River Smallies & Frogging ?

[PaulVE64]

Mann"s HardNose Toad

Red

Ghost

Green pumpkin

[Spankey]

Yesterday was by far the biggest numbers day on the river for me this season.  I want to believe it’s coming back around some. But a lot of healing needs to be done. And it has a long way to go. Can only hope it is going a positive direction. 
 

My two biggest fish were largemouths 15 1/2” and 17”. I realize it doesn’t sound impressive but my situation is far from picture perfect world class bass fishing. My switch to soft plastics and slowing things down is why I caught these. Zoom Shaky Head fishing. Caught a mixture of close to 30 Brown and Green fish 12” and under on tubes, grubs and crankbaits. 
 

Downfall of my outing was my first hour was dry and fishing a piece of glass. Fished about 3 hours in a steady rain. God send with no wind. But they kept hitting. I wasn’t about to walk/float away from that. 
 

Picking this river apart in pieces I know is the right way for me to go about this. The old river nothing new. Water I know like the back of my hand. I’ve ran across some Dead Sea areas that previously were always productive but not many. I’ll try to reason with that later. Next time out I’m I’ll be about 10 miles up river in water that has a better all around flow characteristics. I’m gonna go with the bit higher oxygen level, might prove to be a bit cooler. Might pay off for a few bigger fish. 

[Bdnoble84]

Great job, i know what you mean about dead sea flow. River I fish is about 4-5 ft below normal. Literally 20-30ft of bank exposed in spots. I decided to move up towards the dam last weekend and immediately got on fish. Lost a 3-4 lb smallie. Gotta adjust in rivers for sure. Current is everything.

[Spankey]

7 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Great job, i know what you mean about dead sea flow. River I fish is about 4-5 ft below normal. Literally 20-30ft of bank exposed in spots. I decided to move up towards the dam last weekend and immediately got on fish. Lost a 3-4 lb smallie. Gotta adjust in rivers for sure. Current is everything.

I know this is not frogging but the other day while is was finishing up, I realized I had not thrown a Slider setup or Salty Spider yet this season. They have been around for years. Have always worked well. 
 

Those Spiders and components are hard to find these days. Slider worms and jigs are tuff also. Just another old way of doing things. 
 

I’ve caught way more Smallies on a Spider Jig vs. the conventional types SK or Stanley style. Smaller profile. 

[Bdnoble84]

Im assuming by spider jig you are referring to finesse cut? Or do you mean hula style grubs? I do not throw my hula grubs nearly enough.

I love river smallies in August, its always been my most productive time of year, whether throwing a toad or anything else.

[Spankey]

1 hour ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Im assuming by spider jig you are referring to finesse cut? Or do you mean hula style grubs? I do not throw my hula grubs nearly enough.

I love river smallies in August, its always been my most productive time of year, whether throwing a toad or anything else.

Put out by Cabin Creek Baits. Like a three piece bait. Sort of bought in parts. Sounds more difficult than it really is. Pretty simple. 
 

They may be almost out of business. I hope not. Don’t hear of them much or often. 

[Bdnoble84]

Found it, similar to hula grub but the tentacles look stiff instead of skirtlike. 

[Spankey]

1 hour ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Found it, similar to hula grub but the tentacles look stiff instead of skirtlike. 

Great, thanks. 

 

What’s nice about the Spider skirts is one of the tentacles in the skirt is heavier than the rest and you use that to make it weed less. It works very well. 
 

Thanks for the replies. 

[Spankey]

Was trying to be optimistic on river condition for the weekend but these two hurricane/depressions are gonna put the kibash to fishing the river this weekend. 
 

I know a few of you guys on here get slammed with these a lot worse than me and suffer far greater losses than I. No comparisons. Be safe, stay safe. 

[Spankey]

The river is mean and angry right now. Will settle out in a bit. Sometimes things get good after a decent size rain. Will be  structure changes somewhere along it for sure. 
 

We had gotten a big shot of rain in my area. Fortunately not a lot of local flooding. Some of you guys got hammered in through Tennessee and New England hope everything goes ok for you and you were safe. Stay safe and  let the rivers get back to normal. 
 

[Spankey]

Most likely gonna get another good shot of rain later today through tomorrow. River will probably be off limits. Unfishable to me. 
 

Lake fish Sunday. I like it there. Forces me to fish a bit different. River fishing is deeper in my soul.