Umpqua River SMB

Met Dave(goldendog) up near Elkton to do a little Small Mouth fishing. Caught a bunch but only small ones. Largest for me was 9 1/2 inches, but 3/4 inch bigger then Dave's largest SMB, except for his bonus fish....... Nice work Dave...

Was still fun, the place were we launched was nice, i will be heading back there in the near future.

Met Dave(goldendog) up near Elkton to do a little Small Mouth fishing. Caught a bunch but only small ones. Largest for me was 9 1/2 inches, but 3/4 inch bigger then Dave's largest SMB, except for his bonus fish....... Nice work Dave...

Was still fun, the place were we launched was nice, i will be heading back there in the near future.

Ok, I'll bite... what was his bonus fish?

GD's bonus fish... he catch a big squawfish?
  Going to Scotsburg ramp tomarow am, you guys got me hungry for smallies!
      Anybody  interested in going ?
royg

Let's see, Umpqua in June with a plug or a spinner?  I'm guessing Steelhead.

Thanks for posting the photo Roy! Fun day, I'll post photos soon. I believe I have one of you using your paddle! Very rare indeed!

GD's bonus fish... he catch a big squawfish?
  Going to Scotsburg ramp tomarow am, you guys got me hungry for smallies!
      Anybody  interested in going ?
royg

I got to be here tomorrow for a charter appointment. You know how that is, "we'll be there sometime between 10 and 2"....


Not a Squawfish, Stay tuned....

Got a little Umpqua smallmouth action in this week. Thursday I spent the day fishing a four mile stretch of the river with guide Todd Hannah. The weather was perfect and caught lots of fish, including a 15 incher. The purpose of this trip was to scope out some spots for kayak fishing.

On Friday, met up with Roy at one of the spots that we could fish without having to deal with whitewater. The weather had turned, and it was very windy at times. The bite was off compared to Thursday. We fished from about 9am to 1pm before calling it a day. My biggest smallie, out of about 5 caught, was only 8 3/4 inches. Caught many, many larger ones the day before. Just before noon, I decided to paddle back to the boat ramp, as I had left my lunch in the van. About 20 yards out from the ramp, I saw a rock that nearly reached the surface in about 5 feet of water. I decided to make one more cast before beaching, and threw the rapala behind the rock and cranked it in. There were usually smallmouths that chased the lure, so I was looking down as it neared the yak to see if any fish were following it. No smallmouths, but at the last second, a large shape rushed in and took a swipe at it. Hookup!!! I was using a very small ultralight rod and reel, and the first thing I thought of was how the heck can I land this fish with this little rod. Everytime he took a run, I slowly got him back to the yak. He was all over the place, under, around, behind, all the time thinking the line was going to break at any second. I finally was able to get most of the Chinook into my little trout net, and holding him next to the yak with one hand, I used the other to paddle over to the boat ramp, about 30 feet away. I had just caught my first salmon, and biggest freshwater fish from a yak!

Nice! Sounds like a fun battle! Large fish on light gear is always a nice rush!

Nice fish! Congrats

HELL YEAH!
(Can I say that on the air?)

Man, I can't believe you got some nookie with Roy!

Congrats on landing that fish and the PB GD. Gotta love the hail mary hookup! That must have been a ton of fun watching your lure get smashed and then trying to land it.

HELL YEAH!
(Can I say that on the air?)

Hell yeah you can.

Z

 
  Way to go GD !!!   

Zee,

It was the most exciting, adrenaline pumping, on the edge hookup of my life. I was still shaking for the next two hours! I have caught lots of fish while watching them take the bait, but nothing like this, and completely unexpected! Ask Roy, when I paddled out to tell him about it, he noticed the sh!t eating grin on my face right off!

By the way, just had some very tasty Umpqua Chinook for dinner. Gonna have some more tomorrow, and probably the rest on Monday. I won't freeze salmon anymore, just not the same!

Bravo.  (Clapping right now.)

Now that's a tasty surprise! And lots of fun landing.

Congratsv