Going Home - River

[Spankey]

Mother Nature has been hard on my home water. Taken the Smallie fishing away over the last handful of years. It did it rather quickly also. I’m not a biologist, I can’t accurately speak of what flathead catfish effects are. I like grass and I don’t like the loss of it in my favorite areas. I think some bad spawns have occurred. Forage fish have depleted. Silting can never be good. I think it is an ecosystem that is put out of balance. I had to switch over to the lake, I refused to get anymore frustrated than I was and ticked off over a situation that I could not control. But I want to believe it has a chance to come back. 
 

When I started feeling these effects I switched to lake fishing. Found a new home that basically does not feel like home. Transitioning has been fairly easy. Tried the common sense approach and have caught some beautiful fish the last handful of years. 
 

I’m going home to check things out as early as I can. Hopefully by mid-April if spring sets in early I can get a picture of where it’s at. Fish it for a couple of weeks and get my bearings straight. Some nice fish can be had in May if they are there. 
 

I hope I can pick up where I left off. Hope it was a situation that corrected itself. I don’t think so. Or at least not entirely. I’ve had this calling to go home and try. Was going to do it this past fall but rains kept me on the lake and off the river. 
 

Those Smallies are like a drug. An addiction. I have to follow that calling. Or at least go check it out. And even if things are not good it would not have been a big waste of time because by mid June I’ll know what body of water I need to be on. 

[Bird]

Hmmm coincidentally I've been through the same situation with our river.

Been declining rapidly for 10 years and use to be 100 fish per day.

 

Farming chemicals are most to blame locally and several years of flooded waters during the spawn. 

We're also seeing growing numbers of Musky but a recent thread claims minimal effect on smallmouth. 

[Spankey]

46 minutes ago, Bird said:

Hmmm coincidentally I've been through the same situation with our river.

Been declining rapidly for 10 years and use to be 100 fish per day.

 

Farming chemicals are most to blame locally and several years of flooded waters during the spawn. 

We're also seeing growing numbers of Musky but a recent thread claims minimal effect on smallmouth. 

For years and years I’ve never caught a musky in these areas I call home. They were/are there. I knew guys who fished for them on purpose. I Fished for smallmouth and caught smallmouths. Ok the largemouths, white and yellow perch, panfish would take lures I smallie fish with. 
 

During these degrading time of the river I’ve been catching Muskies on my smallie lures. I’m not fishing for them. CB’s, Pop-R’s, Buzz Baits and Spinnerbaits. Not sized for Musky. 6 & 8 lb. test only. They’ve be ranging 24”-38” not a huge one yet but the 38” on 8 lb. test was a fight. 
 

It may have gotten worse since I stopped going the other year. I just feel this need to revisit what I call home. Or called home. One thing in life for sure is nothing lasts forever. The killer is I seen and fished it during a time (years) when fish were dinks and runts and where it got to the point that very respectable fish were caught. 

[TnRiver46]

One of my fishing mentors, Capt Kenny, always claimed to be a smallmouth junkie. Hopelessly addicted. When he put it that way, I knew exactly how he felt. Sounds like you’re bit by the smallmouth bug and will be stuck chasing the proverbial dragon for the rest of your days. There are meetings for people like us, let me know if you want to join. Hello my name is Russell and I’m a smallmouthaholic

[bowhunter63]

Being a Smallie junkie is a good thing. But no cure

[MIbassyaker]

11 hours ago, Bird said:

Hmmm coincidentally I've been through the same situation with our river.

Been declining rapidly for 10 years and use to be 100 fish per day.

 

Farming chemicals are most to blame locally and several years of flooded waters during the spawn. 

We're also seeing growing numbers of Musky but a recent thread claims minimal effect on smallmouth. 

 

While it's probably not directly the fault of the musky, the musky could be an indicator of something else that's also affecting the smallies. 

 

In my area, runoff from agriculture and lake home development (especially lawn fertilizer) has, over the last few decades, made many small natural lakes much more fertile than they used to be. According to scattered records and testimony of old-timers, some of these lakes used to have smallmouth populations that don't seem to exist anymore (largemouth typically have taken over instead)

 

In Michigan, smallies are doing great in our rivers and many of the bigger lakes, especially where gobies can get in from the great lakes. Actually, that's an understatement -- the MI smallmouth state record has fallen twice in the last 6 years!  But there are also many places --chiefly smaller lakes-- where smallmouth have likely been casualties of human development.

[TnRiver46]

13 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Being a Smallie junkie is a good thing. But no cure

Plum ruirnt

[Spankey]

Firstly I am not even in the smallmouth haven of the state. I could have been fishing for largemouth my whole life if I wanted to. I just chose to chase these for whatever reason it happened to be. Addiction, what can I say. Maybe I’m stupid. Fish for 4 lb. Greenies vs. 1-2 lb. Smallies. I chose the Smallies. Please do not make it to be a case of crying over spilt milk. I’ve been fishing and catching some nice largemouths the last few years. My whole deal is to hope to see it turn around some and get back to fishing Smallies again is because that’s the way I want to leave this earth. I’ll make it happen.