Will (Baitbucket) and I had a trip planned with his Uncle to fish around Block Island and I was pumped to go! Well, weather was just too iffy to go so we had to come up with a plan "B". I had been wanting to float a different section of the Conn. River, I had not fished yet and Saturday was the day we made it out. This was to be a laid back trip with a late start and a easy float down the river with some fishing and exploring... I invited my dad and the three of us took off, dad and Will in kayaks and me in my Canoe. The section we were floating was 7 miles long with no portages (thank goodness), but lots of shallows to keep the motor boats thinking twice before running the area... The water was low and very clear with viability to 8ft, which seemed to drive most of the fish deep... The fishing was slower than expected and for me the most "action" came from deep holes 12-15 ft or from some deep boulder rapids. Most of the small mouth were on the smaller size with my best just over 2 lbs... Turns out the the weather report called for light winds for most of the day never happening ... It was a 10-15+ wind blowing up river all day, making for a hard paddle down river... So much for laid back... The eagles put on a great show most of the day with us getting to watch 1 juvenile and 1 adult snagging fish from the water... I landed over a dozen fish in the end with a long crank-bait, a Sebile Vibrato Jig and a small but heavy spinner bait getting most of the fish... I was starting to "figure out" the Vibrato Jig and think I would have upped my numbers, but like most jigs it was lost to a log in deep water and I only had one... Those suckers are big bucks and I don't look forward to buying a assortment of them... But boy did it fish well in the fast water! So in the end I spent much of the day trying to catch up with Will and my father and I found some sections of the river that I will be back to fish... The high light (fish wise) was a 24" pike that hit my spinner near a log pile, not much of a photo, but he was not interested in sitting still for the shot!;
A good time had by all and a real work out! Hardly like fishing Block Island, but I think one of the secrets to a happy life is to work with what you have!
