Yes, it has been awhile since I pulled the G3 out of the driveway and headed down to the river for a summer evening of smallmouth angling. Thank goodness I didn't forget the route... LOL!
Wednesday evening was so nice and I knew that we would not have a better night than we were having the remainder of the week. It was in the low-80s with a slight and comfortable northwestern breeze... It was simply beautiful outside.
My wife and middle son, Tom Jr., left the house for an evening drive and I quickly asked Zach if he wanted to go fishing on the river with me... "Sure thing, dad!" So, we grabbed a few drinks and a bite to eat from the refrigerator and loaded the cooler into the boat.
I walked through the towing boat prep with Zach. Once the boat was hooked up to the truck, we were on the road to the launch site. It only takes us about a 15 minute drive from our home to the ramp. Nice and short, just the way we like it. :)
When we arrived at the launch, there were several children and their parents swimming at the two ramps... of course. They were kayaking and had just returned and were taking a swim before loading the yaks onto their vehicle. I will give them credit... They were wise enough to stay far enough out of our way and did not bother us while we launched the boat.
There are no signs telling folks not to fish or swim at these new ramps. I guess PPL will have to get a sign erected before there is an incident or injury.
It doesn't take long to launch our boat when there are two of us doing it. After prepping the boat to launch, I backed the truck down the ramp and turned the truck keys over to Zach as I got on board. We were even lucky to get the first parking space tonight and Zach was able to pull into it rather easily.
Once Zach got on board, we headed to our first evening fishing hole. The boat ran well as we headed north.
We both tied on 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits and started to toss them on opposite sides of the boat. Zach hooked up quickly with this beautiful 15" smallie with nice dark markings...
You can tell by the above picture just how nice it was outside this past Wednesday evening. The water temp was 78 degrees and the clarity was slightly stained at our first "productive" spot. As we moved into the main river, the water clarity cleared a bit which is very typical for this particular area.
As we were moving across the ledges towards the main river, I was able to pick up this 16.5" smallmouth on my War Eagle Green Shad 1/2 oz. spinnerbait. I was feeling the spinnerbait knocking off the ledges and rocks as I was slow rolling it before this one took hold for a good fight.
We met a father and his older son who were fishing this area for the first time. They were in search of flatheads. Now, I know a few spots that folks fish for flatheads on Lake Aldred, but I am certainly not an expert at it. :) They had brought some crayfish along with them as bait. He mentioned that something had nailed one of his crayfish earlier... bit it in half! I told him that there are some very hungry toothy critters like walleye, as well as, musky in this area. It possibly was one of these toothy critters.
I switched over to a 1/2 oz. Cotton Cordell Super Spot and hooked into two more smallmouth before the sun dropped over the hillside and we headed back to the ramp.
There were a few pontoon boats on the water when we left the ramp. A jet ski was also launching when we were on the water at the ramp.
As we were tying down the boat for trailering, another jet ski came to the launch site and one more boat pulled in as we were leaving... Most likely flathead anglers.
Thanks to my son, Zach, for joining me on Wednesday. Anytime I have a fellow angler along, it makes it so much easier to launch and trailer the G3.
It has been a very busy month at our home. Julie had her second arm surgery on Monday and we've been caring for her at home. I also had my bi-annual MRI with Contrast on Wednesday morning. I will get the results next month when I travel to Baltimore to see my liver specialist, Dr. Maheshwari, of Mercy Hospital.
I have been seeing Dr. M for almost seven years. He was a physician at Johns Hopkins University Hospital when I was diagnosed back in 2005, but transferred to Mercy a couple of years ago... I followed along. He had convinced me that if and when the time comes for the need of a liver transplant, I will be in very good hands with the Georgetown University Hospital. Their percentage of transplant survival after the first year is very impressive.
I hope to be back on the water more often once this crazy weather settles down. It has been very difficult planning fishing trips for me with the threat of thunderstorms almost on a daily basis. For example, the weather is not suppose to improve until this coming Sunday. *sigh*
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
