It Was Soooooo SLOOOOOW
A few days ago I shared my canal bank milk run with YumaBasser. He’d made noise a few times that he’d like to learn to fish the canals, so we went. Neither of us was up for a full day, so we headed out for a few hours in the afternoon/evening.
The canal was moving a little more than the last time I was out, but not much. I don’t think it was enough to make any difference. The slight cold snap last weekend might have had an affect though. There were no groups of fishing hanging on any of the spots where I had seen them the last time out a week or so before. I only saw one fish swim away as I walked up to a spot and it was a sunfish. Even my bluegill spot that always has a group of bluegill hanging out didn’t seem to have any fish.
We still gave it our best shot. We made long casts to spots that usually hold fish. We made slow presentations in dark holding places. I was ready to load up and drive to the far end of the valley when YumaBasser said he got a bit in one of my “better” spots. I decided to hang out a little longer and he managed to land a chunky little smallmouth. Now I was on the hook for three bucks on our standing side bet.
I fished long blind casts. I fished finesse. Nothing was working for me. Finally after sunset I had a nice smallmouth crush a crankbait. It had a smaller largemouth following it. I was a little nervous. I couldn’t remember if I had set the hook or not. I wanted to make sure I landed that fish. I sure didn’t want to be on the hook for three bucks to YumaBasser. I took my time, played it in close, and finally swung it out of the water. I don’t think it was three pounds, but it was close. It was easily bigger than the one YumaBasser caught earlier, and it saved my three bucks. Not long after that we called it a day and headed for home.
We only caught two fish all day, and as near as I can tell that last smallmouth was the only bite I got all afternoon. I whacked mine on a crank bait, and YumaBasser caught his on a finesse worm.
The score:
1st fish: YumaBasser $1.00
Most fish: Tie (no joy)
Biggest Fish: Bob La Londe $1.00