Hot Water

Luke and I launched on the Clinch this afternoon behind Food City to see if we could find some smallmouth. The surface water temperature right at the launch was 94°F! Just a few hundred yards up the river and the temperature was 77°F. There was an abundance of very small threadfin shad all over the river out in the main channel. We got a nice batch of bait and proceeded to start working the bluff just on the right as you head upstream under the bridge. I fished a live minnow under a floating cork and Luke fished a finesse rig on the bottom to see if the fish had a preference. We lost five fish within the first 10 casts. I don't know what the heck was wrong with us unless it was the fact that I haven't been fishing and over four weeks! Luke finally got the hang of it again and boated three nice bass but I never did seem to get my head on straight. His biggest smallmouth was 19 inches long but was very thin. It probably weighed 2 1/2 pounds but had the frame of a 4 pounder. His other smallmouth was a football shaped pound and a half to 2 pound scrappy fish. He also added a nice 2 pound largemouth to his catch. He got one other small small mouth while I stood there and spectated. There were large groups of fish breaking on the surface periodically but you could never really get to them in time to catch anything. They looked like schools of bass more than likely. Overall it was a fantastic evening I always love spending time with Luke.