Pacemaker Fishing Forum

Today was my day to get out on the river and take advantage of the warming trends that is going to ending this weekend. A friend and I were maybe going to go out on Monday but the river seemed a little too high and too fast so it was a solo outing for me today.

River was still a touch high and pushy in some spots in this area. But wasn't dangerous and still fishable. This area has a path along the river because it's a wildlife area so I pulled the kayak along a path and dropped in farther upstream than usual. Just so I didn't have to paddle so much upstream. I purposely didn't fish the area wanted to initially which when the wind came up in the afternoon turned out to be a mistake, but sometimes you make a good call and sometimes you don't.

I picked up a couple of fit brand lures at Jake's bait and tackle a couple weeks ago that were the small finesse jigs with the small paddle tail grub on the hook so I rigged that up before starting. I also had a tube on and the hard suspending jerkbait which is becoming a reliable lure in The colder water temps.

First spot was a smaller shoreline eddie that had a clear faster/ slower line and a steep bank on the shoreline. I was throwing out that small finesse hair jig and leaving it set knowing the water temps were still on the cold side. On probably the third cast, felt a solid tick and had a fish on. Apparently. Apparently didn't set the hook well enough because it felt good but was off after about 10 seconds without seeing it. Then my next cast went into the tree. Limb and the lure never came down. Definitely not the way you wanted to start.  But, it wasn't too long until this one grabbed the jerkbaiit.


I spent some more time here and nothing so moved upstream a little farther. Found another shoreline Eddie that was twice as big as before and had both rocks and a log providing a current break. Definitely the lazy boy next to the grocery store as George has said more than once to me.


I tried The finesse hair jig again, along with a minnow type lure on a stand-up jig head with nothing. So picked up the jerkbait to make a few casts. I was about halfway in with one cast and just felt weight and then a head shake. Got a good look and hoped that it didn't get off as I took my time with it.  Managed to get this almost 18 and 1/2 in small mouth in the kayak, which felt really good as the first big fish of 2025


Ended up catching another one about 14 in on that stand-up minnow and then one right at 15 as I was done for the day and standing on the concrete ramp for my last couple casts.

I think the first trip of 2025 was successful and definitely much needed. After all the cool Arctic weather and melting snow and high rivers, it was nice to get back out there