I had the opportunity today to fish a new section of the Nashua River. Without the aid of electronics, I exploited old school techniques to read the water, identify structure, and measure the varying depths of this section. As the sun was rising, the trees on the East bank kept part of the water dark with their shadows. The “light transition” was quite pronounced. I started my trip by trolling a Surf Asylum blunt nose swimming plug along the light transition. BANG! Something hit the plug hard that my rod nearly came out of my Yak Attack rod holder!!!
A lip gripper, a de-hooker, and a pair of pliers were all required to release the aggressive chain pickerel. The Nashua River monster swam away. I paddled away without injury. 🙂
I made my way upstream and found some froggy water. I explored this area thoroughly with an array of frogs. Nothing. 🙁
I shifted gears to fishing the light transition with a my fish finding spinner bait. Nothing. 🙁 I switched over to a Mags Lures 3/8 oz swim jig dressed with a Gary Yamamotto grub. Fish on!!!
The chain pickerel weighed 2 oz less than the largemouth bass; but, it hit like a freight train and pulled three times harder than the bass! Two different species on the same trip and on the same pattern— now that’s something worth writing about! 😉
