21.5" HAWG Smallmouth Bass! 9/27/07

Went for short mile and a half wade in the drizzle. Water wasn't murky from rain. The stream had some current- leaves were not bad yet on this one.

Used Sammy 100, chatterbait.

First 10 fish were of this variety:



But then got bigger:



Then a lot bigger:




New Personal best 21.5"




The fish made a loud noise but not much splash when it hit Sammy- I knew immediately it was a big fish. Jumped once. Sigh of relief when I got it ashore.

5.5 hours 28 SMB (21.5", 2 17", 16, 3 15)

9/22/07 Smallmouth bass creek Superwade!

Mike C. and I formed up an early morning caravan and set out to round up some brown bombers. We decided on a 4.33 mile wade about an hour+ away from our basecamps.

When we got there, I figured the stretch we picked I had fished via kayak in spring 2006. Those results back then were not as good as these. There was one more cold kayak dump that day :wink: .

We got to the put in first when a Vietnamese man shot ahead of us and started seining the stream. Said to stuff some eggrolls with various bits from the sea???

Fishing started off a 3/3 WBZ at the put in point while Mike put on his waders. Shortly thereafter I gota 16" SMB on Sammy, then a fat 16 Spot on WBZ. The fish were hitting everything. Tubes, BZZ, WTD...

Water was crystal clear to 3.5 feet- this made long casts critical. We saw fish fleeing before us everywhere.

I got a couple 16"'s in a row on Sammytime then tube on a swift little stretch. I let Mike lead most of the day and was happy to cast parallel to the deeper bank with WTD or tube when he moved up. We caught several fish from a arcing pool when my WTD fouled on a leaf. When I stopped it for a moment I saw a huge head come fully out of the water! It got the bait and fought well. Measured in at 18.5



I was a little ahead of Mike when he was casting a prop bait into shallow quick riffle that was funnel shaped. He got bit as I was in midcast. What happened next was very blury and a lot like all hell breaking loose. It was very clear Mike had a pig!!! It charged downstream and I enjoyed watching it while subconsciously walking the dog. It got swiped at hard then fouled and stopped walking and I kept brainlessly reeling while Mike's fish torpedoed for some branches between two boulders- his line looked in peril. I yelled at him to run up to the fish- then felt my own pig on the sammy 30 yards upstream I had fouled and absent mindedly been reeling in! It tore ass downstream and I saw it was big then it jumped and it was long... I was half watching Mike... :-) By this time Mike had his beached. For a second we thought double 20"'s, but upon close measurement his was beefier and 19.5", mine went 19" . Both were hefty, though Mike's 19.5 outweighed mine by a 1/4 lbs at least.


Here's the photopics- They don't do the fish justice. We were excited and the shot was at a bad angle. I had taken the picture with both of us in it but it looked really gay. I refrain from inflicting further abuse on readers.







We pounded the choke point made by some riprap and caught 4 or 5 more. I was in midcast when Mike yelled for me to look over- led to a Sammy 30 feet up in a tree. After climbing up and deciding I weighed too much and the tree would probably collapse. I pummeled the Sammy out of the tree by throwing about 30-40 river rocks at it. Yes!

Moving up it was a steady barrage of small to medium sized fish. We scared an 8 point Buck right streamside. We also saw a little green heron that looked like the road runner with wings- it was the largest one I have ever seen, but still quite small. Not as big as a duck.

Mike picked up this 17" on Gunfish


Again, most of the fish in this stream were long and thin. The water was so clear, I was shocked about a dozen times to find the fish was much larger than it appeared underwater. Some kind of optical illusion in clear water with sun??

I hit a couple of 17"'s on Sammy as the sun chilled a bit. It was a bright sunny day and shade seemed to be the ticket.

Working the deep side of the creek in shade right near a small creek draining in the stream I had a solid large attack on the sammy from the right. It fought well and I knew it was a good fish. Looked all of 18" in the water. When I beached it it was long and thin. 21" clean :blink: ! You can see in the pick at 21", she's slim.



John Bunner Pose:


Thank goodness my fly wasn't open. Right.

Am I 'Rainmanning' if I am only catching fish on one lure the second half of the day even if I try throwing other lures?

Oh, yeah. We caught a lot of fish and got off the water still light. The last mile stunk as the habitat was very silted from eroded banks.

I finished with 57 bass: 54 SMB (21, 19, 18.5, 2 17", 5 16", 4 15") 3 KY Spots (16)

Wool had 28: 27 SMB (19.5", 2 17", 16" 3-4 15") 1 KY

Crazy day.

Quick Wade 9/18/07

Been painting the house this week and its half done. Decided to go for a wade. Got on the water by 4pm. The stream was choked with dying algae and had no current when I got there. As I moved up, it turned out beavers had been at work daming.

I caught a 15"er on WolkaBuzz on a log pile at a bend and that was it for like 30-45 minutes. Nothing was getting hit except the WBZ. So I kept throwing it as I marched upstream. I finally hit the better water and things exploded.



The last good hole I hit was chuck full of dozens of fish of all types- There was a drain emptying from a pond that explained the greenies. I saw Carp, Suckers, Shad, Quillback, and a Channel Cat as well as Bass. Big ones too. Hope the meatheads don't find this one. Couldn't believe how many fish were stacked in there.

I caught about 10 fish from the hole as it got dark. I threw a Sammy and had a huge fish miss it. Then I had to find my way back through the woods in the dark.

33 Bass in 4 hours, 30 SMB (18", 17", 16", 2 15") 3 LMB (15")

Birthday Boy Saves Hand 9/8/07

JBCook had a birthday yesterday, so naturally got a day fishing as part present. He was half-sick and recovering from wedding hangover when we rolled up on a stream to tag team it. We got on the water around 9am. Fish were hitting popper right away and then JB's fluke.

Then continued to nail super fluke all day for JB, who was in constant danger of losing his last fluke. He worked them like a champ and pulled ahead after getting behind early. We were catching plenty of nice 14-15" fish. JB caught this 18"(fluke) in the middle of a large pool.



Not a few casts later, I landed this nice 18.5"er:



Let the spot calm a minute, then got bit again. The fish was landed but flopping. I grabbed the stick bait firmly when he shook and impaled a treble deep in my right hand. After some debate JB, helped me poke the hook point through my skin and cut the barb and point off. It's amazing how strong the human skin is! Then we backed the hook right out and went on fishing.

Here's an artsy shot for the squeemish:



Jason caught this 19" (fluke)



I caught this 2"er:



We both lost sammies in trees.

We both did well for size and numbers, but I only pulled close catching 12 (inc 17, 16) on buzzbait on walk back to car when Jason's sickness had gotten worse.

BT 32 (18.5, 17, 4 16, 6-7 15") JB 35+ (19, 18, 4-5 16", mess of 15"ish)

Lots of fun and Happy birthday JB!

9/5 Wade with John B

Firstrock called me up Wednesday about 2:40pm. John said he had the week off. Inspired by a post on the site we set out for a river in Indiana that really is blue. Got to a bit of river about 430pm.

The river had clear water, moderate fast current, lots of newly fallen trees, flat gravel bottoms, and moderate depth.

John was throwing a Splashtail and I was tossing Wbuzz/Tube combo. We waded downstream for at least 2 hours with each of us catching one dink.

We waded upstream using topwater search baits. Lots of casting- little to no action. It all looked fishy.

When we went into a slight river bend John got bit where current slowed. I looked over and it was large- drag was spinning and I have to say I was a bit shocked by it all. John was redfaced and beached the fish. Fat Smallie. We were beginning to have our doubts, now they were gone. A nice fish about 19"




Well that was the beginning of the fun. We headed upstream and heard some sheep baying- or so it sounded. A deer ran across the stream left to right then disappeared in the woods. Then two more smaller ones seemed to be doggy paddling across but struggling. The hind deer seemed to be hanging onto the first. Why did it have pointy ears and a long snout :shock: ? John and I both thought Coyote at the same time. The coyote was grappled onto the back of that fawn tail in mouth trying to dunk and drown it. Here I thought I'd have a great Youtube vid, I reached for my camera to find it gone. Left on the ground where John caught his nice fish!

John swooped up a couple of river rocks and tossed them at the coyote and it scampered off. One of the coolest thing we'd ever seen! All from 30 feet away.

We kept heading upstream, John caught a couple of 14" Smallies.

It got dark and we decided since the river bottom was so flat we'd pull a JB. No light, no moon, just a lighter and some Marlboro Lights. I caught a fish on Splashtail and then we crossed casts- No one said anything about this. It took 10 minutes to untie. Then fish blew up on my bait a foot in front of me gave multiple heart attacks. We dropped things in the river, trebles caught pants and then we realized there was no moon! We finally made it up some riprap through the poison Ivy and onto a road that led back to the truck.

John caught 5 brown and I caught but 2, but it was a kickass adventure.

9/3/07 Wade results

I got beat to my wade stretch by two other fishemen with Golf shorts and pale white legs. URRR. That's what I get for reading posts in the AM before fishing. I got them back drove upstream road 1/4 mile parked by the road and hopped in the stream.

First pool I hit 15, 18, 16, 15.5, 16.5, 15.75, 12. All on Sammytime. This was going to be a good day. And it would give me pleasure to know I sorelipped all those fish in front of those goons.




Kept throwing the Sammy and mixed up lots of dinks with some 15"ers. A couple of run ins with big blow ups that didn't stick.

Later, I passed campers who had obviously been driving their trucks in the creek. Then there were innertubers coming downstream so that's when I turned around and power walked back with Wolkabuzz in tow. Got another 22 smallies on the walk back (mostly dinks) did include a 16" and a couple more 15"'s. To entertain myself I switched the reel handle to the right side and tossed some WBZ lefthanded. My right hand is the left hand's pimp. :shock:

51 smallies 7 hour wade (18, 3 16, 10- 15-15.75) lots of 8-10"s very few 12-14"ers.

Was also neat to see big smallies hiding under flatrocks from the sun. Noticed this on the way back- didn't look like there was enough room.

9/1/07 wade

Mike and I decided to fish early Saturday AM and to do something different than an hour from Indy east or west. I let Mike pick the stretch going for total surprise. We picked about a 4.6 mile wade and got at it by 7-730am. We ended up going where I was going to take Tim before the rain two weeks ago. Sunrise was about 6:45am. Water was a bit stained at first due to low light.

The stream had a lot of high banks with crops planted close and erosion was pretty common. There was also a ton of rip-rap to repair some of this in places. Decent amount of current was nice and the stream averaged deeper than the three rivers I've been fishing most this year. Tons of bends :-) (why Mike picked it) and a decent amount of wood in the water. I'd say the river was river rock filled, but ample silt made the wade mostly easy on the ankles until the last mile or so.

Mike started out throwing LC Gunfish 95. We had donwsized to this lure with pretty good effect last weekend when fish wouldn't touch sammies. The water was cold, fog was coming off the water and I was freezing. I predicted the Topwater morning bite would be off. Mike lost a 14-15" on a jump and had a couple other slaps before I got a bite. We hit a nice pool where I caught a dink and a skinny 15.25" smallie on a red pumpkin tube.

Behind us a guy in a turqouise kayak started to paddle upstream behind us . We both dreaded this guy zipping past us all day spooking fish, but luckily he turned around. If you're out there- thanks :) . Hope you caught some.

Next pool up the tube was still getting bit, another decent fish and a couple more dinks. Mike was still working the dog to no avail. As I moved up I was tossing buzzbait into everything- with no results in likely places.

Mike finally started throwing a tube and we were getting bit regularily by dinks. I picked up fish here and there. Mike caught a couple of dinks on Gunny. We couldn't get anything in or near the woodpiles.

Hit a pool with a downed tree that screamed 'fish me', I fouled on the first cast, but when I moved to get it, I spied some grass near current at the head of a riffle. Tossed my tube up there nicely and was rewarded by a solid 'thunk' and drag peeling fight to which a nice 17" was landed:




We hit another shaded pool with riprap I caught a 15" off the rip on a tube, when Mike hooked a fish on the gunfish. I threw my tube in immediatley and got bit on the immediate drop- nice fight and 16"er landed. As the day went on the tube bite was in full effect. I caught 5 in a swirly current area including a 16" that took my tube as I dragged it over a log. We got pretty close to the fish here due to the fast current and deeper water.

Mike landed a nice 15.5"er off current seem on the bank. It was a no brainer pool just below a bridge. Here he is complete with manical grin:

-This photo harkens back to the 60's Batman show where the villains were always filmed sideways in their lair. With that getup, I think the angle suits him well. It also reminds me that the fish in this stream were thin and long,we didn't see a lot of food like other streams and there were tons of 6-10" fish! The fish had huge heads in the main, and big tails. In a tourney, they wouldn't have weighed much! I caught another 15" on a tube and we moved on.

Above this spot, we took a break at the bridge to eat contemplate the lack of good topwater bite. I said we hadn't yet tried a prop bait. Second cast, nailed another 15"+. Mike and I went on a prop bait madness run for about an hour picking up dinks and 15"ers. Seemed to be very few in between. Occasionaly, I'd whip out a tube and catch one, Mike kept throwing his prop.

Mike hooked a fish in front of a "V" in the stream and some down tree limbs, when it happended I was in midcast and pitched over his line. It quickly wrapped and climbed for his rod tip! I saw it making a mess and said " Mike, stop!" While I said this a 17-18" fish came and was hooked on Mike's Prop bait, too! The two fish were shaking and we had a horrible clustered mess!!!! I grabbed the line, but only the smaller 14-15" fish had stayed hooked in our bickering .

I had changed from 1/8 to 3/16 oz tube jig halfway and it paid off near deep riprap. A nice 17.5 and 15.5 caught in about 4' of water :-) .

The day dragged on and the fish turned off , I was in the 40's and Mike high teens when I began to recognize where we were. The very same secret stretch a local had taken me during the rodeo! Jeff must have been through recently because it fished like pooh. One dink was caught in hawg hole.
Mike and I went back to buzzbaits at dusk (that's right dusk), and caught a few more to make it respectable. From about 3pm on We had to work hard for every fish.

Strange that so many dinks were feeding. I probably had at least 25 dinks on 3-4" baits?


Final: BT 51 SMB (17.5, 17, 2 16", 10-12 15-15.75") 2 Googs, 1 Creek chub Mike 22 (6 or so 15-15.75") Not one damned fish on 'Sammy'

Wade just would never end, must have been the good tube bite. 4.89 miles 13 hours!

Lots of fun cutting up. We coined a new phrase. If you tripped on a rock: "Beaver Trap"!