Well, we definitely saved the best for last as today was the best day so far in Takeshi’s five day fishing trip. The weather may not have been spectacular but clouds are still better than rain in my eyes and the mild temps of 50 degrees were also welcomed. Winds were out of the N/E at less than 10 knots and that was also fine, or at least better than the hurricane winds we had seen. I knew it would be a good day when Tak hooked up on his first cast and a chunky 3.5 pound smallie came aboard. In the first hour or so there were a lot of above average bass caught with some of them even over 4 pounds. As with earlier in this trip, the crankbait bite in the current produced the best and his lucky lure found the bass eager to attack almost all day long. Although he had some spinnerbait action, the crankbaits remained the winner allowing him to cover plenty of water & locate the active ones. When his arms were sore from casting and landing all those fish in the current, we decided to go a little deeper and fish jigs on the bottom. Here we found a few walleye and more smallmouth willing to eat and the action just kept coming! It really didn’t seem to matter where we fished as they were on all over today and what could be better on his last day out. I really didn’t keep track of the number of fish he caught today but I know it was enough to put a smile on his face and take the skin off his fingers. He will officially be going home a cripple! I’m sure any manual labor will be next to impossible as it will take at least a few days for all those cuts and scrapes to heal, allowing him to feel anything again. I guess it’s a good thing that he only had 5 days instead of the possible 10 day trip that he was originally looking at. Along with all the pictures, he will also be taking home plenty of memories of this fishing trip. He has enough to relive the pain and torture that those feisty brown bass gave him throughout the week. As Takeshi would say, « Smallmouth Angry Fish »! Sayonara Takeshi!!!

Well, we were back on the water again today and this time there was a lot less traffic! We got a slightly later start than usual and were fishing by 8:30 and into fish almost immediately. The air temps began at 32 degrees and climbed all the way up to 44 degrees by the end of the day. Water temps were around the same at 51 degrees and the wind was from the east at 10 knots causing us less of a problem. Although we started out in the sun, it quickly changed to cloud and even looked like a possible shower or flurry in the distance. Jigs produced the bulk of this day’s catch, but crankbaits & spinnerbaits held their own as well. Takeshi‘s special crankbait was a hot item at one point and it also produced the largest fish of the day, many times over. The current breaks were really the place to be as almost all the big fish came from them. By cross casting he was able to pick them off one by one as I held in the river’s current. We tried many areas today and found fish in every one of them, but some were holding numbers and others just size. Tak’s hands were officially rendered helpless after today and he may have to go into rehab when he gets back home! I felt bad enough for him that I took the pictures immediately after catching the fish instead of live welling them today. This way he was able to hold them in much less pain. It was another phenomenal day of fishing as we caught bass all day long. He may not even want to go fishing for a while after he gets back home as a five bite day is considered great in his country. Man has he been spoiled on this trip!!

The third day saw us changing plans due to the high winds predicted and we shifted locations to try & escape the worst. Unfortunately, it just didn’t matter as we were faced with 20 to 30 knot winds from the west throughout the entire day. Add to that the high volume of water traffic and we were beginning to second guess our move. The temperatures were nice though as they stayed in the mid to upper 50 degree range with the water temps close to 51. Sunshine and intermittent clouds were upon us for the bulk of the fishing day and that was also welcomed making it feel a whole lot warmer than the previous days out. Our first location saw us only staying for a brief period as the waves were just crashing on the shore causing us to struggle, just to make a cast. We decided to move and try some drifting in another area and I knew it would be at least a one drift sock day. Immediately we hooked up and the first fish was a real beauty! Although the drifting wasn’t easy, it was productive as we kept getting into fish on each pass. They were a mix of sizes and they all fought like champs. I wasn’t sure if we would be able to catch fish on any of the active baits in this wind but thought we would give it a try nonetheless. Tak began throwing a crankbait, with the wind of course, for about 10 casts without success and gave up immediately. It was just not going to happen and we went back to heavy jigs just to feel bottom. At one point there were so many boats in the area that I just packed it in and went elsewhere. We continued to catch fish pretty much all over again and we were alone! Later in the afternoon I thought we would head back and see if some of the boats had given up yet due to the high winds and was surprised to see that they hadn’t. I stayed about as far away as I possibly could and Takeshi started getting bit right away. We kept at it until about 5:00 before we decided to pack it in and call it a day once again. I hope the wind lets up slightly for tomorrow because I would love to get back to those giants once more before they relocate again. With the falling water temps in the future there’s no telling how long the big bite will last and I want to take advantage of it as long as it’s around. I think Takeshi in also in agreement with me but I don’t know if his hands can manage two more days of smallmouth. He’s already getting close to not being able to hold his utensils while eating and pretty soon he’ll have no feeling at all. Gotta love those smallies!!

Day two of Takeshi’s fishing trip saw us leaving in the rain and according to the weatherman, fishing in it all day long. Guess what? They were wrong once again! By the time we had arrived at the water it had stopped and we were only in the clouds. Winds remained pretty light too with a blow from the N/E at around 10 knots. Air temps were a welcome with the high reaching closer to 60 degrees today and that sure beat yesterday’s cold. The day started with a bang as the first few fish were all over 4 pounds and one of them was even topping five. It wasn’t fast & furious, but they were big and that’s all that matters! We fished deep and we fished shallow and caught some fish just about everywhere we went. Tak even managed to get into a good spinnerbait bite around mid day that saw several smallies violently attacking the lure. It was great to finally have some active, aggressive biters! With the water temps holding around 51 degrees, we saw a little more action on the moving baits with crankbaits producing the best. By retrieving them cross current Takeshi was able to cover the water enough to make the fish strike the lure and most were taken on the front hook. Although there were a few slow periods, the fishing was pretty much consistent for most of the day. When we were on one, we were on a bunch and the numbers rose plenty! We may not have seen any of the real giants today but there was still plenty of action to keep someone occupied. Takeshi is still feeling the pain from all the angry smallmouth he hooked not to mention the ones that beat him up during the photo shoot. I think they are the worst as they have all day to recuperate in the livewell and they just keep getting meaner as the day goes on. Hopefully he will get some sleep tonight as his internal clock still registers night when it’s actually day and he needs to be on top of his game in order to tackle these nasty fish!!

I picked up my guest for the week last night at the airport and informed him that his timing couldn’t have been better. Takeshi had flown halfway around the world from Japan to battle smallmouth bass and that he would! We hit the water this morning under not so perfect conditions once again with cold air temps, clouds and a hurricane like wind. It was blowing in from the E and that meant no drifting today. The wind was actually pushing us up current in many areas, causing us to be on top of our game. The water temps were barely 51 degrees and never really warmed today with the lack of sunshine. Air temps were around 40 degrees but felt more like 20 with the wind chill. He wasted no time getting into the fish and within the first hour we had boated plenty of decent smallies up to 4 pounds and lost even more. The wind was really a big factor making some of the hits quite difficult to detect and we were just missing strikes. Eventually, we hit several larger ones and Takeshi remembered just why he had flown 13 hours for these, « Angry Bass »! Each and every one had a mean streak and fought like champions when he hooked up and all he could do was laugh. We shifted areas quite often due to the winds and caught fish in each & every one we hit. Although the bass weren’t all the size we had expected, there were several large ones landed. I think Takeshi broke his personal best smallie several times over! We continued fishing for the remainder of the day all the while getting into flurries of activity on a mix of baits. Probably the best ones though would have to be the crankbaits that Takeshi brought from Japan. They just worked phenomenal for him and put many fish in the boat throughout the day. I’m sure glad we hit the current breaks today as it allowed him to present the right choice of lures in just the right locations. This may have been the best day I’ve seen in a long time on the river and I can’t wait to get back out once again. Although Takeshi may have had a little Jet Lag, he definitely forgot about the lack of sleep as he pounded smallmouth all day long!!