05-22-2009, 05:12 AM
Well I really wanted to go looking for some smallmouth again, so back to Idaho I went. I also really wanted to catch them on a fly rod this time. Well that didn't work out as planned. I caught a couple of dinks on a big ugly sort of creature fly with rubber legs, marabou and rabbit fur. I decided to try one of the crayfish patterns I tied up last night to see if the bigger fish would find that more enticing. Well, a couple of casts later, one of them apparently did. Unfortunately my rod was completely obliterated, splintering right at the cork grip. That rod had lived a long life and been through a lot, so I guess it was fitting that a smallmouth, my favorite fish, would kill it. Well, back to the light spinning rod then. I fished some little paddle tail worms I made up recently, and I took a few more fish, and missed a bunch. I switched to the trusty crayfish imitations instead, and that did the trick. I found a deeper channel that had a bunch of smallies piled up in it. I ended up with 20 before I had to leave the canyon to check in with work. Well, they didn't need me, so I thought I'd give Glendale a look. Despite the annoying screaming teenagers with the huge sound system, it looked promising. All sorts of flooded brush, and upon slipping my tube into the water, I discovered a balmy 68 degree water temp. I was excited for tons of bass and hopefully crappie, but alas, it didn't go that way. I tossed a slug go up into pockets in the brush without so much as a strike. I decided to try a 1/32 oz jig under a float by some of the deeper flooded brush. It went down once, and I fought something for a short while before it got off. I couldn't get another hit out there, so I headed back. When I was just about back to shore I cast the grub, sans float, by some brush and began swimming it back. Something hit it hard, but it wasn't a crappie, but a trout. That wasn't enough to hold my interest, so I headed back to the car. I glanced over at some flooded trees by the shore, and saw a school of bluegill that had moved in while I was out floating. I happened to have my 10' crappie pole in the car, and I'd yet to give it a proper try. They were very skittish. I eventually enticed a couple to hit my jig, but I missed them. I scaled down even further to a 1/64 oz jig but the gills wouldn't even get close at this point. I moved down and was going to try to hit them from a different angle, when I found a bass cruising an area. I snuck up near him and after tempting him for about 5 minutes, he sucked in my jig. And I missed him. He didn't leave however, so I pestered him for another 10 minutes. He would come up to it and inspect it, and then back off again. Finally I got frustrated and began jigging it much more aggressively, and he slammed it. Finally I caught something on my crappie pole. I snuck back around to the bluegill, and finally one hit it hard. I could barely get my hand around him. I missed a couple more, and decided I had best get home before my wife got too 
with me for being gone all day. Overall a pretty fun day, despite my rod's destruction.
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with me for being gone all day. Overall a pretty fun day, despite my rod's destruction.[signature]