Headed to the River

I was going to fish alone today and Josh was taking his buddy, Dunkleberger fishing in his rig. We met at the ramp at 7:45 a.m. and headed north. I stopped at a favorite spot of mine and Josh continued upriver. Within several minutes, I hit a nice 16.75" on a 3/8th oz. chartreuse bladed spinnerbait.

Here's dad in his G3 clocking Josh's rig at 31.4 mph... downriver, full gear, and a partner on board. Not bad for a 1860 with a 90/65 Yamaha Jet.


I called Josh to see how far north he had run and to fill him in my quick success. We knew that his TM was not churning at 100% before we left the ramp. He told me he was going to call Lakeside Marine (JC Nuss) in Harrisburg to discuss the problem.

20 minutes later, when we spoke again, he told me he had tried a few things and wanted to know if I had any silicone spray. I had a facsimile and headed north to meet up him.

By the time I got there, he had spoken once again to Lakeside and had decided to not screw around and take the TM into the shop. So, we ran back to the ramp and Dunkleberger jumped rigs to ride with me. Josh headed to Lakeside to drop off his boat and was coming back to fish with us.

It didn't take him too long before he returned and we fished "Three Men in a Tub".

The three of us picked up 12 fish over the next few hours. The biggest was a nice 17.75" that Josh caught on a spinnerbait. This was right after his buddy missed a nice fish... We think he "stole" Dunkleberger's fish... LOL! :-) When Dunkleberger hooked into that big fish, it shot out of the water like a missile. It was a least 2' out of the water which is a feat for such a hawg.

Josh's 17.75" on a spinnerbait


This pic shows the growth on this fish's left eye... May be a parasite(?)


I had two throughout the day that measured 16.75". Both were chunks and had been eating quite well on crayfish.

We had no evidence of spawn in any of the areas we fished today. The water was 56.7 degrees in the morning and rose to 59.3 degrees by 2:00 p.m. It was mostly sunny with a few passing clouds. The wind blew 10-15 mph all day long. It started blowing from the NE and switched to the NW by afternoon as the high pressure moved into the area.

The water was stained to emerald green on the east shoreline and the middle of the river. The west shoreline was dirtier, but not muddy. Certain islands that we passed appeared dirtier than the main stem. The wind was contributing to this.

Thanks for the great day, Josh and Dunkleberger!
dadTB

p.s. We took a pic of Josh's big fish of the day. It had a growth growing on the back end of it's eye. The fish still could see from that eye, but the growth was partly blocking it's vision. Not sure if Josh got a good pic of it(?)