Caught My First...

... gar!  And smallie of the year.

This evening I made it out to the Wabash for a couple hours after work.  It seems that squarebill crankbaits work best there, so I ran one for the majority of the time I was out. 

I hooked up with something that had a long nose, first.  It got free.  Next, I did reel in a gar.  I've never caught one and I wasn't impressed.  It didn't want to fight until I landed it, and I wasn't equipped to deal with it on this trip, so I shook the hook with a needle-nosed pliers until the critter fell off back into the water.

The bright spot was a little 1lb smallie.  After my first smallmouth of the year threw the lure right before I landed it, this one was most welcome.  It wasn't big, just 12" and not what I'd come to expect from that stretch of the river, but it was a smallie.  Usually, along there, they run with the lure several times, but this one wasn't large enough.  It made one good run, jumped, and let itself be reeled in.  Actually those fish along there all acted sorta' lethargic, and I'm wondering if it was because there was dissolved clay in the water.  My fluorocarbon and mono both are clay colored now, and my long crankbait rod looks spray painted with the stuff!  I seem to recall dissolved clay causing problems with oxygen absorption.

Even with the gar and the clay, today was much better than any I've had yet this year!

Regards,

Josh