The weather and water conditions were ideal today as my wife and I decided to hit the Little Pigeon River again in search of those pre-spawn Little Pigeon/French Broad River smallies. With the recent period of unseasonably warm weather the water temperature in the Little Pigeon was now up to a balmy sixty-seven degrees. With water temperatures that warm my hope was that it would really get those French Broad smallies to start moving into the Little Pigeon. From all indications that is exactly what happened based on our fishing success today. Just a few days ago on March 27 we caught 17 quality smallies in the seventeen to eighteen inch range. Today the fish were running much larger. It appears that there was a push of big pre-spawn females into the Little Pigeon and we were fortunate enough be at the right place and right time. By the end of the trip we had caught and released twenty-seven smallies. Fifteen of the twenty-seven were between eighteen and twenty and one half inches. Three were over twenty inches with the largest fish weighing four pounds and eight ounces. The picture of that fish is included in this report.
River Smallie Adventures Fishing Report March 30, 2020
