Today was one of those rare days that only happen a few times a month. It’s a day, when a combination of factors can cause an epic bite to occur. Those factors include cloudy skies, an approaching cold front, dropping barometer, pre-spawn migration in high gear, Douglas Dam only generating at an average of 1500 cfs, and the Little Pigeon River running low and clear with a water temperature of sixty-eight degrees. Combine those smallie feeding factors, with three eager and experienced thirtysomething fisherman from Indiana, and you are likely to witness an outstanding day of river smallie fishing. That is indeed, what I was able to enjoy watching as Andy, Ted, and Cory wore out the smallies on both the French Broad and Little Pigeon Rivers. It wasn’t long after they began to fish one of my favorite spots on the Little Pigeon that the catching commenced. They caught five fish in that location. The two biggest smallies came in at nineteen inches and three pounds eight ounces, and the other a nice eighteen and a half inch fish weighing in at three pounds five ounces. The smallie catching party was only getting started at this point. Next, I made a move to fish an area on the French Broad, that has only been fishable for a few days over the past couple of months, due to the excessive and persistent generation at Douglas Dam. Today, the stars lined up in that hotspot. As soon as their baits hit the water, it was off to the races with a smallmouth feeding frenzy that resulted in several double hook ups and one triple. The picture of the fish that were participants in that triple hook up is included within this report. After it was all said and done, they had caught thirty smallies in that one location. Not only was the bite outstanding, but so was the average size of the fish. Out of those thirty smallies, fourteen of them were between eighteen and nineteen and a quarter inches. All three anglers, achieved their personal bests today, for catching the biggest smallmouths of their lives. One of them made the correct assumption during the smallie feeding frenzy that this “doesn’t happen every day”. I confirmed his assumption by saying “that they were the lucky handful of anglers who get to experience that kind of success during the spring river smallie fishing season”. They certainly were at the right place at the right time. Andy, Ted, and Cory caught a total of forty-one smallies. Twenty of those fish were between eighteen and nineteen and a quarter inches long. It was a great day on the water, with a great bunch of guys. A day I hope I won’t forget for a long time.
River Smallie Adventures Fishing Report April 7, 2019
