Smallies 8/4

Fished the Russian this afternoon for Smallies looks like they are starting their fall bite. Caught about 15 fish and all were beetwen 13-15.5". Lost one that was quite a bit bigger. All the fish were very fat and they were spitting up minnows,eels and crawdads. These fish are so strong you think they are twice the size till you see them. All fish caught drop and split shotting.

Nice Smallmouths. Where on the Russian does one launch and fish for them. That might be a lot of fun one Fall day.

Also maybe NCKA Bass tourney this Fall. MolBasser, what do you think?

SWEET SMALLIES Mickfish!One of the many destinations on my list of places to fish(NOTE TO SELF:now would be a good time!) and you will be the one I will  be seeking that knowledge from. if possible?Thanks for the report/pic. and inspiration to fish the mighty RR for Smallies!!

Way to go Mike! I'm hoping to catch a few at the Bendo at Mendo 

I'd be down, but it is a pretty big drive for me.

Certainly could be a virtuall venue.

Those smallies were FAT!!  I love smallmouth, they fight way harder than largemouth of the same size.

MolBasser

Where on the Russian does one launch and fish for them

I fish the Healdsburg area and have access. There are a lot of access points I think the best fishing is from Hopland to Gurneville. If you want to go just let me know when and I will suggest some options based on how much time you want to spend and wheather you want to do a drift or just paddle around. Most of the access points I use are within 1/2 hour of 101. If you want to do a drift I can probably help you out on the shuttle even if I don't go.I live 10 min from the river.

Thanks for the offered-intel & extra-hospitality Mike!Can you make us a little-bag-lunch too?! Is it hard to paddle up-river?is there less current along the shoreline generaly?and last ? for now.The wife and I are trying to plan a 1 or 2 nite camp near water and this sounds like good!I want to catch the Smallies and put a pole in the wifes hand too.I've got floattubes,any area you know of that might fullfill any of these fantasies? 
Thanks for any and all replies 

Adam,

Prior to discovering kayaks I paddled the Russian River for years with WC "Bob" Trowbridge canoe rentals.  It started off as a college group event and I've been going back since with family and friends.  We spent the time cruising down the lazy part of the Russian River, stopping here and there to skip rocks and have lunch.  There's a few spots that have tame "white water" so we would park our canoes, walk on the shore upstream and "run" the rapids feet first using our PFDs as floatation. 

I've brought fishing gear on a few trips and showed newbies how to catch their first fish.  Be warned: after their first fish they don't paddle anymore and spend most of their time fishing!  Small rooster tails or shiny spoons would bag SMB and/or LMB.  In the deep pools we could see 4 to 5 lb fish lurking in the structure but we couldn't get them to take the lure...didn't have time to use bait. 

So if you want to avoid trucking your stuff up and wondering how to get back to your car, they have packaged trips.  They even had a BBQ Dinner waiting for us when we got off the river on one of our last trips.  So for stone rookies it was great fun and its an easy paddle for the wife and kids.  One thing I should mention is that the river runs fairly shallow during this time of year and there are spots where you will scrape the bottom of your boat.  On a beat up aluminum rental canoe no cares but you would add a few more scratches on your yak.

Google search "WC Bob Trowbridge Canoe Trips" and they show maps and their packaged trips.  If nothing else there's intel about the Russian River although I bet mickfish knows where the lunkers are hiding.

Check it out,

Gary

Mickfish (Mike) thanks for your generous contribution of information and help. i'll post in hookups when I finally get a slot open to go up there this Fall. I'd probably try to paddle rather than float just to keep the logistics simpler.