Saturday Eddy Rider and I {Fish Tank} hit the river. We were accompanied by our friend and business colleague, Ben Bartoli of CORE Information Technologies LLC.
Anthracite Outfitters had a few different tasks to accomplish. We were first taking the opportunity to reconnoiter one of our camping islands to see the changes that take place after high water and a long winter being encased in ice. We were happy to find a very healthy amount of fire wood and the campsite area scoured flat and surfaced with silt. The silt makes the bedding a bit more comfy.
The next task we wished to accomplish was to try and find some walleye as 5/1 is the opening of the walleye season in PA. That proved a bit more difficult. The river is flowing well and after some weather the previous week we had color to the water. I managed to raise one small walleye in a rapid tail out but they seemed to have lock jaw. I’ll be back after them soon. I will say that they may be being out competed by the small mouth bass as they are quite aggressive. The smallies are closed to harvest in PA waters now through father’s day. I caught a few smallies but was targeting the walleye.
Another task on our plate was to get our friend Ben acclimated to kayak fishing.
The challenge was stepped up a bit as Ben pretty much just fly fishes. Normally I would suggest a person who is kayak fishing for the first time start out with spinning gear until they got a feeling for the kayak. Given I have fly fished with Ben before on foot, I knew he had a solid cast, and I modified the approach to keep life simple yet effective. I set Ben up with my 9wt, a 9’ leader, but used a 6# test tippet, and gave him some crayfish and clouser patterns to work the shoreline drop offs. I recommended he just get the pattern down, keep the casts under 20', and every so often just hop the pattern and watch the line for erratic movement . I kept the tippet on the lighter side so if he locked up bottom in the yak the tippet would give before any catastrophes could arise. I was hoping he would find a walleye holding the drop offs. He quickly found smallmouth, however all came unbuttoned. He had some hook ups, bending that 9wt deep into the blank, but from my vantage point the hook was pulling due to too much tension. It takes a bit to fully comprehend how much resolve these river smallies have. No flies were lost to fish.
The last task of the day was to give the 2 Hobie Quests a work out.
Recently Anthracite Outfitters added these kayaks to the fleet for clients. We picked them up at Back Yard Boats in Woodbridge Va. Myself and Ben being on the upper weight range for these yaks were perfect to run these yaks for their first water test. Ben was absolutely comfortable in the Quest we put him in and this was his first time ever paddling. I found the platform to be quite wieldly, and easy to paddle . I’m 265#+/-, mostly +, and had not put the scupper plugs in all the way. The one came out and I was taking water in and around the cockpit. I had the kayak fairly well encumbered with gear. So long as the scupper plugs were in it was a high and dry paddle. These will be perfect for clients. Once the river clears a bit I look forward to giving the Outback Mirage a workout especially to learn what's needed to safely work the mirage drive around the boulder fields.
All in all a great day on the water.
We'll be out next weekend for an overnight, and hopefully will have some walleye for breakfast.
Tight lines and safe paddling!!!
Fish Tank