This past Thursday my longtime friend Kevin called to ask if my wife and I would be interested in joining him for a float trip on the nearby Eel River. I was planning on mowing the yard this weekend, but Kev's offer sounded a lot better and I figured the grass would be there when I got back. His plan was to fish for smallmouth bass, a fish that I have never really fished for and wanted to desperately catch from the kayak. Kevin recently purchased a Jackson Kayak SUPerFISHal stand up paddle board and wanted to try it on a river trip. I asked Ginger if she wanted to go and she was all for it, so plans were made to meet up Saturday afternoon.
We arrived at the launch site at about 1:30 p.m. and dropped off the kayaks, paddle board and gear. Ginger stayed at the launch site while Kev and I went to drop off one of the vehicles at the take out location. After driving back to the launch site and carrying all of our gear to the river's edge, it wasn't long before we were on the water below the dam and casting for smallmouth...
I maneuvered my kayak into a small area near the old mill where the current just kept slowly spinning me in tight circles. It worked perfectly so I could take my time working the nearby rocks with a small, white buzz bait with my ultra light rod & reel. On about the third or fourth cast, I caught my first smallmouth bass from a kayak...
We fished the area below the dam for a little bit before deciding to keep moving. Our take out point was quite a ways down river and we had to keep moving if we wanted to get there before dark. After paddling for a little while, we beached the boats to do some wading and fishing, with a quick nap thrown in...
My wife has had very little experience paddling on a river, so she opted to just float and enjoy the day instead of fishing as much as Kevin and I were. She did fish a little bit, but didn't catch anything, and she was perfectly okay with that. I was just glad she came along and was having a good time. So many guys would rather not hang out with their wives, but I'm blessed to be married to my best friend and I do enjoy her company...
Kevin was catching a few fish from his SUP board. I'm not sure how many fish he ended up catching throughout the day but I do know that he caught both some smallmouth bass and a few rock bass...
The section of the Eel River that we paddled not only provided some fun fishing, but it was also very scenic. Kevin spotted three river otters and Ginger watched an eagle soar overhead. An old iron bridge went over the river at one point and some old train trestles reminded us of days long gone...
The smallmouth bass kept biting just long enough to keep us entertained, although none of them were bigger than 10 inches long. I ended the day catching nine smallmouth bass, two 5 inch carp, ten rock bass and one tiny bluegill that was paper thin but absolutely beautiful with more coloring than any bluegill I have ever seen before...
We arrived at the bridge marking our take out point shortly before 8 p.m. It was a wonderful six hours on a beautiful little Indiana river and, although the big fish didn't cooperate, the fishing was fantastic. We all agreed we'll do this float again sometime. Right before paddling to shore so we could begin the chore of pulling the kayaks up the mud covered river bank, I made one more cast and brought the buzzbait up behind a little ripple. Sure enough, the last fish of the day hit the lure and was soon in hand. As I released him back into the river current, I couldn't help but feel really blessed to have witnessed some of God's many creations once again...
No comments:
Post a Comment