Saturday, got out with MH for his INSA guided trip with me. Beautiful day, cool, sun, breeze.
We caught a lot of fish 60+, mostly on tubes in about 6 hours. Good time. Glad fish cooperated. I didn't get Mark any monsters, but we tried. Pulled a couple nice ones from Davey Jones, mostly hanging back... Can't get over the pull on these guys.
One of the more bizarre things I've seen from the river:
18.25"
17.5"
Sunday Mike and I got on a different flow. Drastic difference. We WC and Fatbustered them early, until it just became a wake bite. Simply crank and wind. Closer you came to roots the better. Again over 60 bass. I hit two 18.5"-18.75" ers, a 17.25" which came with a dink attached. Lost another acrobat that was in the 17"-18" range. MC was having a rough day casting like I haven't seen him before, probably kept his pig count down, but he managed 26 basses.
Some arial acrobatics from this fish:
No pic of the other 18.5"
BT 37 (2-18.5"-18.75", 17.25" 3-15-15.5")
MC 26
We caught a lot of fish 60+, mostly on tubes in about 6 hours. Good time. Glad fish cooperated. I didn't get Mark any monsters, but we tried. Pulled a couple nice ones from Davey Jones, mostly hanging back... Can't get over the pull on these guys.
One of the more bizarre things I've seen from the river:
18.25"
17.5"
Sunday Mike and I got on a different flow. Drastic difference. We WC and Fatbustered them early, until it just became a wake bite. Simply crank and wind. Closer you came to roots the better. Again over 60 bass. I hit two 18.5"-18.75" ers, a 17.25" which came with a dink attached. Lost another acrobat that was in the 17"-18" range. MC was having a rough day casting like I haven't seen him before, probably kept his pig count down, but he managed 26 basses.
Some arial acrobatics from this fish:
No pic of the other 18.5"
BT 37 (2-18.5"-18.75", 17.25" 3-15-15.5")
MC 26
Not too bad, 72 bass sharing the water and taking a backseat, still scoring.
BT, Glad to find your blog-have spent a few hours recently reading your posts.Started stream fishing for smallmouth 40 years ago here in TN; I had stopped about a dozen years ago but my nephew became interested in 2010 and we've been at it pretty intensely the past 3 years. Could you post what you consider to be your absolutely essential lures for stream smallies; 3 or 4 or a dozen, it's up to you. I think it would be of great interest to many of your readers. Thanks again for sharing your trips and insight with those who are likewise dedicated to this lifelong pursuit. JQ
ReplyDeleteJohn- Yes. I'll do that when I get a moment. Gotta get down to Tennesee sometime and fish, seems like a great place for smallmouth bass. Thanks for reading. Meanwhile:
Delete4" tube (pick a color) on EWG jighead sizes 3/16oz, 1/4oz.
3/8" counter rotating buzzbait.
Sammy 100.
Lucky Craft jointed Wake Crank.
Zoom 5" Super Fluke.
Lucky Craft Splashtail 90
3/8oz white spinnerbait with dual willows.
3/8 oz Chatterbait
Square billed 1/2 oz wide wobble crank like Rick Clunn LC 1.5 or KVD Strike King knock off.
BT,
DeleteThanks for your list of top lures. I've been using a new lure this year that's evidently been around a long time--Jointed Rapala,3 1/2",Black/Silver. It makes a great topwater lure and also a decent shallow runner with a very distinctive and noticeable action. It's replaced the popping and propeller baits and original Rapalas I've always used in the past. My goal is to reduce my lure choice down to no more than 5, if that's possible--it's always tempting to try something new. Give the Jointed Rapala a try someday when you're tempted to experiment with something new. Thanks again for your suggestions; the Sammy 100 and Splashtail 90 definitely look interesting. JQ
John, a wide wobble is key. Jointed even better. The key for me beyond the action is castability. You simply have to make casts longer than your noise or you are spooking big fish away before you reach them. Rapalas unfortunately don't meet this need for me as they are difficult to cast with pinpoint accuracy at 25-35 yard distances. Of course, as a flow fills up with water it makes more noise, so your casts can get correspondingly shorter!
ReplyDelete