My fishing drought is over. The last trip I had on the water was on May 28, 2010... The Friday before Memorial Day!
I have been having some pain issues with my arthritis and decided to give it a break. Even yesterday, I was feeling rather poorly. I still can't bend down to tie my left shoe! It's been quite awhile since I've felt this bad and almost forgot what it felt like.
I spoke to Josh (smallieman) Kreider yesterday to see if we could get back on our "Tuesdays With Dad" routine. We haven't fished together since the second week of April when we attacked the North Branch of the Susquehanna River.
After spending several days in a cabin and on a boat with me, I have a feeling Josh need a hiatus from "Dad"... LOL.
In last evening's conversation, we decided to fish the lower river since everywhere else seems so bad and, boy, am I glad we did.
I met up with Josh at his apartment around 5:30 a.m. we hooked the boat up and headed to Gus's Family Restaurant in Mt. Joy, Pa. for breakfast. We were able to plan our day's strategy over hot coffee and good food. That may be the best way to make strategy plans... Don't you think?
We got to the ramp around 7:00 a.m. and we were fishing by 7:30 a.m. By our second cast, we had a smallie on the line. Cool! Josh had fished over four hours on Sunday with Randy and they only had one dink in the boat for the entire outing! Well, we were doing a bit better than that. How much better? We wouldn't know until the end of our Tuesday adventure.
The wind was gradually picking up and there were white caps on the open water by 8:00 a.m. The water temp was 73 degrees and the water had 2.5' of visibility. The air temp was only 53 degrees this morning. Take a 53 degree air temp and add a 15 -20 mph NW wind and it makes for a rather brisk morning for June 8, 2010!
This weather is something else. Just this past week, we were in record heat and today it felt like Fall.
Spinnerbaits, spinnerbaits, spinnerbaits... That was our lure of choice in this high wind. The chop on the water gave us an advantage which we were glad to have and the fish cooperated.
We nailed a few smaller fish until this beautiful 19.5" smallie railroaded my offering...
By 11:30 a.m., we had boated over 14 smallies and we were ready to give ourselves a break from the constant wind that was beating us up. Josh definitely was taking more of a beating than me. Not only was he facing into the wind with the bow of the boat, but he had his foot on that TM 99% of the time to hold us in position.
About an hour before the break, we had met up with Josh's parents who were also on the water. They had arrived just after us, but only had one fish by lunchtime... on a spinnerbait! Hmmmmmmm... LOL!
Before we headed back to the ramp for lunch, we were able to hit another beautiful smallie that measured in at 18.5"
When we got to the launch, Josh's parents were loading up the trailer. They were finished fighting the wind. In fact, the other two trailers that were at the ramp when we arrived were also gone.
We got to talk a little about fishing of this area with them before they took off for home.
We found a place to sit down and eat our lunches. It was actually rather pleasant on the shore compared to the beating the wind was handing to us. So, we were off the water for about an hour before we headed back. We were now fully fed and had our second wind!
As we were getting ready to launch, Ted (Tear Em Up) came down to the boat to meet us. It was good putting a face to TEU since we always talk on the websites. Ted shared his knowledge of the area we were fishing and we certainly did appreciate his help.
It was good to meet you in person, Ted. I know that we will met again in that area sometime soon.
We got back on the water a little after 12:30 p.m. and picked up right where we left off... nailing two fish back-to-back! :)
We stayed out until 2:00 p.m. and ended the day with 29 smallies in 5.5 hrs. of fishing. Not bad at all compared to how the river has been fishing lately. I was pleased as punch!
Thanks to Old Crow and Ted for their helpful tips and to Josh for towing my butt around in his boat. It was really good to be back on the water. Although I'm still sore, it's now tempered with the thoughts of a great day on the water with a great fishing buddy!
Take care!
Dad
