Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Quick float

Summer doldrums have hit the fish hard and the challenge has been finding sources of cold, well oxygenated water.

I went up to a spot I’ve had in mind for years where a trout stream I like dumps into a favorite smallie/northern river that gets pretty warm this time of year.

I put in on the trout stream just above the mouth where it’s deep and slow and there are lots of stumps and structure. My first cast from anchor was under the bridge of the street I was parked on.



I thought I was going to smash my “lucky” (see PB smallie thread) 130-sized plopper on the concrete but hit the water right at the edge where I wanted it. As soon as it got moving this guy came flying completely out of the water and fought like a champ in spite of fairly heavy tackle… same set up as what I caught that smallie on.

I’d have measured him but after that long fight I wanted to get him back in the water. He wasn’t as big as his fight would suggest; maybe high 20s?



I cruised down to the mouth and back chucking the plopper & a shadow rap jerk bait. Nothing.

Had stuff goin on that had me there at the worst time possible. Gonna get back tho.

Thanks for reading,

Efw