back together to haunt him so that he can be an episode on the SyFy Channel's "Ghost Hunters!"
Our first fish to the boat was a slim 15" walleye on a hair jig (Which Josh borrowed from dad). She was returned to the river no worse for the wear.
Josh then landed a beautiful 12" smallie on the same 1/8th oz. hair jig (red/black). Yes, finally a smallie for Josh. I told him by August and 100's of more that he'll barely remember that moment... "No Way!"
The next bass that he caught was a little bigger and measured in at about 14.5" - Same hair jig! That hair jig was being very, very good to Josh.
Al Winco asked me to try the new 3" Drag Bait when I hit the water. I gave the lure over an hour of play time on the river without success. It just wasn't a fair evaluation because neither one of us was having any luck attracting bites. I hate trying a new bait when even my own confidence lures aren't succeeding.
After almost two hours of fishing, I finally got one into the boat. Here is a pic of a nice 17" smallie that came on a 2.5" mudpie tube all juiced up with BANG Crawdad.
Josh started to get a bit creative with my new WP camera. Plus, he was up on me two smallies to none. Sure, buddy, rub it in!
The next smallie that was brought to the boat came once again on that black with red hair jig. Josh measured her at 16"... nice and healthy!
See Josh, even dad can get creative with his pictures... with a little help from the editor... LOL!
I finally nailed the biggest fish of the day. A nice fat 18 incher that was starting to show the signs of eggs. Take note also of the bite mark on the back dorsal fin. This old lady was a survivor, fer shure!
The weather was just perfect for a late winter fishing trip. A pre-frontal condition gave us an overcast sky with winds hanging around 5 mph. The air temp was in the low to mid-40's and the water temp from the warm water influence nearby ran between 42 degrees and 46 degrees. There were a few eddies that were a bit warmer because they were sitting out of the main stream.
The water had a beautiful rich green algae stain and was quite clean of any debris. The river level in Harrisburg, Pa. was at 4.2' and rising slightly from the snow melt off.
Mike Burton was fishing just north of us and had pulled in several nice walleye that were laden with eggs before we got on the water. It won't be long until the walleye begin their spawning spring rituals. In fact, March 14 will bring a close to walleye season on Pa. waterways until May 1, 2010. Don't forget!
Here is another "Creative Josh" long-armed pic of the 17 inch smallie we caught during our trip. :)
Until our next visit!
dad
