05-11-2009, 03:55 AM
I have wanted to fish the snakeriver for smallmouth bass for a long time. I keep looking for someone to take me but to no avail. Finally I talked a co-worker into showing me the ropes but the plan fell through at the last minute.
Steelfisher and I decided to take another one of our neighbors and try it anyway. With a hand drawn map and sleepless nights studying the habits of early season smallies we went for it.
When we arrived at 9:00AM we were disappointed to find that the air and water temperature were really cold. The water was 39 degrees. I tried to put on a confident face but I was certainly skeptical about our ability given the conditions.
We launched the driftboat and headtowards an area that we thought looked bassy. As they say even a blind acorn can find a squirrel or something like that.[crazy] I struck first using a 3/8 oz football jig with a crawfish plastic. I let out a Mike Iconelli scream as I saw the fish was over 18". These were not the Ririe smallmouth we were used to. I pulled out another nice one from that hole before we moved on.
The bass tested our patience for the next four hours as we did not touch any fish between 11:00-3:00. We became concerned about Steelfishers health and sanity as cast after cast he vowed to not eat or drink until he was rid of the skunk.[cool]
Then the water temperature warmed up a little to 43 degrees. It was like the switch turned on and the bass wanted to cooperate. They were hanging out in 6-8ft of water and taking 3.5" crawfish jigs.
We ended up catching and releasing 27 awesome bass between us. The smallest bass that we caught were over 12" and I would say half were over 15". We got one over 20." I just couldn't believe how heavy those bass were and how thick. Like I said we just kept comparing them to the ones we have caught at Ririe and there is no comparison. The biggest ones that I have caught a Ririe were just average on this trip.
Here are a few pictures of a great trip with great friends.
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Steelfisher and I decided to take another one of our neighbors and try it anyway. With a hand drawn map and sleepless nights studying the habits of early season smallies we went for it.
When we arrived at 9:00AM we were disappointed to find that the air and water temperature were really cold. The water was 39 degrees. I tried to put on a confident face but I was certainly skeptical about our ability given the conditions.
We launched the driftboat and headtowards an area that we thought looked bassy. As they say even a blind acorn can find a squirrel or something like that.[crazy] I struck first using a 3/8 oz football jig with a crawfish plastic. I let out a Mike Iconelli scream as I saw the fish was over 18". These were not the Ririe smallmouth we were used to. I pulled out another nice one from that hole before we moved on.
The bass tested our patience for the next four hours as we did not touch any fish between 11:00-3:00. We became concerned about Steelfishers health and sanity as cast after cast he vowed to not eat or drink until he was rid of the skunk.[cool]
Then the water temperature warmed up a little to 43 degrees. It was like the switch turned on and the bass wanted to cooperate. They were hanging out in 6-8ft of water and taking 3.5" crawfish jigs.
We ended up catching and releasing 27 awesome bass between us. The smallest bass that we caught were over 12" and I would say half were over 15". We got one over 20." I just couldn't believe how heavy those bass were and how thick. Like I said we just kept comparing them to the ones we have caught at Ririe and there is no comparison. The biggest ones that I have caught a Ririe were just average on this trip.
Here are a few pictures of a great trip with great friends.
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