One Month Later

My friend and I revisited the smallmouth river that we floated back in July. On that float I was really happy with my Tarpon 120 kayak. On this recent float I took the new Fish Cat pontoon boat for its first taste of moving water.

I caught and released several of these fiesty fish. The first one I got was hooked on a small minnow jig using my ultra-lite spinning rod. This fish came out of a logjam to smash the jig and with the help of the current went right back in where I lost him. After leaping several times and before breaking me off this fish spit out a couple of minnows which were exactly like the plastic minnow I was using. So to make a long story short the flyrods took a back seat to the two ultra-lite setups I had brought along. I often cast jigs with my flyrods but with two spinning rods set up with small jigs I just kept casting and catching bass on the ultra lites. One was rigged with a plastic minnow and the other a fur and feather jig. Each rod caught about equally so the fish didn't necessarily need the plastics.

My friend was doing okay with his own fur an feather creations fished on his flyrod but I did really well with the jigs because the Smallmouth were hitting "on the drop" a lot of the time.

I found the pontoon boat was extremely comfortable to fish from and I could control my drift and even kick across the current to get to the other side of the river with the aid of the fins on my feet. Anyone who does not wear fins while fishing from a pontoon boat is really missing out on some quality hands free fishing. As much as I love my kayak I have to admit handsfree fishing in a river is impossible in a kayak. It was easy to accomplish on the pontoon.

My Floatilla Is Complete

Here I am on the bluegill grounds on the lake down in Rhode Island. We were having a brownie break. My friend's wife makes the "best brownies in the world" (quote from my 19 year old son)

The new Fish Cat pontoon works really well. It kicks nicely for its weight (I'm used to kicking around in my float tube.) It rows very quickly and tracks straight. It is a very comfortable fishing platform. As usual the bluegills were very co-operative. Placing the fly tight to shore under overhanging brush produced a big 10" "gill' almost every cast. Amazing fun when you make one of those unbelievably accurate casts and a fish smacks the fly as soon as it hits the water. Here's a picture of a much smaller bluegill that I caught in a different lake we checked out. Look at those wonderful colours. Truly an amazing creation! (Better looking than a big bruiser carp!)

I managed to get my 19 year old son away from his new "Play Station" long enough to check out both the pontoon and the float tube. He preferred the floatube and was able to get around nicely. Now I have to teach him to flyfish. his spincasting outfit was no match for my 3 weight flyrod.

Here's Dan relaxing at lunch.

My friend Bob contemplating his next move. Should I have another brownie or go put the hurt on the jumbo perch.

In the past after catching and releasing loads of bluegill and jumbo perch (two of the best tasting freshwater fish) we would dedicate an afternoon to filling the stringer for a family fish fry. Sadly we learned this year that their is evidence of mercury pollution in the fish from that lake. The fish all look like beautiful representatives of God's Creation. They are so healthy looking it is an incredible shame that they have been defiled to the point where it is recommended not to eat them.

Now we will be on the hunt for a place with the same quality panfishing where we can keep a few for the frying pan.