May Rain, Sleet, Snow and Smallmouth

was on the menu this morning. A slight fog was coming off the top of the water along with caddis flies. The water temp was 62 degrees and the outside temperature was 36 degrees and windy. I stopped to get 4 dozen minnows on the way to the water. Seeing the water temp I was planning on the smallmouths being super active and I was glad I made that decision. I wish I would have got more shinners than flatheads. Island Firearms had a great selection of minnows today. All were livey and ready to fire up the smallmouths.

Checking the weather before I headed down over the hill into the river I saw a decent band of weather coming through around 11am. I had a solid hour to fish hard before things were getting extra wet.  I ran through a dozen or two of minnows which seemed like an hour. Each float I had a strike from a smallmouth and a surprise striper. When the sleet moved in I decided to take a timeout and wait it out under a big tree on shore. I switched up my bait to a Rapala Husky Jerk because I felt drifting minnows wasn’t even a challenge any more. The Husky Jerk was a great add after the sleet turned to snow. Fish were crushing it off the shore line and aggressively chasing it down, ton of fun! I don’t think I wadded ore than 300 yards for about 5 hours which seemed like only 2 hours of fishing. I checked my phone to see what time it was and I was disappointed I had to leave. Time flew because the fishing was incredible. If the waters keep warming up into the 60’s like they were today, Get Ready!  The smallmouth bass spawn will be on and great fishing is to come.