I had hooked, fought, and landed my first smallmouth on a streamer with Ryan and my confidence was increasing...but then things went back to the way they were before. I was missing fish, using trout fishing hook sets, and screwing up swings with the fly. I even had a smallmouth that was probably in the 16 inch range hooked and almost landed until it came off close to the net. On top of that, the bites slowed al little as well. Now let me be clear about the slowing of bites, this was not Ryan's fault by any means. Every morning of fishing (from my personal experience) seems to see a dip in the action and some stretches of water just don't hold big populations all the time. Sometimes the sun is too bright or it isn't bright enough. There's a wide range of things that can cause bites to slow and that's not a guide's fault. It just happens and you have to grind through it to get to a better situation, and that's exactly what we did.
As we approached one section of water, it widened, slowed, and provided shade with overhanding trees. This place looked fishy and Ryan informed me that this was traditionally a spot that held fish. He told me a story of his wife landing her biggest smallmouth in this stretch. I missed a couple of bites with got me a little frustrated but got my attention at the same time. The action was turning back on and my focus was returning. If I am being totally honest, a little bit of anger set in. I decided to channel that anger into my next hook set because I needed to.
Just as we approached one of the last spots in our drift (the water shallowed and sped up after that spot), Ryan told me about the biggest spotted/Kentucky bass he had ever caught coming out of this spot. The words had barely come out of his mouth when BOOM! My lunchmoney fly got hammered as the fly dropped into a pool and I set the hook HARD! The fight was on and I felt confident about my chances of winning.
Ryan maneuvered the boat toward deeper water and away from structure so I could fight the fish unimpeded. As the fight neared its end, the water at the end of the run started to speed up and gave the fish an escape route. With deftness, Ryan moved the boat towards the shore and said "Jump out." With little hesitation, I leapt from the raft and tried to guide the fish towards the shallows. He said that he would come net it but I was on a mission to finish this myself. I got the fish to the bank and in shallow water and put a solid (but not so solid that I would hurt the beast) grip on its lip. I landed it and was literally shaking.
Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OzarkSmallmouthFlies
Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance: https://www.facebook.com/Ozarkssmallmouth
Cell Phone for Guide Service Inquiries: 417-366-3617
That fish ended up being 16 inches long and about 8-10 years old. Ryan was quick with genuine congratulations and some AMAZING photography. This guy can teach, guide, and take pictures among other things! It was amazing to me not only how pretty the markings and coloration were but how the fish literally changed its markings by the second. You can actually watch the markings come and go while it was in the net. We took some video and pictures prior to freeing the fighter. We also relived the entire scene and marveled at all of the intricacies that were involved with the fish being successfully landed. Pictures of this fish are below and the post will continue further down the page as well.
Further downstream, we hit some more fishy water and I missed a few more fish but I felt like my learning curve was trending in a positive direction after my little adventure. I landed another fish that was about 13 inches and marveled at the quality of the fish that were being landed. Ryan commented that we all want days of lots of quality fish but sometimes you end up with a large number of small fish or a small number of large fish. He said this fell into the small number of larger than average fish category. I agreed but I also knew that I was responsible for the small numbers...and I knew that. I'm not going to say that I was okay with that but I recognized that this was a learning process.
We hit another section of water that had plenty of structure in the form of downed trees and boulders. We would swing the fly through pools and hit the structure with aggressive strips of the fly. I think Ryan and I both saw the submerged log at the same time and thought the same thing. He said, "Hit that log and give the fly a strip." I was still fishing a lunchmoney and my cast put the fly right where I wanted it. After one twitch, I saw something dart out of the shadows and inhale my fly. I'm glad that it caught me off guard a little because I gave the fish time to get the fly down. I gave a proper strip set and the battle started.
After replaying the event in my mind, I knew it was a smallmouth and a good one. The fish moved for deeper, open water. I couldn't believe the band that this fish was putting in an eight weight. It seemed disproportional for its size but I guess that's why some folks say smallmouth are the hardest fighting pound for pound freshwater fish in North America. The fish slowly started to move towards the surface and show itself. Ryan informed me that this was a larger fish and as politely as I could said, "Shut up Ryan!" I felt like we had spent enough time in a boat together that I could be honest with him. I apologized later and told him later that I said that because I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to land this fish and REALLY didn't want to loose it. Thankfully (due to Ryan's netting skills) the fish wore down and ended up in the net.
This fish was definitely bigger. It went right at 17 inches and I was back to shaking like a leaf again. I also took more time to appreciate this fish. This was an old growth, native, wild, product of the Missouri. I was born here and so was it. It was tough, aggressive, and strong and I respected those qualities. Ryan, again, took some amazing pictures and educated me more on smallmouth bass while we had the fish in possession. My respect for both the fish and the man that chases them grew exponentially with that experience. We freed the fighter, shook hands, and traded appreciation for the efforts of the other. In my opinion, that fish was as much Ryan's as it was mine. Ryan thought otherwise but since I'm writing this, we will go with my opinion. More information below the pictures.
By the way, I forgot to mention that the fish had a 3-4 inch baitfish in it's stomach! That fact speaks to the idea that these fish are aggressive. To put things in perspective, think about it this way: if you just ate at a buffet and came home to a large pizza, would you eat it? A smallmouth will! I came to appreciate this fact even more with my next fish. I made a cast with a lunchmoney right behind a boulder. I saw the fish approach the fly, slowly, and then eat the fly. I missed the fish (not sure how), but got into a cast quickly and dropped the fly in the same place again. The smallmouth struck AGAIN and this time got a solid piercing. Ryan and I both got a kick out of that and the fish ended up being about 12 inches. This one made three amazing jumps and really put on a show.
I ended up catching a few more, smaller fish on white clouser minnows as we approached the end of our float. I ended up with a total of 6 but in all honesty, it should have been more like 16-18 fish. However, I was not disappointed in the least. I had learned a lot, caught some quality fish, and experienced a day full of beautiful Ozark scenery. I also made a friend with might be the most important thing that I was able to take away from the day. If you are looking to spend a day on an Ozark stream and/or want to catch some smallmouth bass on flies or spinning tackle, you will have a good experience with Ryan Walker! Feel free to contact him through the links below or give him a call directly. I'm glad I did and this won't be the last time we fish together. I'm already trying to find another time to fish with him again!
Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OzarkSmallmouthFlies
Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance: https://www.facebook.com/Ozarkssmallmouth
Cell Phone for Guide Service Inquiries: 417-366-3617
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