Made my way down to Evert’s resort 2 times in the past couple days and I am glad to see things are back the way they used to be! Always greeted with a good afternoon, bite update, and the counter laid out with what the hot ticket is from the experienced river rats that are out daily! Kudos for the hard work making it a warm welcome again at the resort Steve and Kari for taking the hard work you have done already!
Sunday 12/2:
Arrived down the hill around 1 in the afternoon with plans to fish the afternoon/evening bite. We were greeted by clouds, fog, and a strong south wind every man’s dream for pitching jigs…not! We opted to spend the day focusing on the vertical jig bite/slightly dragging downstream. The 2 main areas we focused on were near deep water that these fish would spend most the laying In and slide in and out to feed in the shallower flats. The key for better size was to stay on the shallow side of it. Go past any deeper than the 25 ft. mark and you were bound to catch fish under 13”. As fast as the fish were snapping at the jigs there was no reason to go deep and risk causing issues with releasing fish pulling them from that deep water either.
For the bigger fish though they seemed to key on dragging it slightly faster than the current DOWNSTREAM. For dragging we used a regular paddle tail in pro blue and oyster shell and they seemed to key in on the added thump of the tail and just crush it. I tried a few other types ringworms, pulse R’s ect. but they didn’t seem to want anything with that aggressive of action. The other option for better numbers was super doos and flukes held 6” off the bottom DEAD still was the ticket and when checking for bottom contact and it is not there…set the hook they will many times just grab it when dropped in their face and sit there. For a more detailed super doo bite I would refer to BrianK’s report from this past weekend.
Tuesday 12/4:
The weather yesterday was a complete 180 of Sunday. Sunny, cold front, and strong NW winds. Not only that but we now have almost twice the flow as there was over the weekend and that had me excited as the fish that could roam all over the channel had to group up more in current seams/current edges. The good thing about that is it makes it easier to find schools the bad part is not all places that look “perfect” will hold them. Luckily though we found fish right from the get go mid day fishing vertical to keep us busy. The one observation we noticed. Rocks held bigger fish!
We started on a large washboard sand flat and had tons of fish but the average size was 13”-15”. We opted to keep 6 for the box and search for larger fish vertical before setting up to pitch in the evening. That was a smart choice as the average fish was MUCH better with some TANK saugers were in there feeding in 14’-18’ fow on pro super doos and paddle tails right on the current seam. Although numbers were not near what we had in the sand we had a dozen fish in an hour’s time go over the 17” mark with some saugers at the 20” mark. By that time we decided to pitch jigs the last hour of light where fish typically transition to feed at sunset. An like clockwork we were greeted with a fantastic bite throwing just about anything you wanted. We did not hammer any tanks last night but had a better than average size on eyes’ once the sun hit the horizon. We caught fish on paddle tails, ring worms, and moxies mostly in natural colors on 3/16 ounce jigs. One tip I can give for a new person pitching…I was with a newbie and teaching them in the wind like last night can be frustrating for them with snags and not being confident in feeling the bait. Put on a heavier jig and have them put the jig on the bottom/sand and slowly draaaag it and hop back to the boat almost like snap jigging. This yielded a lot of fish and something I do not take the time to do myself often enough. In fact I do believe the great Lenny Jamison taught me this little trick as a newbie back in the day to pitching on the river!
Overall though it was a GREAT 2 days I needed after way to many hours in the tree ,and better yet back to seeing familiar faces running around again amongst the “hill people” like old times! Sorry for the lack of pics but it was too damn cold for me to be fumbling with my phone!
Yes…Steve & Kari
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