Quick update – no trout fishing this weekend – took the basscanoe out to Smith Lake again. I could not justify another run back to the Shenandoah, no available fishing buddies, and my wife was starting to get cranky that all the fishing action was on streams – she enjoys fishing from the canoe (wow – how many guys are THAT lucky!) and wanted to go out.
Anyway, as you can see from the shot, it started out as a nice sunny day. We ran all the way to the end of the lake (with paddles on board this time) and started fishing where we were killing ’em on Scum Frogs a few weeks ago. Nothing. Not even a hit. Worked back down the lake and still nothing.
I had one moment of excitement when a bass turned my buzzbait over about 10 feet from the canoe. But that was as close as they came to getting onto my stringer.
My wife had another run-in with a turtle – grabbed her GULP flavored brown worm.
There was more pressure on the lake – we saw plenty of other boats working their way up the shore hitting all the great structure. So, maybe our bad luck was the combination of pressure and lack of skill instead of just the normal lack of skill.
And then the clouds opened up.
But, since my wife is less fixated on fishing than I am, she noticed the looming black clouds and we started back to the dock. Ran the battery dry again, but we had the paddles this time and got back just as the clouds opened up. Not being stupid, I told her to get into the truck and I loaded up the gear and the canoe.
Headed home with a dry wife and a rested soul having been able to spend a few hours outside.
Still like Smith Lake – just had a bad day of catching.
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore