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New River Float Trip Report
I went with my Boy Scout Troop 99 to the New River this weekend. I was canoeing with a bud of mine who isnt much of a fisherman at all. I was in the stern so I could make any executive decision concerning good fishing spots and rapids alike. I was using a 2 or 2.5" Rapala Husky Jerk, it was silver belly with a slate gray/blue back. It had the little orange chin under the diving bill. And man did that thing work. I used a spoon the previous weekend in my rod and my 8lb braid got twisted all to h3ll. I kept getting windknots and huge twists in my line, which led to me having to cut some out. Pissed me off. I only have half a spool of line now. Anyway, I was making 10 yard casts at the max. I caught 13 fish in all. I definately caught the most fish as well as the biggest fish as well as the most species amongst my entire troop. I caught Redbreast Sunfish, Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, a Rainbow Trout, a sucker fish, and a Horny Head Chub. All caught on that rapala. I taught my canoe mate a thing or two about fishing. he had a basic wally world spincast combo and I tied a small crawdad crankbait on his line. He ended up catching 2 rock bass and a smallmouth on it, regardless of his 5 yard casts. This morning while finishing our trip on the river I had my husky jerk trolling about 10 yards behind my canoe and it snagged on something. I had my drag light so we could turn around and recover my lure, which we had to do many times on Saturday. But we were just going so fast that my 6lb flouro leader snapped. Bye Bye best lure.
I started keeping fish to eat yesterday afternoon once we were within 2 miles of our campsite. I kept 4 smallmouth and my 1 trout. I caught my biggest smallie and the trout within 3 casts of each other in one spot. It was pretty cool. I fried them up for my patrol for breakfast this morning after I cleaned them last night and kept them on ice overnight. Man they were good. Nothing like bacon, eggs, and fresh fish to a group of starving Boy Scouts. I caught my first smallmouth bass this weekend. None were huge or anything, but I had a blast catching them. That Horny Head Chub is one of the weirdest looking fish I have ever caught. I thought it was a huge brown trout at first (it was a foot long) untill I saw the pink hump on its head with the bumps.
Awesome weekend. I only get to river fish like that about once a year. Next time I will bring 3 or 4 of those rapalas. ;)
