Sunnies and Smallies Again

[bogtrotter]

I drove to Chicopee and fished the Chicopee River from 10 AM to 4 PM today.

It was sunny and pleasantly warm (75 degrees when I started and 85 when I finished) and water levels were norm.a
I ended up catching 24 sunfish and 14 small mouth bass.

I'm generally a bait fishing purist, but departed from my usual practice by alternating between bait and lures.

I reeled in most of my fish today on night crawler segments, but landed my two biggest (a 14" and a 17" small mouth) on a rooster tail.

I also saw an osprey and a great blue heron.

Then I drove home and had a cookout - - a lamb chop and a saucepan of Dal Palak (an Indian dish with yellow lentils and spinach), followed by a Don Elias cigar and madeira wine, while reading "The Dante Club" by Matthew Pearl (pretty good so far, albeit a little creepy). 

[lowaccord66]

Way to go Jim.  Good meal and a nice cigar.  I like your style.

[Ryan51993]

Sounds like an awesome day on the chicopee especially considering the higher flows you had to deal with. I don't blame you for sticking with what you like when it comes to bait, I do the same thing. When I fish for river smallies its almost strictly top water even though I know other lures might produce more numbers. I just tend to catch larger fish and see more acrobatics from the top water so I do what I enjoy. That being said I'm glad you switched it up and had success. Don't hesitate to try that rooster tail for trout, they absolutely love spinners and you'll be able to cover more water with it then you could with bait.