FirstLight, Upper Nickajack (Riverpark), Multi-species, 6-26-2010, Nauticman

[FishNews]

My Dad (Nauticman) and I fished out of the Riverpark boat ramp Saturday morning to target Smallmouth Bass. <br /><br />We met at the ramp at 6:30a.m. and ran straight up to the dam to see what was going on. There was a good bit of activity up near the boils. Fish were splashing and/or chasing bait. Had trouble indentifying exactly what kind of fish they were. Most of them looked like drum. Early on, Dad had a fish take his fluke up near the boils and after a short fight it turned out to be a drum. Never caught any game fish near the boils so we started fishing the current break off the wing-wall and the cofferdams abover the R/R bridge. The rockfish that is pictured took a fluke next to the current break and made that drag sing for a few seconds. The LM was caught on a jig and pig and was next to one of the cofferdams.<br /><br />Moved on down river to fish some deeper water and fished a stretch that drops off into 20'-25' and Dad caught the 16in. smallie that is pictured. We also caught a couple little spots in the same stretch. <br /><br />It was getting a little warm outside so we decided to troll crankbaits for a bit to get a little breeze and managed a small smallie and a few spots including the 16in. spot that is pictured.<br /><br />Next stop was a hole that we like to fish that has depths of 23'-25'. Caught a couple of smallmouth and spots out of this area including the 18in. smallmouth that is pictured.<br /><br />We tried a few more deep water spots but it was only getting hotter out there so we decided to pack it in at about 2:30. <br /><br />Final results for the day were: 7 smallmouth, 2 largemouth, 12 or so spots, 1 rockfish, 1 drum, 1 channel cat, and 1 yellow bass. A mixed bag to say the least. All fish were released. The lures used were jig and pigs, various soft plastics, crankbaits, and spinnerbait.<br /><br />The flow was 11,000 cfs the whole time we were there and the water was very low as told by the blue heron standing on a rock that is just below the surface under the R/R bridge. Water temp was 82 degrees. <br /><br />All in all a good morning on the water.