When the rain finally broke for a few hours, I couldn't resist running to the Ouachita River for a shot at catching a striped bass.
It was a bit late to run to my usual spot on the upper end of Lake Ouachita, so I settled for a shorter trip, an abbreviated lightning strike, to the Ouachita River below Blakely Dam. Depending on your preference, that's either the Lake Ouachita tailwater or the Lake Hamilton headwater. By either name, it was very high and fast, with a sharp northeast wind putting some teeth into an otherwise pleasant afternoon.
My armament for the excursion included three items. I had a Falcon medium-heavy spinning rod with a WaveSpin 4000 saltwater spinning reel spooled with 65-pound test Spiderwire braided line. I also had a Falcon medium-action baitcasting rod with an Abu Garcia trolling reel spooled with 25-pound test Stren Big Game monofilament. For the possibility of encountering walleyes, I also had a medium action Berkley Cherrywood spinning rod spooled mated to a Mitchell 308 spinning reel spooled with 6-pound test orange Gamma line.
I launched my War Eagle at the ramp on the west side of the Ouachita River below Blakely Dam. The hydropower generators were running full, swelling the river with clear, cobalt colored water. For its first outing of 2020, my 25-horsepower Yamaha outboard started quickly and idled smoothly. I let it warm for a few minutes before shifting into reverse and backing into the current.
Positioning myself in what passed for a current seam, I trailed a stickbait about 35 yards behind the boat before closing the bail on the big Wavespin.
It was immediately evident that the current was too strong for trolling. Any headway put too much downward force on the lure, causing it to rise instead of dive. It needs to nick the bottom where fish seek refuge from the current behind boulders and in shallow dips.
The best place in those conditions is at the end of the island at the restricted area buoys below the dam. The island breaks the current and forces it toward the channel, creating a giant eddy where fish can rest and feed. Bank fishermen worked the area above the buoys, but none of us got bites.
At that point I surveyed the vast amount of aquatic grass lining the edges of the channel. Local bass anglers don't like this area, but this is where Bryan Thrift won the FLW Championship in August, and where other anglers stayed in contention. During the 2005 FLW Championship, I watched Dean Rojas catch big bass off these grassbeds with a plastic frog. He had a chance to win it until the pattern evaporated. Meanwhile, George Cochran did what George Cochran does. He caught just enough to win the tournament and $500,000 fishing a small hole downlake.
Largemouth bass bite in a narrow window when the Corps of Engineers opens the spigot. If you're present when the water starts running, you can catch enough bass to win a national tour championship. It gets too high and too fast very quickly, and it's over.
Sensing futility at buoys, I tried trolling downstream. Running slightly ahead of the current got the lure down to the bottom where it needed to be, but it was way too fast. If fish were present, they didn't have time to react to it.
I passed beneath the power line spanning the river. About a dozen pair of shoes were looped over the wires. Most were really fancy high heels, which made me wonder if this was a kiss-off, breakup place.
I continued downriver to the first set of boat docks and threw a big swimbait at exposed log tops. I caught a giant striper that way several years ago. It was a few days before Christmas and minutes before a massive thunderstorm hit. On this day, if fish were near, they didn't want any part of my big Storm 360 search bait.
With the wind strengthening, I turned back upriver and reveled in the glowing sunlight washing over the hillside. It had been gray and dreary for so long, and this was like a flash of defiance before February slammed down its lead fist again.
That's OK, February. Spring is going to keep on coming, and it's going to beat you down and beat you out. And when it finally does, I intend to be here -- or somewhere -- when the fish come out to fight.
Sports on 02/20/2020