FINALLY!!!

Limbshot · Post by **Limbshot** » July 28th, 2008, 3:28 pm

Well the Gasconade finally got down close to normal pool and cleared up a bit. I floated a stretch of it this past Saturday with Pops and we flat slayed 'em! We did not catch any giants, but I truly have no idea how many bass we caught in the 2-3 pound range. Between the 2 of us, I'd say we caught about 40 smallmouth and/or largemouth. My biggest smallie of the day was around 17 inches and my Dad's biggest was close to 18 inches. Largemouths were the exact opposite, my largest was about 17.5 on my second cast of the day on topwater and his biggest was over 16 inches. I'd say we only caught about 5 bass total that were under 12 inches. The weather was a little warm, but the fish had definitely moved into a typical summertime pattern. Pretty good day for the first serious fishing trip of the year on the river.

Rafe Hollister · Post by **Rafe Hollister** » July 28th, 2008, 3:47 pm

It was about 2 years ago, in weather just like this, that you & I fished it and hardly caught a thing. Next time I'm bringing my bow so I can try to skewer some gar.

Limbshot · Post by **Limbshot** » July 28th, 2008, 4:05 pm

Yeah, but this year, the river has been so out of whack with all the rain, the fish have hardly seen any lures, plus they were amazingly active. I don't know if they have trouble feeding when the rivers are up and muddy, but we saw tons of bass chasing baitfish. They were really smashing baits too. It was one of the best floats I have been on, although I can recall one that was a little better for me. You should remember that one!

Warmouth · Post by **Warmouth** » July 28th, 2008, 4:18 pm

Did you go early in the morning, or were they hitting topwater all day?

I'm glad someone is catching them, Ihaven't caught a small mouth in 3 yrs.

Limbshot · Post by **Limbshot** » July 28th, 2008, 4:24 pm

We started floating at about 6:45, so it wasn't really early. I caught fish on topwater for about the first 2 hours, then switched baits. It was pretty overcast early though. I am pretty confident I could haev caught topwater fish pretty much all day, but I started catching more fish on other stuff so I quit throwing it.

Rafe Hollister · Post by **Rafe Hollister** » July 28th, 2008, 4:49 pm

Are the pink spinnerbaits still slaying the big ones? I've not seen as productive a lure as that. You nailed 3 18+ inch smallies in a single day, plus several between 15 & 18. I was impressed.

Limbshot · Post by **Limbshot** » July 28th, 2008, 4:53 pm

I have no idea what you are talking about.