Kayak fishing for smallies on the Meremac/Bourbouse River confluence June 15th, 2013

I had an opportunity to fish one of my favorite rivers, the Meremac and Bourbouse Rivers.  I put in at the confluence point and set to paddling.  It is interesting how much more challenging my S.O.T. kayak is opposed to the sea kayak in regards to paddling upstream.  I like to go up river, and then drift fish down.  Some rivers have too much current (thinking Spring River in Oklahoma- almost had a kayak "incident" in regards to current).  The current on the Meremac is not too incredibly sporty at this point.  The Bourbouse is much more docile than the Meremac.

Nice Meremac Smallmouth Bass!!!

I took it about as far as the train bridge close to Moselle, and found a nice "seam" (where the current hits still water).  It had a lot of rocks, and some nice cabbage close to shore, so I thought it would be a good spot.  It was!
I was fishing a zoom watermelon trick worm with a Texas rig when the smallie picked it up and went under the boat.  I was using a Gamakatsu 2/0 hook (I have had some problems this year losing some fish, so I scaled down the hook with the smaller worm.)  It was a beauty!  Fought her for a little over (5) minutes, and it was all fight, as smallmouths like to provide!  I made a video to share a little bit how I landed this one.  Measured out a little over 15" and was released.
A little later I stared to hear thunder, so I decided to get closer to the ramp.  I got caught out on the Meremac once a few years ago during a thunderstorm, and it was a bad experience, so I wanted to ensure that I was not too far from the launch point.  Glad I did!  As soon as I started to loaded it on the top of the car, the torrential rain started....lucky day!

Fish ON!

Mike

Kayak fishing for smallies on the Meremac and Bourbouse Rivers

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