Turkey sandwich

This time, we had my net and were able to snap off some pictures. After putting him back, I took some time to help my lady friend with her casting and work the faster run below to no avail before moving along to another access where I knew there would be some great banks to beat with streamers. My first cast at the access was throwing a 5" articulated olive sculpin pattern along the cut bank immediately upstream from the boat launch and this 17-18" brown absolutely smashed it and ran straight up the boat ramp before pulling drag back into the current. It was ridiculous - I don't remember the last time I had a day where big trout where exactly where they were supposed to be and so incredibly aggressive. It was the best day I've ever had streamer fishing for trout. So, the next day we headed back to the fly shop to see if we could find any big streamers and the fella behind the counter asked if we were the ones lighting it up the day before. I smiled and with the slight ego boost said, "we had a good day". Coincidentally, we got skunked on Sunday (luck runs out eventually, lol), but what a weekend! I have never been so tired and sore from fighting conditions and casting big flies on sinking line, but it was one of the most fun trips I can remember.

So, I've been itching to get out to sling big meat flies for trout for months. Every time I've had a time, the water has been too warm, or the flows have been too low. Finally, this past weekend the flows were up, the water was cold, and I had the time to make the drive to north central PA. Now, that doesn't mean we didn't have our fingers crossed. There was a ton of rain that blew out the stream for a few days, some snow, and air temps dropping down to 14 degrees Friday night/Saturday morning. The water temp fell from low to mid 50s down to 41 degrees. Still, we weren't going to pass up the opportunity so, we packed up the car, filled up the streamer box, changed out the warm water line for sinking lines and sink tips, and made the 4 hour drive. We walked into a crowded fly shop in Slate Run on Saturday morning to hear lots of guys talking about how tough it's been even nymphing. This was fine, since I'd rather throw meat flies on 6 and 8 weights. While setting up the rods by a creek mouth, we listened to lots of stories of hard luck from guys walking off the water by 11 AM fed up with iced up guides and uncooperative fish. I tied on the biggest, most gawdy articulated white maribou and bunny hair concoction I could find and within three casts hooked into an absolute monster brown - hooked jaw, bright orange belly, and incredible color. The guys who just walked off the stream saw the commotion from the deck of the restaurant behind us. I worked the fish to the shallows to realize the net was in the car. I handed off the rod to reach for the fish's tail, lifted, and with a strong head shake the 22-24" brown snapped the tippet, leaving me almost diving into the icy stream, and taking my streamer with him. I was pretty shaken up not getting a measure, but it was easily a personal best. Luckily, half a dozen casts later on the same seem, this 18.5" brown took an oversized white zonker.

I found an app. Thanks guys! Now let's see how tiny the pictures show up on here... lol

is it available for Mac?

Thank you guys! I'll try to get some pictures uploaded this week.

Does it totally wreck the quality of the image? I'll play with that this week. Thank you!

So, like a ton of other members, I was trying to upload pics to no avail due to the size restrictions. What sites are you guys using since several of the photo hosting sites have started pulling content and charging fees? Thank you

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/massive-bag-smallmouth-sets-canadian-record Official.

Congrats on placing! A 30lb sack is just ridiculous! A 30lb sack and not winning just seems unreal.

30 on streamers is incredible!

Pelagic fish like alewife will school up and move all over the place. Usually, the easiest way to find them is by keeping your eyes open for boils on the surface. Sometimes they boil because they're getting blown up. Sometimes they just do it without anything underneath them attacking them. They can be weird like that. As for baits - jerkbaits, swimbaits, glidebaits, A-rigs, walking baits, and poppers can all be good options when bass/walleye/pike/musky are feeding g on them, but it can be a crap shoot because, well, alewife are silly, silly fish.

I was out today on the North Branch of the Susquehanna here in PA, and while I can't speak from experience on temperature in WI rivers, the climate in northern PA is similar to much of Wisconsin. Today (Sunday) we managed 28 fish including a small walleye and a pike that was around 28-30". The water temp was 55 or so this morning and ranged from 59-63 in the afternoon. There were smallmouth feeding on top, but we had little success. The water was low and stained and while Saturday our guide had success in deep, clear, slower water, the conditions today changed and we couldn't buy bites there. Why? Water clarity somehow changed, and the food moved (Saturday they seemed to have found a school of yellow perch that moved along by Sunday). So, we gave up on that and switched to fishing where they "should" be and changed to fish the conditions. Low water typically means slow water, so most fish were either sitting right on current seams, in moderate current or in good ambush points along slower, shallower pools. Makes sense since even the riffled sections weren't very fast due to low water. They were hitting spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, crankbaits and occasionally swimbaits and tubes aggressively. These fish were all fat. So, I guess tl;dr - get an idea of where they SHOULD be, add or remove current until you start to find them and not worry too much about seasonal lures, but focus on fishing what will present well in the water clarity you're fishing.

This is probably one of the craziest "accidental" catches I've ever heard of. And it's awesome.

Not sure about how micro the guides are, but I have Avid X and a 2017 Legend Elite that also use micro guides and have very little trouble with uni-to-uni connections using 30# 832 to #8 - 12# Hybrid. The only micro guide rod that I have that gives me some trouble is my one remaining Rage, and even that isn't too bad. The FG really seems like the ideal knot, but it also seems like a knot that'll take me 10 minutes to retie on the water if need be, so in the practical world of cost-benefit analysis, I've stuck with the Uni and still enjoy good castability and knot strength. I think any reasonably slim connection knot works, but the ability to tie it well is probably the most important thing, regardless of guide size.

You know, this answers so many questions I never knew I had. Like, "Man, what if there's a hot propane tank bite?" " What would I need to cast a propane tank?" and "What did I miss by not watching Jaws 6?"

Changing spinnerbait weights has more to do with running depth and speed than it does with actual size of the bait (if that makes sense). If you want to fish deeper or faster, upping the size is the way to go. If you just want a bigger profile, a small swimbait (see @A-Jay) or twister tail grub is the way to go.

my thoughts, too.

I'm in PA and have done well into November. The above post about watching water temps is really important, just like early spring through the spawn. It dictates virtually everything. Smallmouth will bite well after largemouth most years, but as the year progresses, I tended to find that I really sacrifice numbers of fish for quality of fish up until they stack up in wintering holes usually around the 40-45 degree mark. Once that settles in, it gets very, very hit or miss.

This presentation is awesome with swimbaits, tubes, or grubs anywhere, but definitely in rivers. It's a great way to work boulder fields (you will snag and it will require patience and a learning curve), in the heads and tail outs of pools, and through deeper runs. I really like it drifted and jigged through deeper runs because fish in 3-6' of water will see it if they're feeding anywhere across the water column, it forces the reaction bite, and it looks like a small struggling baitfish naturally getting washed out while struggling in current. Also a tip in current, often, allowing the bait to fall on slack line can be important, so remember to drop your rod tip quickly even if you're up-stroke is fast.

Conditions dictate presentation! All of the above can work. Are they active? Sluggish? Water clarity? Temp? Dropshots have grown on me for deep fish that I can mark, but as the fall picks up and they're likely targeting bigger prey, a big jig, oversized worm, big swimbait, or big crank are great options.

This rocks year round. Any kind of football, rugby, or swinging head can be money in rivers and since you're trying to keep bottom contact, heavier weight can be helpful, but mind water/flow levels. Higher, faster water = more weight. Craws are also good. I've really grown to like sculpin/madtom imitations like these, too. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Jewel_Bait_Sculpin/descpage-JS.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwgvfOBRB7EiwAeP7ehi3xNWrB_9lOMd3OoTcNxoa0aOhLwY7ZvbNC5cVjJjq5iwabewivSRoCwmsQAvD_BwE

congrats! I'd be every bit as stoked with those two smallies in my hands!

great fish! I'm hoping to chase them with flies the last two weekends of the month. I may have to pick your brain for some diver patterns in the meantime.

Thanks, man. This is the first one I've landed in the kayak, and I forgot just for a minute how explosive and slimy they can be. If it were any bigger, landing it in the kayak would have really been interesting. I'm just really happy that the hooks ended up in my paddle leash and not my hand. Also, it was more interesting where I caught it than anything else. I see them all the time in slower water and around weed beds. This year, the weed beds didn't fill in as much as they usually do because of all the heavy rain/fast muddy water and I was pretty surprised that this one came in moving water maybe 100 yards below a set of super shallow fast riffles - where I was expecting smallmouth or perhaps walleye to be hanging out. When I felt the weight initially, I was thinking it was probably a big channel cat, and then the head shakes told me something totally different, lol.

Thanks, man. A car accident in 2013 herniated a bunch of discs and has kept me from doing a lot of things I'd normally be doing. Fishing has been a nice escape.