Is Your River Trout Fishing Boring Or Right Now Slow? Go After Their Cousin - The Small Mouth Bass!
A couple of weeks ago I did a diversion from river trout fishing and took two of my sons down a portion of the Snake River near Boise, Idaho.
We went fishing for small mouth bass.
What a fun trip! We took our pontoon boats and floated six miles of river in about six hours.
We arrived at the put in point before the sun was up and we were in the river prior to the sun peeking over the canyon walls.
This portion of the river is below one of the Snake River dams and so the river flow varies from day to day.
On this day the flow was perfect.
It was slower than the previous day and the water level was about a foot lower than the night before.
The water was clear and the bass were starving.
We took our bass gear of spin casting rods and crank baits and tubes.
Two of us primarily fish with the crank baits and vary the size and color.
Early on, the bass were slamming small and medium sized crayfish-looking crank baits.
Later on they hammered small bass crank baits.
There were so many fish hitting that I actually got bored early and had decided to take my fly rod so I switched over to fly fish.
I used a fly that was designed in the late sixties by a teenager in southern Colorado called a Pistol Pete.
It is a hybrid between a spinner and a fly.
The spinner action creates the sound and vibration that attracts the fish to the location and then the wooly bugger appearance makes them "lick their lips" and slam the fly.
If you are a "purist" fly fisherman then I already lost you.
If, however, you love the action of fly fishing but haven't had the success you would hope for in hooking a fish, may I suggest you try this fun fly.
You can find them in some sporting goods stores or order them directly from the home company called Hi-Country Flies.
I have used them a ton and they are excellent producers.
The day of this trip was my oldest son's birthday and he caught and released over 100 bass which is the same number that I also caught and released.
My middle son trumped us big time though with an astounding 220 bass caught and released during our six hour float.
We fish the rocks and drop offs on the edge of the river.
We will sometimes "troll" with the flow of the river but most of the time we will set up on the side and then fish both up and downstream.
My younger son primarily fishes down stream and pulls the crank or tube or fly against the current with jerks, varied speed and pauses.
He has amazing technique and I can't remember the last time I bested him on either size or count for the day.
Most of the bass we caught on this trip were between 10 and 12 inches but we each could have taken home a limit (6) of two pound bass over 14 inches.
The largest of the day was around 3 ½ pounds at 18 inches.
We are primarily catch and release fishermen but do occasionally enjoy eating a few of our catch.
On this particular day we released them all.
So if you haven't hit your favorite river to fish for trout or one of its cousins, what's the matter? Get those "honey would you please do this...
" finished and go have some fun.
If you can, take someone young along who could use the experience and land a beautiful memory.
We went fishing for small mouth bass.
What a fun trip! We took our pontoon boats and floated six miles of river in about six hours.
We arrived at the put in point before the sun was up and we were in the river prior to the sun peeking over the canyon walls.
This portion of the river is below one of the Snake River dams and so the river flow varies from day to day.
On this day the flow was perfect.
It was slower than the previous day and the water level was about a foot lower than the night before.
The water was clear and the bass were starving.
We took our bass gear of spin casting rods and crank baits and tubes.
Two of us primarily fish with the crank baits and vary the size and color.
Early on, the bass were slamming small and medium sized crayfish-looking crank baits.
Later on they hammered small bass crank baits.
There were so many fish hitting that I actually got bored early and had decided to take my fly rod so I switched over to fly fish.
I used a fly that was designed in the late sixties by a teenager in southern Colorado called a Pistol Pete.
It is a hybrid between a spinner and a fly.
The spinner action creates the sound and vibration that attracts the fish to the location and then the wooly bugger appearance makes them "lick their lips" and slam the fly.
If you are a "purist" fly fisherman then I already lost you.
If, however, you love the action of fly fishing but haven't had the success you would hope for in hooking a fish, may I suggest you try this fun fly.
You can find them in some sporting goods stores or order them directly from the home company called Hi-Country Flies.
I have used them a ton and they are excellent producers.
The day of this trip was my oldest son's birthday and he caught and released over 100 bass which is the same number that I also caught and released.
My middle son trumped us big time though with an astounding 220 bass caught and released during our six hour float.
We fish the rocks and drop offs on the edge of the river.
We will sometimes "troll" with the flow of the river but most of the time we will set up on the side and then fish both up and downstream.
My younger son primarily fishes down stream and pulls the crank or tube or fly against the current with jerks, varied speed and pauses.
He has amazing technique and I can't remember the last time I bested him on either size or count for the day.
Most of the bass we caught on this trip were between 10 and 12 inches but we each could have taken home a limit (6) of two pound bass over 14 inches.
The largest of the day was around 3 ½ pounds at 18 inches.
We are primarily catch and release fishermen but do occasionally enjoy eating a few of our catch.
On this particular day we released them all.
So if you haven't hit your favorite river to fish for trout or one of its cousins, what's the matter? Get those "honey would you please do this...
" finished and go have some fun.
If you can, take someone young along who could use the experience and land a beautiful memory.