ericg Posted September 27, 2013 Report Share Posted September 27, 2013 I have been looking forward to this outing but I guess I won't be able to come after all, I'll be going down to U of I for Dads Day to see the football game with my kid. ericg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted September 27, 2013 Report Share Posted September 27, 2013 They are calling for a chance of rain in the afternoon but not until 3pm and its only 30%. I'm going 1/2 day anyway so the weather should be perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted September 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2013 I took the night off work and took the Coosa to Atwood and paddled upstream to the I-39 corridor. It wasn't bad! Landed 3 smallies, all about 12 inches in size, and probably missed twice as many. I had a couple stirs with the top water but all fish caught were with a tube and a some what fast retrieve. Ran across a kayak guy I know and he told me that yesterday he could see schools (about 30) of big smallies in the shallows. He said he was use to seeing schools of small smallies, but these were BIG. Fall feed bag? Tomorrow could be awesome. It won't rain. Have never heard from Jude on this outing. We should be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude Posted September 28, 2013 Report Share Posted September 28, 2013 Just for that, I'll see you in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike G Posted September 28, 2013 Report Share Posted September 28, 2013 Where's Brutus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jim S Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Not sure of anyone else, but the high winds were brutal. Throwing flies was difficult to say the least. I pretty much gave in after half way and I was a half dayer!, fighting current wasn't a problem, just trying to float down stream was an issue, kept going up stream due to the winds. I only managed 6 fish, 5 smallmouth and 1 white bass. no real size to any of them, all around 10-12" for me. Another day maybe. It did feel good to feel a fish on the new rod though. I spent most of the second half on Twitter and Instagram Glad to meet Jesse and Katie, hope you two come out again, good people and good fishermen/woman. Gonna do a morning wade tomorrow on the S Branch by me just to feel better. Hopefully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Yep...the wind was nasty enough with spin gear. The fly rod must have been impossible. It was still a good time. I ended up with an even 30 fish, with only a 14 incher worthy of the tape. Jesse certainly found a tape-worthy fish. 19.75 inches! I also heard that Sarah got a double. Hopefully we'll see pictures of both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted September 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 First of we had a pretty good turn out. We had Jude, Jim, Tim, Paul and his wife, and Jesse and his wife. Paul Sr. joined us at the breakfast table and also kept an eye on our gear as we shuttled vehicles around. Jude and myself did a full day float, if you want to call it that. I don't think I'll ever be able to figure out how people can keep their kayaks pointed in one direction, I was getting blown all over the place. every time I got the Cossa positioned a big wind would come up and spin me around. I'm a failure. I landed 3. Jude on the other hand kept his yak floating true and landed 30 smallies. Show off. Paul can fill us in on how him and his wife did in their canoe, and Jesse can fill you all in on how him and his wife did. Rumor is Jesse nailed a monster. Could this be Brutus? Tim will also have to let us know how things went with him. The high winds were burtal. Still had a good time. Nice to see some new faces. Jesse is not allowed on the Kish anymore. Group pic... [/url]">http:// Jude.... [/url]">http:// Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Thank you Terry for organizing the trip. This is one of the better turn outs I've seen for a float outing. High winds and falling leaves were the challenge of the day. It was nice having Sarah as my canoe partner. Not only is she easier to look at but she's not a fishaholic like most of us. She spent quite a bit of time keeping the canoe in position so I could fish. We did take turns keeping the boat in position which was a luxury you solo kayakers didn't have. We caught around 20-25 smallmouth along with a good sized bluegill and a 27" pike. All of our smallmouth were 13" or less and we didn't even loose a big fish. Sarah fished with a slider and plastic and I stuck with a 2.5" Sammy all day. That was frustrating at times trying to walk the dog with a huge bow in the line and even white caps on the river. I must have plucked 50 leaves off of it too but when it was in the right spot and clean it would get hit. We did invite the 27" pike home for dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jude Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 A couple photos: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgoodmanii Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 Had a good time on the outing. Thanks for organizing this Terry. Here is my quick recap. Started out with a good ole breakfast at the cafe and some good conversations. Then headed down to Bauman Park. Unloaded boats and took vehicles to take out. After returning to Bauman people began launching out at different times. I started out somewhere in the middle of the pack but eventually made my way to the back. When going on group floats like this you have a few options depending on the size of the stream and water conditions. Since the Kish is a smaller stream and the water level is lower this time of year you have about three options if everyone launches from the same place. First you can get out front of the pack and stay there. The benefits are you hit all the good spots first and get the aggressive fish. The down side is you can't work an area too long because everyone is heading your way and it gets congested real quick. This is my usual plan but I forced myself to stay back and let others get out front. The second option is you stay somewhere in the middle and play leapfrog. I did this for awhile and found it to be a bit of a pain. The upside is you get to see others catching fish. Jesse and Katie where doing well and where consistently catching fish. This option gives you more interaction with the others in the group. And the third option is to stay in the back and play clean up. This where Jim started out but I eventually took his spot. The down side is of course most of the fish have seen various presentation already and have possibly been caught. At the least they may have been spook by the other anglers/boats especially in the low clear water we have on the Kish. The benefits are you can work areas longer without causing congestion. This gives you a chance to slow down and pick up less aggressive fish. And If you do something stupid and fall out of your boat no one will see. (Sorry to disappoint you Terry I stayed in my boat this time) I was one of the half dayers who took out at KFP. It took me about 2 hours longer than usual. Because I was running late I had to blow past some good areas. The wind was a challenge. I ended up with 29 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 2 rockbass, and a pike (about the same size as Paul and Sara's). I had three rods rigged up. Two spinning rods. One with a plastic craw on a slider head and the other with a chug bug. I also had my baitcaster rigged with a swim jig. The craw picked up most of the fish with chug bug coming in second. Many of the smallmouth were 10-13 inches. I did manage to pick up 2 at the end of the float that both went 16.5 in. I wish I had more time to fish that particular area. There were several larger smallies following these fish as I brought them in. These fish were very aggressive and slammed the craw. They also put up a good fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronk Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 Tj Very impressive & surprising results given that you were fishing behind some good fishermen which I've always believed puts one at a big disadvantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Trybul Posted September 30, 2013 Report Share Posted September 30, 2013 Those were some nice ones you caught at the end of the trip. By the picture it looks like the same area we caught the pike. Maybe the bass moved in after the pike moved out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessewade Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 well I apologize for the gap between the trip and posting up. First off me and katy both want to thank everyone for welcoming us with open arms. We both agree that we had an awesome time and are already talking about a repeat trip before the weather turns. The run down was fairly easy one we both started out with a brown gitzit tube on a jig(i had a flat stand up and katy had a confidence bait draggin head) both of us tried other baits but all of our fish came on those tubes. With most of my strikes coming on the initial drop and pause with the rest coming after the first of second hop. I got strikes on poppers, buzz baits, spinner bait and a lipless crank bait but no hook ups. I will say the picture does not do this fish justice, the current was taking me one way and the wind was pulling katy the other way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgoodmanii Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 Nice fish Jesse. Glad you two enjoyed the float. Hope to see you two again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Dodge Posted October 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 Jesse - Thanks for the report and congrats again on the 19 3/4". How can you two be talking of a repeat trip if YOU are no longer allowed to fish the Kish? If you do decide to return feel free to let us know and maybe a couple of us will join you and do a different stretch. By the way....Do you happen to know the total numbers you and Katy ended up with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessewade Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 I will publicly state that katy did take the win that day! she ended up with 13 smallies and a rock bass and I ended up with 11. Then again I can't really complain too much. There are much worse problems to have than having her out fish me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessewade Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 as for a repeat trip, i will have to break out my disguises and paint the yak because that is far too good of a piece of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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