Long wade 5.5 miles, more than half of which I've never seen. Water was cold and only the bigger fish were catchable until after noon. Then, the sun scared them into swinging but not hitting, finally the go nuts phase. Extended the streak to 9 trips with an 18" or better. Fish were schooled up. On a couple occasions, there were upwards of 12 smallmouth in schools jammed into rootwads at riffles, you'd catch one, the others would swim all over. They always came in packs. Saw the largest smallmouth I've ever seen and I'll be back to get him. Followed a dink to my feet, of course. Happened a lot today, but still got 16 smallmouth from 15-18.5". Didn't get many dinks at all until after 5pm. They had to warm up. If all the false starts had been eaters! Crankbait was off, caught maybe 4 and a walleye. Added a 14" white bass on a Sammy 100.
9 hours 5.5 miles 43 SMB (18.5", 17.5", 17", 4-16", 9-15") Caught more fish over 14" than dinks today. With bike it was over 12 miles.
9 hours 5.5 miles 43 SMB (18.5", 17.5", 17", 4-16", 9-15") Caught more fish over 14" than dinks today. With bike it was over 12 miles.
Max daily water temp dropped 20 degrees from a week ago in the creek I fished up here yesterday, from 85 to 65. Finally found something with decent smallie habitat but they weren't active.
ReplyDeleteWalleye and a late summer white bass? Only a few places in Indiana that will do that.
Nate
Hey, Nate. The temps dropped here too. I'm sure you'll figure it out in time for us to come up and visit.
DeleteYou're right, I can think of 5 or 6, but without any spotted bass caught, narrows it down for you.
The streak is crazy. BT maybe I should be fishing big crankbaits more in my spots. I see shad balls quite often. Some are in 6-10" range. Don't know if smallies would take them that big though? Also see a lot of river shiners and suckers. You think smallies eat suckers?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Thanks. Yes. They eat suckers. At one shocking with the USGS, we shocked up an 18" smallmouth bass with a 10" northern hogsucker stuck halfway down his throat. Pics probably on the blog here somewhere. The larger fish could take shad 6-10", no problem. I thought about throwing musky size baits one year and got a baitcaster for it. Tendinitis in the elbow put a stop to it.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog BT. Wish I had found it sooner! Went out for two hours tonight after work and went up until dark, with 5 SMB (nothing of any size) and a walleye about the size of the one in the pic above. Unlike during hot weather, they seem to be shutting down about dusk. Mid-summer that's when the smallies went nuts at one of my spots (which has been almost ruined by civil engineering nonesense). Are you seeing this at all?
ReplyDeleteBen,thanks. Only been out just Sunday since the cool off, so I can't really comment on dusk bite. I was off the water by 7:30PM. With low water everywhere, the fishing will be succeptable to cool downs more quickly than if they had good water in them. That typically means head out a little later if overnight temps aren't warmer. By the end of the day Sunday, fish were on and getting deadly. Catch a walleye or sauger?
ReplyDeleteTubes are landing the big uns for me right now, the bite on the cranks has really slowed down in my spots.
ReplyDeleteHi Ty. Tubes are better for me when there's more water in the creek or river I'm fishing. We usually have low water in Indiana in Summer and Fall. I still use them a lot depending on the river I'm fishing. Some rivers want nothing to do with them right now. I always have some in my pack to prod cover or let the tube get swept under some current better than other baits I'm using will.
ReplyDeleteWalleye, but caught a couple nice saugeyes upstream from here right before the spawn.
ReplyDeleteGotcha, too bad they aren't more plentiful. Would be nice to have a chance at another game fish species in our rivers.
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