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Another small mouth catching frenzy on the New!

6K views 42 replies 16 participants last post by  GreyGhost 
#1 ·
My 14 year old son Jacob caught his first ever (1) fish from a kayak (2) Small Mouth Bass (3) Moving water fish.

Of course, it was the biggest one of the day. A 16" small mouth bass on the South Fork of the New within 100 yards of the Wagoner launch. A pic of the proud boy
Water Boat Smile Watercraft Paddle

But that was just the beginning of an epic day.

Johnny, DBeam,H2ooooh, jacob and I had a MONSTER day catching smallies. Literally lost count. I BELIEVE that 250-300 bass were brought to the kayaks by the 5 of us. Jacob and I each contributed about 30, and Ray and Darrell were close to 100 each. Yeah.... You can call that epic. Of course, most of the fish were the typical 8-12" South Fork smallies... but each hit like a LMB of 3 times that size. Tons of fun on the light rods.

Water Cloud Sky Smile Lake
Water Boat Watercraft Plant community Sports equipment
Water Sky Boat Paddle Cloud


Ray even got a trout to pose for a picture.
Cap Beard T-shirt Smile Finger


And the Class I rapids were a lot of fun!
Water Boat Paddle Vehicle Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies
Water Boat Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies Fluvial landforms of streams Lake


Nothing could have been better! A great day with great people.
 

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#5 ·
It was an amazing day! All I could do was laugh at times, so many fish. You'd catch a smallie and there would be 1 or 2 following that one. Throw right back in the same place "fish on!" I've never had an experience like that before. I've had good days but as far as number of fish caught this one blew them all out of the water.
 
#18 ·
I use about 20 inches of chain on an anchor trolley. It's effective most anywhere outside of the main current, enters the water quietly and is easy to pull in. While I work the obvious deep pools and banks I typically search out small deeper pockets along the bank and anchor close along side them. If there's too much adjacent current I'll anchor right below the pocket against the bank. It allows me to keep the bait in the strike zone and easily detect bites drifting the lizard with a tiny (size 7) clamshot. My casts are usually only 15-20 feet. Find one of these in an area otherwise devoid of attractive water and fish will be stacked in there and bypassed by other fishermen. Stealth and silence is the key to this technique to avoid spooking fish.

Sent from my K88 using Tapatalk
 
#17 ·
Ray - Nothing but skill
Len, Darrell, & Johnny - 2 liter coke bottle filled with sand, off front or back of kayak. Anchor only, not speed brake.
John - Chain - I think for speed brake and anchor
Jacob - Brush anchor - anchor only
 
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#19 ·
Congrats to all, an amazing day for sure. Especially good to share it as a group plus it guarantees that a "fish tale" wasn't being told. ;)

The New is truly a world class fishery and this time of year those smaller fish get stacked up and you can catch a boat load. I recall an afternoon on the New in WV where we anchored up on a boulder garden in the push of a drop and caught about 40 in about an hour and never moved the raft. You can get spoiled in a hurry that way.
 
#20 ·
This hot spot on my pinkie knuckle is from setting the hook countless times Sunday (lizard rigged weedless requires an aggressive hookset with an untralight). The reel seat is stradled by this finger and the one next to it.


Sent from my K88 using Tapatalk
 
#24 ·
I was using 1/8, but many were using 1/16 ounce. I might have hung a few more.

Colors didn't matter... I had cali craw, green pumpkin, and peanut butter jelly, and all got hits.

Ray was using Stik-o from bass pro on his mushroom jigs... And the fish didn't complain about the off brand.

That day, I think we could have thrown about anything that looked like a worm/lizard/crayfish and gotten hits.
 
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