TROPHY

By Joe Dmuchovsky, Copyright 1998

After months of pestering, my brother-in-law, Ron Tiemann, finally agreed to be my partner on a river float trip. He had never fished an Ozark stream from a canoe before. His only other experience was a little Bourbeuse wade-fishing last year. We met fellow TSA member Garry McMichael at the Highway 21 bridge over the Big River at 8:00 AM. The river looked good with the right off-color to make the fishing interesting. We decided to float 9 miles from Cherokee Landing to Cole's Landing. I had fished that stretch with Dan Kreher last April, and although the fish weren't biting then, I remembered it as excellent looking habitat throughout. We drove our cars to Cole's Landing (where the water looked even better) and asked good ol' Kenny if he would shuttling Garry's van back from Cherokee Landing.

We put in the river at around 9:15 AM, and not 100 yards from the put-in, Ron was into his first fish, a 14 or 15 inch spotted bass, caught on a, what else, Chompers. Two minutes later he caught a 16 inch largemouth in some wood cover, I took a picture, and he released it. ``I'm liking these Chompers," he stated matter of factly ``and I'm liking the Big River," he followed with equal enthusiasm. The three of us continued downstream , Garry dawdling behind us, catching fish here and there. A couple hours into the float, things really started picking up. We were catching fish every 10 or 15 minutes, mostly on Chompers. Ron and I pulled eight fish (my 16 incher the biggest), from one swift, Sycamore shaded run with many submerged rocks. Around 2:00, the three of us stopped for lunch at a small, shady gravel bar, and discussed our trip thus far.

At one point the river makes a right hand turn, with a good looking bank on the left, and an excellent gravel bar on the right. Ron and I stopped and fished this area with success, Ron catching another nice largemouth. We got back into the canoe, and as we started down river, we heard Garry yelling for a camera behind us. We disembarked, and ran across the gravel bar to take a picture of Garry's smiling mug and a swell 17 inch largemouth. Further down, we changed lures and started catching fish on Berkely Power Worms and Robo Zipper worms. After 4:00, I switched to buzz baits, and had decent action with a chartreuse 1/8 oz buzzer.

Around 6:30, the top water action tapered off a little, so I switched back to a Chompers. After a short riffle, the river widened a bit, we stuck to the right side where the current seemed a little stronger and the water deeper. I pitched my lure next to a muddy, brush-lined bank. After a short drift, I felt a dull weight on the end of the line and set the hook. Oh boy, whatever it is, it seems big. The fish made a couple of deep dives then came hurtling through the water. ``RON, DID YOU SEE THAT FISH?" I yelled. The fish made one last valiant lunge underneath the canoe and then I brought him to the canoe and lifted him out of the water. "Look at the size of him!!" I exhorted. "That's the biggest smallmouth I've ever seen," exclaimed Ron. ``We gotta' get a picture of this!" We paddled to the shallow side and took pictures, measured him, and I released that big, bronze, beautiful ode to Ozark streams. According to our measurements, that fish was 22 inches long, a trophy by anybody's standards! I didn't have a scale, but that smallie was easily 4 - 5 pounds. I guarantee, next time I go out, I'll have a scale with me. My only worry now, is if the cheap, disposable camera I bought is going to work.

After that catch, I was finished; just fishing haphazardly the rest of the way. I was reliving every moment. At one point we scared a flock of 17 turkeys. The last couple of miles I paddled hard passing many good spots to get to our take-out before dark, which we did by 5 minutes. An exhilarating trip. We caught fish by the score, and to top it all off, I didn't drink a single beer!

Ron was very excited about the trip and the fishing action. He said, ``This was too much fun, I need to get a canoe." The next day I got the film developed and luckily everything turned out . I still look at my trophy fish almost every day, fueling my fantasies for my next trip.

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