Robert Fuller and I decided to take his drift boat and move further upstream in the Little Pigeon River to see if the numbers of smallies were increasing as they continue to move in from the French Broad River to spawn. The water was shallow and clear with the water temperature approaching 60 degrees. We caught quite a few 13 in. fish in the first mile of our float, but as we floated downstream the size of the fish increased with more 15 to 19 in. fish showing up. By the end of the day we had caught 50 smallies with three fish over 20 in. The picture above is a 5 lb. 3 oz. 21 1/2 in. smallie I caught at the end of the day as we began losing our light and were getting ready to head to the boat landing.
50 Fish Day
