Overcoming High Water Conditions

I've been looking forward to June since the end of the ice fishing season, but so far it isn't really living up to my expectations.  The story for this spring has been big rains and high water.  The river has been swelled for weeks.  One positive outcome of this frustrating situation is that it has pushed me further up river to seek out spots that will produce when the river is up.  I've found that the first mile beyond my normal stretch holds far more snags, bends, holes, and small islands.  I have been able to pick out some spots that produce even when the river is up.  An outing that I took earlier this week will serve as a good example of what I have found up there.

Hearing that we had yet more rain coming this week, I made a call to Michelle as I was heading home from work on Monday to offer to watch the kids for a few hours in turn for being able to head to the river by 7:30 or so.  She took me up on it, so with kids in tow after dinner, I went to the creek and stocked up on some creek chubs and even one small gill.  I should add that my stock of chubs is getting thin in the creek behind my house.  I thought that they would naturally replenish, but apparently I'm taking them out more quickly than new ones are showing up.  I'm going to have to leave them alone for awhile and get my bait from the local park where I previously caught them.  I ended up with close to a dozen chubs, including some that I had kept in a bucket after my last trip.  More would have been better, but this was enough to get me on the water.

At around 8:00 I dropped the boat into the river on this small little launch that doesn't have a dock.  I'm not loving this part of my new fishing situation.  The launch by my parents' house is beautiful and has a nice dock.  Launching and trailering the boat is dry, quick, and easy.  This one is muddy and shallow, and I have to wade in to get the boat on and off of the trailer.  Anyway, I headed up river under gun metal skies and in a mist of rain.  The first spot that I tried was the down river end of the second island up.  I got bumped a few times, but as I was waiting I saw a nice snag that seemed more inviting.  I set up on this snag and missed a few solid hits before landing an eater sized channel.  I don't normally keep them, but I decided before this trip that I was going to keep some eaters and have them for dinner the next night.  I got bumped a few more times on that snag, but I couldn't hook up.  I was getting frustrated, but threw in one more time.  I finally sunk the hook into my tormentor and was surprised when it leaped right out of the water.  It turned out to be my first gar pike.  It jumped a few more times, including when it was up next to the boat.  I grabbed my pliers to release it without bringing it into the boat, but one more jump and it released itself.

I dropped down to another small snag just as the sun was setting.  I've never seen the mosquitos as bad as they are this year.  Even with bug spray on, they swarmed me, looking for any opening that I would give them.  Latex gloves come in handy in this situation.  They allow you to protect your hands without having to put dope on them and risk contaminating your bait.  The wind suddenly came up and began blowing at what must have been at least 15-20 mph.  This cleared the skeeters and gave me some much needed relief.  The sudden wind made me wonder if a thunderstorm was coming in, but one never materialized.  Back to the fishing.  I picked up another channel and had a few more swings and misses.  With just enough light to see, I then slipped down to the sizable snag that is stacked against the top of a small island.  I've fished this before and have mentioned it in at least one previous entry.  I threw in cut chub on two lines and the gill on the third rod.  It didn't take long before I got a good hit and set the hook on something heavy.  I knew quickly that I was dragging in a turtle.  As I hauled in this angry snapper, the rod with the gill sprung to life.  With the turtle on the rod in my left hand, I grabbed the bouncing rod in my right and set the hook on nothing.  That old snapper had cost me a flattie.  I cursed the bad timing.

With this spot producing nothing more, I slid down to a snag along the edge of the island.  It gave me one more eater channel.  Running out of bait and time, I nosed up to the bottom of the island.  This is a nice current break and I noticed that it drops off into a deep hole.  A live chub picked up a small flattie in no time, but then things slowed right down.  I sat for quite awhile with only a few bumps.  At a little after midnight I decided to stack the last few chunks of cutbait on my hook and give it one last toss.  I finally got a nice steady pull that kept the rod loaded.  I grabbed it and set the hook on another smallish flattie.

I kept the fish on an aerator in the livewell overnight and cleaned them after work yesterday afternoon.  I soaked the fillets in milk, dipped them in egg, and then coated them with Drakes Batter Mix.  After baking the fish for awhile, I noticed that the Drakes coating looked somewhat dry and I didn't think it would bake to the golden brown that is promised on the box.  I melted some margarine and basted the fish nuggets.  I got a very good response from my family.  Michelle seemed reluctant to try it, but by the end reported that she thought that she might even like it better than chicken.  For her, it's important that she doesn't see any of the preparation process.  All she wants to see is the golden brown, fully cooked nuggets.  It was good that I was able to do all of that while she was gone at the dentist.  Luke also gave me a positive response and even came back for more.  I'm still a catch and release guy, but I might keep a few eaters from time to time to keep the family fat and happy.

We had huge rain again last night and so our county and those around us are under flood warnings.  I was wanting to bring Mort out tomorrow to show him this stretch.  I'm not sure if it's worth the effort, but I'm sure I'll still go.  The only way to learn how to catch fish in all of these tough situations is to get out there, find spots that produce under these conditions, and figure out how to fish them.  Getting bait will be a problem for the next couple of days as the creeks are all swelled.  I will probably have to get some gills and maybe resort to dip bait for the channels.  The fishing has been good enough to keep me busy, but I'm still waiting for stable water so the big flatties will start biting consistently.  Still a lot of great fishing ahead.