Our much anticipated opening day canoe run is now in the books. Hitting a popular major stream in lower Grant county were myself and good friend Tom along with 3 other canoes.
For 30 plus seasons our little tradition has always helped us kick off the inland season while being served up a warm slice of Ma Nature.
The greens just starting to show, turkeys gobbling, migrating warblers making their presence known in the sparse foilage. What a perfect set up!
The river on this day was in pristine shape. Good clarity with warming temps replaced the less than ideal scenario the week prior. Heavy rains produced a mud bath of flow just 5 days earlier leaving our crew to wonder if conditions would be less than ideal for our brown bass pursuit.
The rains did us a favor and conditions dried up quickly however. Amazing how streams are capable of such speedy recoveries.
After launching our time worn canoes early morning , handing out the normal warm greetings and good to see ya s is when the snoopy patrol took over.
Always check out what is on the business end of the rods when floating with a group of wiley ol vets. Better yet, when the unsuspecting wade off for a few more casts or while they are popping the cooler lid, that is the perfect time to innocently rifle through their prized smallie box. Not that I would be capable of such mayhem but have heard of such under handed tactics being displayed
As far as the fishing……….a really good bite! Female smallies were not present yet but the males were starting to gang up well. Small cranks in natural patterns, spinners of different types and of course the plastics all produced.
A few of the guys started pitching the draggin jigs for the first time with rave reviews. Plastic of choice-ringworms!
For clean water the new gold cracker- chartreuse tail is gaining popularity fast.
Strange how some bites vary through the years. Earlier in the morning I was dragging live crawlers on the draggin jigs with limited results. After switching over to gold cracker it was bronze on baby!
The river walleyes were hard to come by this year but a few were caught by our new comer Gary. Gary , a Maine boy, has always wanted to nab a walleye. Falling short of this feat last year on the Mississippi is what made watching him catch two on this trip all the more special. Nothing large but watching these Canada gold like river eyes slide into awaiting hands makes for unique little memories.
Another awesome trip, the canoes lost a little more paint, one or two extra dents perhaps, but what a small price to pay.
Shore lunch? All fish released, didn’t want them to get in the way of the marinated tenderloin on a fresh onion roll, topped off with a well melted slab of 5 yr. aged cheddar. Washed down with ice cold beverages from Milwaukee made it perfect.
Good luck everyone and if you ever get in the mood for something relaxing, float a stream. You never know, traditions have to start somewhere.
Looks like fun Jeff…I’ll have to tag along next year
Sounds like a great time Jeff
What an awesome tradition. Sounds like quite the crew.
I apologize about the quality of the pics IDO. They always look so much better(and closer) when blown up on the pc. Gotta work on that
Looked like alot of fun Slick! Thanks for the PBR’s yesterday they hit the spot.
Pretty cool trip Jeff.
Good read too!
I’m hungry after reading about your lunch—and thirsty too
That sounds like a fun trip but way too much bass talk for my liking 
A guy has to love this time of year, I think Spring may finally be here!
Bass talk yes, but notice the only worthwhile species getting it’s picture taken Rich
Seriously, they’re all good
Distictively recall that stream Jeff
Used to float from bridge to bridge with Mepps #2 fox tails. Red eye magnets of yester years. Anybody go over? A corner with a strainer is all she wrote……
On that note, When are we going fishing Jeff
Thanks for the report
Awesome report Jeff and awesome day.
And that lunch sounded awesome 
– next time we get together you’re in charge of lunch. 
That old no# 2 mepps takes me waaaaaaay back Bret. As kids that is the only bait we ever used. Brown bucktail thrown with a 202 zebco attached to 6-30lb. test or whatever was on those dang things
No baths this trip. Only once have we gotten wet on these trips, due to an anchor being tied off on the side instead of the back. Lesson learned
nice read Jeff, sounds like a fun time.–John
sounds like a blast Jeff…Great read!
You sure know how to bring a happy tear to a mans eye dude
Congrats to Gary on the walleyes, another great read Jeff
