Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Always Have A Backup Plan - A Day With East Anglers

On the way home from Charleston on Saturday afternoon I was scratching my head on what to do on Sunday.  I could fish the family pond.  I could always work outside, mow, trim, and weed the garden boxes.  I could also get everything prepped for Beaver Island, Michigan.  Or, I could call Ben Moore from East Anglers and see if he wanted to fish.  A couple text messages, a phone call, and our day was set.  We'd float the Savannah River that splits Georgia and South Carolina and look for smallmouth.

It's always good to have a backup plan.  I've wanted to fish this river again since our last float a couple years ago.


Since it's been blistering hot, Ben suggested that we get an early start and met at a gas station just after 7 a.m.  We dropped off my vehicle at the take out and then ran up river to drop in.  The Savannah River is a really beautiful stretch of water and levels and clarity were excellent on this trip.

It was a beautiful morning and we started with poppers and dry flies but soon changed over to dark colored buggers to run deep through the shoals.  It took a little while to get things started but as morning moved over to early afternoon things started turning around.  Ben fought two large smallmouth that likely pushed four pounds but came both came unbuttoned before we could get them into the net.  No worries since it was great to see that they were there.  Even more important, we caught quite a few different age class fish from small to medium in size.  It's excellent to see the next generations in the river as well.

All in all a great day on the water with Ben and since he's leaving to guide in Montana for the summer soon, our last chance to fish together before he comes back in the fall.












Ben Moore runs low drag without a website and posts regularly on the East Anglers Facebook page.  Follow him there and if you're interested in getting on the schedule for the fall, send him an email at eastanglers@gmail.com.

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