After the Noontime Showers - PM April 26th, 2026

 

 

After the noon time rain cleared up I headed back out for an afternoon session, this time with Brad and Colt. The bite was immediate on again. The shallows were loaded with feeding smallmouth. I found some more size the eveing than in the morning. I fooled with a fly pole some but to no avail. I was able to cast pretty well but couldn't find the fly they would successfully bite. Today is one of those days you could have fished all day long and caught fish all day long. 

Total Fish = 35

Biggest Fish = 18"

Best 5 Fish = 77.5"

Minutes per Fish = 6

2026 Annual Fish Catch Total = 23

Incoming Front = Frenzy Bite - AM April 26th, 2026

 

 A long awaited rain shower was slowly pushing it's way into our area for a noon time rain today. The incoming front, heavy cloud mat and no other fishing pressure besides me and Rick made for the best fishing day of  2026 so far. The fish were up crazy shallow and very aggressivly feeding. Numbers where crazy high. I even caught a couple quality keepers on a spinner bait in shallow rock. Fish were in shallow bays, pocket water, and rocky shallows less than a foot in some cases in big prespawn numbers. It started raining at noon as soon as we were taking out. 

Tota Fish = 53

Biggest Fish = 16"

Best 5 Fish = 76"

Minutes per Fish = 5.6

2026 Annual Fish Catch Total = 197

Greenbrier Low Water Muskies - April 24th, 2026

 

Mike and I float Berries to Lowell on Greenbrier. The water was really too low to be successful in many of the areas we normally fish on this float. We would have some good fishing in deeper holes and then have to paddle through long stretches of skinny water that held no or only a few spooky fish. The drought we have had in April has persisted long enough now that we are seeing water levels in late April really resevered for July/August time frame. We did see 4 differnt big muskies on our 6.5 mile float today. Two were in the same hole right above the Pence Springs Bridge. I took a buck tail and steel leader and through it at two of them but they had already seen us and they weren't having it. They may have seen us get out of the car that morning as low and clear as the water was. 

Total Fish = 26

Biggest Fish = 16" 

Best 5 Fish = 71"

Minutes per Fish = 11.5

2026 Annual Fish Catch Total = 142

Maiden Voyage of the X - AM, April 22nd, 2026

 I took the Coosa X out for it's first trip down the river. Morning started off right, calm, quiet, no wind. Fishing started slow but then I had a huge flurry of quality fluke bits between 9am and 10am. I landed a 19', a 16", two 15", and a 14" quickly. The 19" had another even bigger bass coming in trying to eat the fluke out of his mouth as he was being reeled in. The wind came dragging a small rain front in and it went from zero wind to 35mph almost instantly spoiling the remainder of the morning. New boat did well although it does not track as well as the HD, but is much more stable in rough water. 

Total Fish = 11

Biggest Fish = 19"

Best  5 Fish = 78.75"

Minutes per Fish = 9.5

2026 Fish Catch Total  = 110

Post Front Struggles - PM April 22nd, 2026

 

I went back out after the rain front had pushed through trying to repeat what I had done in the morning. I had hoped the wind would lay down but that was not the case till well after 6pm. It just was not happening. This fish were not active. They seemed lazy and held tight to cover with the bright sun. 

Total Fish = 6

Biggest Fish = 12"

Best 5 fish = 53"

Minutes per fish = 22.5

2026 Fish Catch Totals = 116

Tax Day on the Greenbrier River - April 15th, 2026

 

Tax day is the day of the year when the USGS gauges tell us that the average water temp on both the Greenbrier and New River pass the 60 degreee mark. It is usally the day that fish begin to move shallow and chase some. Not full tilt but the begining of something grand. It can very from year to year but it is plus or minus a cold front when it starts to "happen". I floated the greenbrier today and it was not as productive as the feeding frenzy the evening before, but solid. I landed 22 in 4 hours of fishing, but did not find the size I did the day before. I fished very efficient yesterday and very sloppy today. I missed and lost at least 15 fish. I did have a run in with a titan class musky who followed my bait all the way to the boat and staired at me. He was a giant at least 45" long and thick as  tree stump. He seemed to have no fear of me. Really neat to see. The water is unually low for April. 

Total Fish = 22

Biggest Fish = 13"

Best Fish Fish = 61"

Minutes Per Fish = 10.9

2026 Fish Catch Total = 99

A Perfect Big Rock Evening - April 14th, 2026

 

 I fished solo afterwork for two hours on the G brier on an absolutely pefect weather eveing. I was just trying to get a gauge of what the fish where doing. I figured out pretty quick that they had moved up shallow and were chasing minnows at scale. I ended up going on a nice run that included both numbers and size all on a fluke. Today was the first double digit fluke day of  my season. 

Total fish = 17

Biggest Fish = 18.5"

Best Fish Fish = 78.5"

Minutes per Fish = 7

2026 Fish Catch Total =  75