One of those uncommon 'big fish' only days.

[Red Childress]

I hit the river Monday morning with 2 of my serious musky hounds who are willing to sacrifice quantity for quality. As luck would have it, he hooked a 4-footer within the first 10 casts right at the boat and as luck would have it, she shook off after 5-7 seconds of 'gator rolling' on the surface. Over the next 3 hours we rose 4 more hot fish and all were in the 45-50 inch class with a couple slashers nipping at the bait but just would not fully commit to eating the damn thing. One fish even came in hot on Kyle's rod and then peeled off and zoomed back and slashed at Jeff's bait in the back of the boat. I even pulled my bait away from a BIG charging pike at boatside hoping one of the other guys could pick her up on a last second fig-8 but no dice.....a little bait and switch that I do with the Esox on the Fly guys that occasionally works.

The moral to the story is that on that particular day, the big fish were moving....it was one of those Big Fish days. It seems to happen to my boat about 8-10 times per year when the moon, local weather, location and luck all come into play to produce 'Big Fish only' action. Monday was one of those days. Even though nothing hit the bag, we all had an awesome 4 hours of musky fishing.

[Red Childress]

We saw several very nice fish the past 2 days but just cannot get them to eat. It is about time for a different weather pattern with the hopes of triggering these fish to eat. The only one I personally moved today was a real stud and largest of the season thus far. I managed to drag her into the first turn of the 8 but then she just peeled away. I hope she is still there tomorrow.

[Red Childress]

Well, so much for that new weather system idea. Please bring back the overcast, unseasonably cool and rainy weather system please.

[ppalko]

Enough rain; but I'll take cool and cloudy. With the high water, it must be like fishing early spring or late fall on the river. The lower Allegheny has been a mess.

[Red Childress]

I was hoping that a weather change would prompt some of these larger fish to actually eat instead of just following our baits. 4-5 days in a row of the same type of weather system seems to lose its effect when compared to the first day of the system.

We pulled into a big fish spot yesterday under the new weather that come in and popped a 45-47 inch musky but we lost it at boatside. After the sun popped back out for several hours, we had not more action.

There is more mud on the way for you guys on the lower river. Big, hard rains yesterday put more mud into the river up here again!

[Red Childress]

We had a really good day with trophy size (non-Esox) fish today. All 4 trout were well over 20" and very heavy for July. Plus, an 8 pound walleye and 4-4.5 pound smallie. Not bad for 4 hours....

[Red Childress]

Another good day on the water chasing non-esox critters. Hammered several nice heavy smallies with 3 over 4 pounds and 1 pushing 5 pounds as well 2 solid walleye in the 4-6 pound range. The smallies were regurgitating crayfish as we were landing them!

[ppalko]

Must be nice to have fishable water up your way. Fishing in coffee (Parker Area Monday) is not my favorite thing to do. I'm getting tired heading to the local lakes with the River so messed up. At least we are finding a few fish lately.