OPINION —
AS YOU’RE reading this column, I’m traveling back from a weekend of smallmouth bass fishing on the Middle Allegheny River in Warren County.
I can’t tell you exactly what occurred over the weekend or how many fish we caught because none of it has happened yet, as I write this on a Thursday night.
Something really bad or really good might have transpired in the interim, and my life may have changed dramatically. I doubt it, but it’s fun to wonder.
We plan to put our canoes and kayaks in way upstream under the tailrace of the Kinzua dam.
Why? Because it’s been a murderously hot summer for the river and the fish, and the cold torrents that empty out of the deep-water reservoir deliver cooler, fresher waters than the sun-baked currents 25 miles downstream near our home base of Tidioute. Besides, the Kinzua tailrace provides more fish and a greater variety of species than anywhere else I know in the river. I have personally taken 20-inch brown trout to seven-inch bluegills below the dam and everything in between, including smallmouth and largemouth bass, suckers, crappies, northern pike, rainbows, perch, rock bass and more.
Two years ago I traveled up with outdoor writers Ben Moyer, Harry Guyer, and Gregg Rinkus, and we fished the same waters.
Ben caught three smallies right away on a soft plastic crayfish imitation, while I plied the Allegheny with a Mepps Comet, a plastic minnow lure with a weight and spinner attached, which had proved our top smallmouth bait the year before. But instead of a bass, I caught a trout with it, and then another, and then another still. Rainbow trout but small, eight to 10 inches, which was unusual for that stretch of the Allegheny, home of bruising browns and rainbows up to two feet long.
I ended up catching eight fine little rainbow trout during the first hour, and I attributed the success to my remarkable angling skill. It wasn’t until three days later that I found out a major contributing factor: 10,000 juvenile rainbow trout had been dumped into the Allegheny near the tailrace because of a damaged trout hatchery in the area. I still think I angled skillfully that day, but I don’t brag about it anymore.
Last year our midsummer smallmouth trip took us much farther downstream, from Tidioute to West Hickory.
We made the mistake of putting in at noon and fishing until 6 p.m., so our entire fishing venture occurred during the dog day afternoon. Everybody caught a couple, and in my case it was exactly two, which makes for a long, slow day. We decided we’d alter our hours and tactics next time.
There came a stretch when nobody caught a single fish for two hours, and we were all losing interest, when Brad Isles pulled up against a riverside boulder, where a strong current poured down over a drop-off and filled a deep pool with current down the center and eddies along the edges.
Brad tossed his Rapala minnow lure upstream and began reeling and jigging it downstream. He felt a strike and yanked his spinning rig upward, resulting in a great bending of the flexible rod and much roiling turmoil on the end of the line. The smallmouth wasn’t all that big, but it was a fighter for sure, breaking the surface three times in five minutes, and Brad drifted downstream while fighting the fish.
That left his sweet fishing spot open, so I cruised in with my kayak and started casting there even before Brad boated his catch. Some people would call this maneuver a classless lowlife angling tactic, to coppersnake a buddy’s honey spot while he’s got a fish on, and I certainly don’t recommend doing this to a stranger, but it’s all in good fun with your regular fishing buddies. Brad only spat at me once and barked twice.
After we pulled our watercraft out below the West Hickory bridge, we drove our loaded trucks back up to the Tippycanoe Inn and selected two Designated Drivers, so the rest of us could enjoy the Tippy’s cold refreshments.
As always, we soon headed back to camp, where Todd’s venison stew slow-cooked in the crockpot, and the campfire ring stood waiting for a gathering of fishing friends late into the night.
Good luck out there. And have a great week outdoors.
Don Feigert is the outdoors writer for THE HERALD and the ALLIED NEWS. His latest book, The F-Troop Camp Chronicles, and his earlier books are available by contacting Don at 724-931-1699 or dfeigert@verizon.net.
Visit his Web site at www.donfeigert.com.
Sports
Related Photos
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Brad Isles shows off a smallmouth bass he caught in the Allegheny River. Todd Puleo
Discussion
THE EVENING CAMPFIRE: Smallmouth bass fishing on the Allegheny River
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