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| One of a couple doubles on a day of 80+ fish. |
Kenny had a trip postponed earlier in the fall due to
weather with Chris from Reel River Adventures, who runs a guide service on a jet
boat, fishing the Susquehanna, Delaware, Lehigh, places smallmouth, walleye,
and musky like to live. I jumped on
board, gratefully. I have not been doing
much bass fishing for the last few years, usually getting my quota after a week
in Canada every year, so by Tuesday night, I was pretty excited.
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| Kenny with an early lead on hair jigs. |
Ken picked me up at 6 AM for the roughly two hour
ride. It had rained most of the day on Tuesday, and it was
still drizzling on our way out to the launch.
Water was a bit brown, with a few random objects floating by throughout
the day, but it did not hamper the fishing in the least; in fact it may have made it better. The morning was cold
and overcast, but that kept the wind at bay for a couple hours.
When the sun broke through the clouds and it began to clear, we had about 90 minutes of wind,
which was tough. I had plenty of layers on, but I was thinking Chris was the smartest of us, already in bibs. I had not been bass
fishing enough lately to work the bow in the line as effectively as I would have liked, especially with braid (My
eyes do better with fluorescent blue mono in the wind!!) but I worked out the
kinks while Kenny scored an early lead.
I later learned that Chris uses heavier braid to reduce wind knots,
which is smart with the random sampling of skill levels that come aboard, but I
was wishing for 8 lb Nanofil to cut through the wind and sink faster. I brought my own rod with lighter line, but I was sort of enjoying having a qualified fishing caddy calling my lure selection shots. I don't fish with a guide very often, maybe 5 times in my lifetime, if that many.
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| A nice one on the tube. |
Rest assured that I figured it out and quickly got my
groove back. Ken and I stayed pretty
even all day, with the lead changing a couple times. It wouldn’t be polite to say who caught the
most fish, but I will concede that his 19 incher, eclipsed my 18+ 3.4
pounder. We caught fish on tubes, hair
jigs, and grubs all day. The pitch counter
doesn’t lie, so we know we caught at least 82 fish for the day, which is a
banner day for December in water that fluctuated between 40 and 41 degrees at
best. Fish were stacked up in holes in a
small area, so the captain used the trolling motor and Minn Kota Talons to move
us around a bit and then effectively lock us back into place.
Chris has great equipment and the boat is a roomy, custom
aluminum inboard jet. We were fishing in
style. I think he was happy too. He had a couple ringers on board and he even
got to stick some fish himself, including one pig! He is also an interesting guy to talk to and
very knowledgeable. I would definitely
recommend his service to anyone looking for a unique day on the water.
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| The captain got in on the action. |
Ken and I had a few doubles on the day, and we ended the
day just before a romantic sunset with another double and then called it
good. I may have mentioned my tennis
(aka fly fishing) elbow problems this year.
Well, this didn’t help, but at least Ken was in pain too. After making fun of me in Canada, he has been
experiencing a similar situation. This
kind of fishing involves a lot of tense concentration, so a lot of me is sore. In the winter, some bass hits are just an odd
weight, just a little something different that you must react to (and with cold
hands in the wind at the end of a long cast).
By the late afternoon, I had a run of solid fish that actually reacted
to jigged tubes with the telltale tick or bump in the line. A couple even tried to jump, which is not easy
for a cold blooded beast in 40 degree water. I can't imagine how tired my arm would have been in May or June when these fish were in prime water temps!
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| Kenny with a good one. |
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| Photo bombing... |
A day with 80+ bass, up to 4 lbs, with a few over 3, in
December? Even a couple bite offs from toothy creatures? I would call it a good day,
indeed. We only stopped for coffee and a bathroom break on the way home, so we made good time back home. I finally took a shower around
8:30 PM after putting the boy to bed, and I read for 15 minutes before passing
out until 6:30 AM. I was surprised I
felt as good as I did the morning after.
I told Kenny I could have done 100 fish…
He is still figuring out a way for us to get sympathy from our wives and
friends about fishing injuries. Aww,
poor thing, your elbow hurts from fishing too much? Not happening anytime soon, at least not at my house. Kenny's wife baked cookies for us, so I think that is about the extent of her support, as well. It was good to fish with young Kenny and stick some bass for a change!
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A collage care of Reel River Adventures |
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A parting shot of the mighty Susky at sunset.
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Some beastly bronze backs there DJ! Nice Post.
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Thanks!
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