Smallmouth Bass

Sammy, the Fish that Walks

When choosing top water lures for smallmouth bass, a stream angler surely has a lot of choices in all price ranges. I'm here to give you some information on why the Lucky Craft Sammy series is worth a good, long look. Lucky Craft is a Japanese lure company that produces some of the most amazingly innovative, well tested, high quality fishing lures on the market today. That quality comes at a price. A typical Lucky Craft Sammy 100 runs $14.99-$16.99 US. I do prefer the Sammy 100 over the smaller Sammy 65 and 85 for all around fishing and ease of walking the dog as well as the superior numbers of 17"+ brown bass it produces. Sammy 100 weighs in at 1/2 an ounce, 4" in length, and sports twin size 4 treble hooks.


Lucky Craft produces over 47 different colors ranging from crystal clear to lava lamp. You can match your hatch, go for something shiny, or pick a lure more visible to you on the water. All have subtle advantages- metallics seem to get more instant surface hits on sunny days. Sammy bloops and spits like a popper with subtle glass rattles. It slashes side to side like a snake, enticing vicious strikes. Sammy's weight transfer system allows for ultra long casts.



Walking the Dog- too Difficult?
Many anglers are turned off by "Walk the Dog" hard baits, because of the perceived difficulty of the act. However, with Sammy 100's, walking the dog is easy! An average fisherman can get the hang of it in a few minutes, though efficiency in hooking bass may take practice. Simply cast out the lure, with slack line and rod held low, twitch your wrist about an inch. The bait will glide in one direction. After each twitch or pump, moving the rod tip towards the bait will keep line slightly bowed. Basically, you are reeling in the slack as you go, creating more slack with the forward rod movement. This causes Sammy to move back and forth in a wide gliding motion like a swimming snake. Keep in mind a 'tic-tock' as the lure bounces back and forth. Then practice speeding up and slowing down the tick tock to draw strikes. Experiment until you find what works each day. Beware, this kind of fishing is highly entertaining!

I typically want a Sammy tied on for those hard to reach ambush points. Nothing but crunchy river rock to walk on as you approach? Maybe schools of spooky shad or quillbacks at your feet that will cascade a spookathon upstream? If I try and get close, I might just spook the hole. Sammy's ability to cast 40-50 yards gives an river wade angler some reach out and touch ability. More important is this critical ability to outcast one's profile, noise, and shadow. It's cutting that chance of spooking big fish with long casts while they are unaware of your presence that will draw big fish. More awesome still is how easy the lure is to handle with some practice. A Sammy 100 is a great lure to skip under tree limbs into the dark shade below. Feathering line on a spinning reels is a critical skill to get Sammy to land where you want him. Let line slip through your off hand as the lure flies to target using your fingers as a break. It is an awesome feeling when a cast skips under an overhanging tree branch and Sammy gets destroyed on impact by a gnarly brown bass! Aim for eddies, current breaks, root wads, lay downs, and grass lines. Generally, I work the bait quartering downstream or across stream. I find the bait doesn't spook fish like a buzzbait can on some days. Which makes it a great lure to run through a hole first.

Lines
I recommend braided lines in the 15lbs to 20lbs test range for easier hookups due to the no stretch quality of the line. The toughness of braid allows me to fish the 15$ lure with absolute confidence. An angler can throw Sammy in and around cover knowing they can wade in after the lure gets hung up. Be prepared to take the fish airborne over logs and stumps as your sharp hooks will hang up. Keep your drag somewhat loose to account for the no stretch quality of the braided line. You will toss Sammies into trees, the braid lets you pull the tree limb down to retrieve your lure. Power Pro braid casts very similar to 8lbs test mono but is many times stronger. Watch your line on the spool for signs of looseness before each cast to avoid backlash. With braided lines, I have virtually no fear of losing a fish.




Topwater Strikes
Smallmouth bass can strike your Sammy in a variety of exciting ways depending on mood or how well they see the zigzag. There's the 'Orca Strike', this is where your bait gets nosed fully into the air. The 'Tail Swat'- your fish was confused and maddened by Sammy's snakelike walk. 'Atom Bomb'- total annihilation! The 'Buffet Rush'- where several bass are smacking the lure often throwing all caution to the wind. One note here, if you do hook a smaller fish during a 'Buffet Rush' playing it longer than usual will often result in a double hook or even a larger fish taking the bait away! ' Streaking V'- you know what's next. 'Suddenly There'- no splash no visible strike, suddenly a bass is on your line. 'Slurp'. The noise only strike, which can be very loud and sudden. Remaining calm and not overreacting is always the order of the day. If your hooks are sharp, you will prevail.



Hookups and Reaction
Working the Sammy fast, slow, or pausing all work at different times. The main thing is not to ever set the hook. Fish hook themselves on the sharp premium hooks and no stretch braid. When you feel the fish's pressure online, tighten up and keep the rod bent. Sometimes its hard to tell if the fish got the bait, reel the slack in slightly, then judge. If it is often hard for you to spot your lure in the water switch to a bright gaudy color such as pure white, chartreuse, yellow, lime green, flame orange, etc. These colors are much easier to see from a distance. This will help you judge whether the fish has the bait.
Setting the hook in the normal, immediate way often at the sound of a huge blowup, most often results in the bass missing the bait. Do not react to the noise, react to the feel. Keep walking the dog calmly at your same pace or slow slightly. Fish usually will keep after it if they miss. Give a bass a second or two to turn back around. This is the vital for catching more bass on Sammy. Reacting at a splash before a bass has a chance to grab the bait will just pull it away from him. Be sure it has the bait, then apply pressure.
If you get a total topwater miss, and the fish was large, consider taking a break for 5 minutes. Throwing back later can often foster very positive results. If you get a blowup and see evidence of multiple chasing bass, throw back immediately! The bass are often frenzied with competition and throw caution to the wind, often biting at the lure right at your feet. One of the reasons I believe LC Sammy 100 is such a great stream lure is its ability to turn even neutral bass into aggressive ones playing their feeding instincts against each other.



Impacts
Sammy gets many strikes on first impacting the water. It is designed to dive down then burst upwards to the surface in a lively fashion. Try dropping it into the water to watch it pop back to the surface like a fleeing minnow desperate to escape ingestion. Bass hear the impact splash which sounds not unlike another fish smashing a baitfish on the surface. I have never seen another lure get so many impact strikes! Mr.Bass thinks the Sammy is fleeing, wounded food, he cannot allow another to eat such lively sizeable prey. Bass will fling themselves wildly at this bait. Small fish have stuck it, only to see it taken by larger fish and vice versa. Sometimes this wakes up a hole and you nab one after another until they notice their buddies are gone.



Hooks
Hooks get changed immediately when not needle sharp. You can test your hook's sharpness by balancing it on your fingernail with the point down, the point should dig in your nail. With ultra sharp premium hooks you won't lose many fish. When the hooks dull and you aren't vigilant, it's easy to blame the bass missing the bait. You will struggle keeping fish hooked. They can throw that big bait easy. You will go through a lot of premium trebles this way, in my opinion, it's worth it for all the fish you will land. This is much better than crying in your beer later about the Hog Smallies that brewed up and were lost seconds later.



Finally, give the bait a try from June-November. Please release all your smallmouth bass quickly to help keep Indiana's waters a joy to fish! A pair of hemostats allow for quick and unmangled release of these beautiful bronze-brown fish. Here's to seeing your first bronze zigzag behind your lure, all hail the "Fish that Walks"!

Stream Smallmouth Fishing is a 'Snap'

A large black green torpedo shape darts out from a rocky underwater cleft, slamming on the breaks with her pectorals and for a second contemplating whether to destroy the spinning, clacking, buzzbait. Just as quickly, the bass returns to her cave under the barely trickling waterfall. Given this situation, an on foot angler might beat the spot to a froth with the same bait, forever turning the nice smallmouth bass off.

Pro tournament anglers carry multiple rigged rods with different presentations. They switch up from cast to cast when they observe a change in on the water circumstances. Retying can take too long when money and glory are at stake. The information a bass gives you must be acted upon immediately. Retying the best lure at every such opportunity all day will cost you precious moments that could have been used making more casts and covering water. Some such as myself are just plain knot lazy! A common solution is to load up like a chimney sweep and carry 2-3 rods in various rod holders or belts on the stream wader's person. That works well for the agile. For those who have trouble standing let alone navigating up and down banks, over beaver traps, and through the woods there is an alternative!


The common snap! Often confused with a snap swivel. Take away the swivel part and you've got a whirling dervish of lure changing power, the snap. A quick online search couldn't capture for me the inventor of this invaluable little piece of bent heavy gauge wire. Surely, it must rank up there with the with great inventions like handles on coffee mugs? A fishing snap allows for quick change of fishing lures once tied to your line. In the last couple years of tying this style snap to my lines, I cannot think of one example where a fish came off due to the snap failing in some way. When you lose lures occasionally, you do also lose a snap. Ordering them en mass from online tackle making warehouse like barlowstackle.com gets you lots of snaps ultra cheap. Meet the Duo Lock snap I prefer:



I keep my vest loaded with ready to throw lures. Typically, casting and change lure in less than a few seconds. Crankbait, Sammy, popper, prop bait, chatterbait, jerkbait, tube, or buzzbait depending on season are all at the ready on my chest or in a pouch easily reached. Minimal opening boxes or undoing zippers. A couple of rigged extra wide gap 4/0 4" tube jigs in a couple different weights depending on the situation at hand. These are stored at my waist pouches ready to be unvelcroed at a moments notice should the next cast need them. In the case of my opening scenario, the buzzbait revealed a fish's location. I quickly snapped it off, hooked it onto my fly hair, and threw the tube onto the snap. Pitched it 6' from the bass's location. The smallie didn't want the buzzbait, but he did want that tube helpless on the bottom! 18.5"er emerged from under his cliff to snarf it up! I didn't allow time for a mood change.



A good pair of polarized sunglasses are a must, as you are looking for sight clues as for what to throw. Structure and cover of course are clues, but swimming lunkers and panicky baitfish are too! Your eyes and ears are your best weapon in this kind of sight fishing.
Spending time on the rivers and creeks switching lures will begin to condition you. I began to notice certain baits performing well in certain situations, but not in others. Having a good idea what works best in various scenarios based on catching bass, you begin to know what will likely work best when you see types cover and structure. Don't try to make due with a suboptimal bait for each situation. Throwing bait might spook bass the least, to a mid column bait like a soft jerkbait or chatterbait, to a bottom bouncing plastic, finally to a clacking buzzbait. Depending on what gets hot be prepared to make it #1 on the list. If the buzzbait is on fire, I might use it exclusively pausing only to probe deep spots with a tube or let a fluke gets swept in. Throwing a different lure on 4 casts is not uncommon. Making a lot of casts and finding the key for the day. I am prepared to try each lure in turn. I can ride a hot lure, but going back to the best lure for each situation often pays off big despite an apparent hot lure. An example, would a hot prop bait bite and and undercut, rooty bank. The prop may move too fast for fish to react, while a slow popper may be just the ticket to bring them out of their safe home! If the popper didn't work, I'd want to probe the undercut with a texposed tube.



To speed up all changes the lures I go with are pinned to my chest, trebles fouled in the wool of my fishing vest's fly holder. Find the feeding pattern by cycling through your revolver of confidence lures. Too often an angler will throw one bait with decent success. Being happy with this is fine, but I believe the multi pronged approach will get a wider variety of moody fish to strike. This technique can be educational and rewarding when one bait works above and beyond another.

Another advantage of the snap system is using the same rod setup on every cast will reduce mistakes, there is no adjustment period as you switch rods. You simply have to compensate for the different weight of the lures you employ. Searching for the right feel to work your lures, feel lighter bites, cast more accurately.

Get out and practice on a stream somewhere. Try to remember how and why you caught each fish. When you start learning the strengths of certain baits based on your experience and your target, don't hesitate, use that snap! Have in mind your first 3 or 4 presentations for every piece of cover or eddy. This will allow you to run and gun with excellent efficiency, yet still sample all water columns and presentations. Be sure to get the bass back in the water quickly and keep them wet!



FAQ
Will the snap come open? Probably not unless you want it to or forget to close it.
Will I lose lures because of the snap? Check to make sure the hook eye is fully crimped down and you are OK.
Do the fish see the snap? Maybe, but bass aren't smart enough to not eat, consider visible hooks and weed guards.
What size snaps do you use? Size 1 or 2.
Can I use a swivel? This would not be good for the action of many lures, but may work great for some like spinners. Just the snaps, please.
What knot do you use to tie to the snap? Palomar knot tied with 15/4 or 20/6 Power Pro braid.

Care and Release of Smallmouth Bass

The Smallmouth Bass gives us endless fun and enjoyment each year. Whether it is the aggressive nature of the fish, the peaceful surroundings, the achievement of new fishing goals, the joy of unlocking a new technique, the surprising characterful antics of these terrific game fish, or just being lucky enough to be immersed in their habitat. We keep coming back. Catch and release helps to keep good fisheries good and great fisheries even better.

Here are a few techniques that will help those heroic smallmouth we catch every year survive when released. Thankfully, bass fishing tournaments have popularized catch and release for all Black Bass among American anglers. Many trout fisherman have long tended carefully to their fish. Here are a few things we Smallmouth Bass anglers can do to help out our quarry.

Don't overplay the bass- Putting undue strain on the fish by letting it fight too long can cause a build up of lactic acid that may be harmful to the fish after you release it. Admire the Smallmouth while on the line, but get him in. You'll probably lose less fish too.

Take care to support big fish with two hands- I've seen smallmouth with broken jaws that were clearly caught before. If you hold the fish sideways take care to support it from underneath. Never place too much pressure on the jaw. Grip the fish by the jaw to immobilize it, take care to not let all the weight and pressure fall on that jaw.

Quickly remove hooks with forceps or hook removal tool- Mangled smallmouth result from wrestling hooks out of the fish by hand, tearing flesh and bone in the process. A simple pliers, forceps, or hook remover give you leverage to remove the hook(s) with less overall damage to the bass. A wire cutter allows cutting of hook to aid in removing difficult hooks.

Wet your hands before handling the bass- Dry hands can remove the bass's slime layer which helps protect it from infection.

Consider barbless hooks- A barbless hook allows for easier hook removal from the bass as well as yourself should an accident happen. Just pinch them down with a multi-tool. Also consider removing one or more trebles from cranks and stickbaits. They often end up fouling in a bass's eye.

Take pictures quick- Hold fish in the water mouth upstream while your buddy readies the camera. Have it ready and easy to access ahead of time. If by yourself have the timer function practiced beforehand. You do want a pic of that fish of a lifetime, but you also want it to swim away to catch another day. If you do have to keep him out of the water try to keep it less than a minute or so.

Keep fish in the water pointed upstream- to reduce the stress on it and allow it to breath while you remove the hook or ready for a picture. When you release the bass point him upstream so water flows over the gills, helping to revive the bass.

Avoid touching the gills- Very fragile and vital to the fish surviving.

Cut the line on swallowed baits- If a fish takes a bait into its gullet give up on getting the bait back unless it is clear it will totally obstruct any eating. The bass can still survive if you don't wrench that hook out of its belly. There are techniques out there that allow passing a lure through the gill area, most involve and turning the hook around the other way to force it back the way it entered. Be very careful around the gills of the fish, try not to touch them when removing hooks. Here is a good link detailing the removal of gut hooks on bass: http://www.in-fisherman.com/magazine/articles/if2806_HookRemoval/ . Immediately set the hook to avoid gut hooking! Consider using a cirlce hook.

Practice good livewell techniques- Studies have shown that compared to largemouth, smallmouth bass are more prone to stress and potential mortality when kept in livewells. As such it is important to understand and practice good livewell care and maintenance when smallies are on board. Be sure to use livewell additives (Please Release Me, Rejuvenade, non-iodized salt, etc.) at their recommended dosages. At water temperatures above 70 degrees be sure and run your recirculating pumps continuously for maximum aeration. Also use blocks of ice or cool packs to lower livewell water temperatures 5-8 degrees below lake or river temperatures. Every few hours pump out part of the "old" water from the livewell to eliminate metabolic wastes and add fresh water along with more ice and livewell conditioners. When weigh-in time comes, quickly remove and shuttle your bass to be weighed in dark-colored carry sacks (if available) with plenty of conditioned water. Try and make the process as fast as possible to minimize handling and air exposure, then quickly get your fish returned to the water.

Avoid allowing fish to flop on the ground or deck of a boat-




Use a landing net-The use of a fine-mesh landing net can aid in reducing the amount of time required to land a fish and keep it from thrashing about in shallow water or on the shore.

5/30/08 Wade and 5/31/08 Float- Semi Stinky.

Reporting the stinkers, too.

Hit a small creek early friday morning, the one Mike C caught his two hogs on. In fact, same stretch. Conditions were not the same. We had hit the creek with the water up in the 200's CFS and it was less than 100 and crystal clear. I did not see one bass, I saw few if any minnows, the water was down what seemed like at least a foot. Where had the smallmouth gone? Nothing in the hog hole... nothing. The sun was bright and was only going to get worse as the day wore on. I got a bad spooky feeling and went back to the car after about an hour, drove to the next creek, third of the way across the state.

Water was good level clear with brown tint- a definate improvement. I saw oodles of 4" Smallies in some of the eddies! Good for the future! However, my baits were largely ignored except one dink caught on WBZ. I decided to wade downstream and kill the day, waiting for dusk to hit my favorite riffle/hole in the area. As the day wore, a 3.5" swimbait was getting pecked by dink smallies and longear alike (plentiful), of course I couldn't catch any of the little turds. The action was terrific, and gave me confidence to throw it in the future. Got to the end of my downstream and finally saw a couple sizeable SMB, caught a couple 10"ers and then a 14 on swimbait. On the way back up, I threw a tube into a boulder laden eddy and was rewarded by a solid 'thunk' followed by bronze explosion airborne missle 17-18"ish and tube slow motion spat in air. Heartbreaking after 8-9 hours and 5 little SMB.

At the top of the riffle, I let the current drift my tube under the front of the rootwad and hooked up with another turbo charged torpedo, it shot in the air and tried to wrap line on my leg. Ahh, a little redemption. Bass went 17.5":



Ran into a couple of guys and told them about INSA website and conservation group. Hopefully, they'll remember the URL.

Ended up with 9 SMB (17.5, 14) nothing else bigger than 10" all day. Ouch. Fav hole produced nadda, fish shut off again at dusk.

Got out with JbCook for a flotilla of INSA yak power, instead it was just he and I and more bad fishing! LOL. The creek we picked read no spike and the take out had vis about 1', but when we got to the put in, Chocolatish! Looking now it got to 281 (not bad), but because of the gradient, it was hard to stay in position.

JB threw a Jack's worm. I tried a chatter, crank, fluke, popper, and buzzbait. They only hit a black tube. Caught a 16" in 'hawg hole', then another about 12" above it. JB had lost a sizeable fish up in a shallow creek branch on the inside bend. He had the fish broadside in his yak and coulnd't bring her in. Long stretch in the middle of the day where nothing happened. I got out in front of JB and threw my tube at a good hole near a sycamore after the 7-8th cast I just let it sit and started inspecting my cranks and laying them on top my legs to check out their awesomeness. Moved the tube a little and it got whacked! Crud, good fish. Had 100$ worth of baits on my lap anchored next to current and an angry brown fish on the line, it went airborne and I saw it was good. Held the rod high with one hand while the other swatted Sammies and cranks to the kayak floor. Yikes. Fish measured just shy of 18": Here are some yak hood tripod shots.




Next time I'll get the tail up higher on this shot:



Water seemed to clear up after that and I caught another 6 Smallies in the last couple hours: couple 15"'s and a 14.5"er all on black darth vader tubage. Stained water=Black baits. Seems to be true.

JB was beat and we still had to do a couple miles. Made it back before dark. Fun to get in the kayak again. Several times smallies splashed my face wet. Forgot about that. Hard fishing as you had to let the tube sit a little or tumble but the gradient was so high we got swept along often with 5lbs anchor deployed.

JB and I both tried to boat through trees hanging over heavy current- mine had 3" thorns on it. We had floated 4.7 miles in 8-9 hours.

BT 10 SMB (17.9", 16, 2 15) 1 big goog all on tubes
JB 4 SMB I think

How many times will I fall in the river?

Went fishing Saturday with an objective of hitting two rivers, the first had been recommended to me by Prowler a year or two ago. I made the mistake of trying the same stretch and we ditched out after about an hour of zero activity :oops: .

Went to one of my favorite rivers to fall in. Averaging 1.2 baths per outing. Mike caught the first fish on tube, we had both been landing casts in the trees every other toss, the sun was making it hard to see anything in the dim light.

We started picking up fish on flukes near current, throughout the day it seemed the larger fish were in fast current, or very shallow at the triangle tops of eddies right next to fast current. We caught fish in these areas and walked up on several 17"+ fish in sick, inexplicably shallow areas. Mike and I worked a large winter hole type pool picking up some 15"'s and I a 16.5" on Sammy at the back of the pool who hit twice. It was not a Topwater day, though I did manage 3 on Sammy and Mike 1.

I randomly pitched short casts with fluke into bendy or rocky current areas and was rewarded many times with bonus fish. Mike bomb casted alot. Fish didn't seem spooky. Mike perfected the prevent D by walking into a hole right after I pulled a 16" out of it :o :lol: :P .

We hit a branching area of stream where Mike hit this nice 17.25" on a White fluke off the left current seam (right side) above:



The above was a branch of the river, there was another to out left and another directly above. Fun fishing to root around in all the nooks and crannies.

Here's a fish caught in a deep current blasting pool similar to Mike's above. Caught dragging a tube, didn't feel the hit, but the bass found it.



I hit the opposite side of a riffle in the fast current as Mike moved up. Drifting a fluke through I was both surprised and delighted to have this nice 17" gulp her up:



After that I had another nice fish attack my chatterbait from above and miss it in the fast current. Mike caught a fish on Sammy in the above pool. Lots of tail swats at sammy today- small or guarding fish I'd guess. One attack shot my Sammy a foot in the air!

Then I decided to land my kneecap directly on a hard rock and 20 minutes later go for a swim! Wading belt wasn't sinched down so I got leaky wetness. We moved on as it got dark and I got this last fish on a tube right at the very top of a rocky often productive pool. The tube started to swim off and hit her. Largest fish of the day about 17.25-17.5". Par for the course on this section of river. Loads of 15-17"er, an occasional 18". The best looking smallie habitat I've seen in the state and hardest stream I've ever waded. You simply are always playing 'twister'. All slippery chunk and river rock all the time, even walking the bank!


Pretty cool shot of the coloration:




Great day for all day wade, the temps were perfect and the fishing was good enough for the temps this year and flow heights. Mostly a fluke bite, but tubes worked when we threw them. We could easily see beds as the rocks were orange vs slightly mud colored. Many, many craws bluish, reddish and a buff green undercolor. Bet that color tube would rock.

We're going to float a long and totally new section to see if we can get into some larger Smallies soon.

BT 21 SMB (17.5, 17, 16.9", 2 16.5, 2 16" 2 15") 2 Googs and 1 Green Sunfish on 4" tube?!
MC 11 SMB (17.25", 16, 3 15)

Primary Colored River Report 5/18/2008

Jim F called wanting to drive to the great White north in search of Mushrooms and maybe fish. I suggested a bendy section of a colored river. Not that one, not the other either, yes, that color.

The river was flowing between 500-227 depending which gage. Clear at the put in and rocky. Average depth waist high or more. Lots of steep banks and wood everywhere. The sand did have a yellow/orange/brown tint to it.

I stuck with the 1/32 EWG fluke hook for ferreting out the fish near the high water and blasto current. Letting it drift in the current over and past laydowns worked well. Early in the day the fluke was getting bit and Jim got a 17 on chatterbait. I was in the penalty box, but recovered nicely with a 16". Smallies were getting caught left and right.

At one point, I hooked a solid SMB and a large 2'+ Pike was following it downstream neck and neck. Cool. I got the fish to hand, it was a 16"er. All the bass fought hard in the fast current.

About halfway through the wade my Supreme started 'knocking' like it had a dead spot in its tires. I sat and stripped it down while Jim went 'shroom' hunting. The reel had lost about 8 notches on it's main gear wheel. We walked back to the car to get Jim's other spinning reel and went to another stretch.

We also saw a heron rookery with at least 12 nests in a huge sycamore tree. Did you know herons can sound like apes? New on me. The fishing stunk through there. They tried to carpet bomb me.

More fish on flukes including a 17", Jim started getting some on tubes, and finally I made a little run at the end with the firetiger chatter-B at dusk.

Definately a stream to kayak vs wade. There were many areas impossible to fish because of depth or high steep banks.

On the walk back I missed a pig I turned, while Jim found a few Morels. Just like Saturday there seemed to be dead spots in both stretches. We didn't wade very far, so much potential fish holding area.

Overall, I'd fish it again if I lived close or was camping. No big fish, but it's hard to say there aren't mosters in there. Could have just been the day. Too far to drive otherwise.


BT 27 (17, 2 16 2 15) 1 SPT 90, 1 BZNTR, 4 CB, 21 fluke
JF 17 (17, 2 16, 2 15) Jim caught his on CB and mostly tubes

Mike's Giant Indiana Creek Smallmouth Bass 5/17/08

At the root of it, my smallmouth fishing is the quest for satisfaction. Sometimes it's hard to quantify what is so magnificent about wading a stream. For me, it starts with waking up with the hope something new and exciting will happen. Each time out is a script yet to be written. How will it turn out?

Today was one of those days where Mother Nature gave us a peek at how things might work. Neither Mike or I had any idea what was to come. The unknown potential craziness, the camaraderie, the sport.

We got to a high flowing stream by about 10am, the water was cool (55F) and surprisingly clear considering the rains most of Indiana has gotten. For a few moments, we contemplated driving as far North as the Yellow or Pigeon for a chance at SMB. We sobered up and vowed to try those some other time.
Mike was jonesing for some topwater fish. I didn't think we'd find any because I feared the water would be muddy. It wasn't bad, and at points got downright clear. Some stain and vis to 18".
First fish was a 16.5"er on a fluke who hit next to some pretty fast current within minutes. We moved up and got some light taps. The surface had helicopters and those annoying maple strings that fouled both trebles and spinning blades.

Picked up a couple more on flukes. I was trying out some weighted EWG stickbait hooks on the flukes bought at Wallyworld. They worked great :) . We got to an above riffle area with a slower side to both sides created by a choke point. The right side had depth and a couple of great looking lay downs parallel to the current. Mike caught a fish on his fluke. I got one on Sammy then a couple misses I switched to a LC G-Splash Popper. Working the popper with only an occasional 'bloop' fish started drawing up out of the depth and wood. In no time, I had three more Bass to 14". Mike switched to the same lure and we were dueling.

I thought really hard about working the G-Splash upstream along the opposite bank (slight undercut bank), but my waders were folded down at my waist. The water there looked too deep and there was no casting angle. I told Mike cast parallel to the bank in close and bring it right upstream towards you. Mike tossed the perfect cast into the area and started to work it upstream, almost too fast. CLUNK. It wasn't too fast.

It was immediately apparent he had hooked a large Smallmouth Bass. Mike kept great pressure on the bass, but we were both worried it would cut loose since it was now in the some pretty fast current. As Mike reeled this behemoth in, I scooped it's belly and lipped it. I was pumped. I know Mike was. We snapped a couple pics and released her. Apparanetly, she had NOT spawned yet. Fellas, this fish was fat and long :o :o . So happy and pumped to see Mike catch a whopper.
She measured just shy of 21", about 20.9". How heavy? Be the judge:

We high fived like 3 times. Awesome.

After leaving that spot, we worked deliberately with most of the normal lures. It became apparent the bass were in slower areas and wanted something somewhat helpless- crippled.
We went 2-3 hours in the noonday sun without a bite.

We caught a few more on flukes, Sammy, popper. I got a 17.5" on fluke at some slack push water.
Fish had an open bleeding sore on its tail and had been mangled by whoever caught it last.

Suddenly, Mike was throwing his popper into another slack area and had a couple violent misses. About his 5th cast, the fish missed no longer. He fought the spawned out bass in. It was followed in by a larger fish. Mike: "Looks about 16" Measurement: 18.5" but sickly:

BT catches a fish on a fluke, and I throw on my G-Splash as Mike throws in again. "Let it sit" BLUNK! Another crazy big Smallie for MC Hammer, lipped and measured to the mm, it just broke 20"! 2!

I could swear that this was the fish that had followed the other in. I got a fish short of 16" and Mike another. We moved on, I picked up fish here and there on the fluke getting a decent numbers day. We kept looking for more post spawn highwater staging areas.

Finally, I got a good fish on a long upstream cast to the slow side. This fish was taking drag, I didn't know how large until it came in close. A 19":

Now it was a long day. The bass seemed scattered, when we found them, they were grouped. In between- not much. I used the fluke as a search lure for most of the day, this paid off nicely on decent numbers.

Mike is on Cloud 9. Call him up and hear the story.
We had a blast! We'd both been pretty happy with one 18" fish.

MC 11 SMB (20.9", 20", 18.5, 15) 7 Popper, 4 fluke

BT 22 SMB ( 19", 17.5, 16.5, 15.75) 2 Sammy, 4 Popper, 1 tube, 14 fluke, 1 R. Subwalk

5/10/08- Post Spawn Buzzbait Madness!

Got to wade a far northern Indiana stream that didn't spike much with recent rainfall. Surprised to see the water crystal clear and less stained than before it rained. Rock on. Got out of the car and in the water when Russ C showed up with the same idea in mind. 2's better than one!
We pretty much bs'ed half the afternoon away while tossing all over the place. Russ introduced me to his new Buzzanator, a 1/4 oz counter rotating dual blade job with a [i]clacker[/i], pointy mustad hook, and wire form about 4" long! This seemed strange to me at first, but I had to try it. It tossed pretty good for the shape. Better than I thought it would.

In the midst of monolouge, the Buzzanator got killed by a 15.25 spawned out Smalljaw. Then I got another 11"er (there will be a pattern here) while Russ got one about 11" on a fluke. I was trying everything to try and find what would make the SMB go nuts.Throwing a fluke, Sammy, Crank, Chatter, and tube at the most high percentage spots. I didn't really get the hint from these two fish until later.

Russ was telling me about a cold spring up ahead I had fished before and how good smallies key on it in the warm summer. We didn't get anything there but there was a very deep pool at the bottom of a dropping run with a log pile for cover. I basically threw a tube into the log pile with wreckless abandon- then was rewarded with a solid thunk from a good sized fish. I put pressure on her immediately and realized the fish was wrapped on a log. I had to get that fish off the logjam, but it was probably 5' of water and fast current. I backreeled to shore, tore off my vest, threw the suspenders of my waders over my shoulders and waded downstream, backreeling and then taking line to keep that fish pinned to the log. Climbed up over the logjam and was able to free the bass from it precarious postion, unhook it and release. Went 17.75" and was spawned out. No way I catch that thing without braid short of using heavy mono.

We moved up and caught a few more on swimbaits and flukes. Russ had to dee-dee, and we said our goodbyes. We had caught some fish but most were 9-11"ers immature non spawners. Hmmm. I rounded a bend and saw another cold spring. Working the riprap with the Buzzanator, I caught three 11" Smallies and then as I tossed near the spring and slowly retrieved the BZNR, slurp! The fish went on some crazy runs, but I kept the pressure on and bulldogged her in. Looked like it could go 20", measured a spawned out 19.75"!



Next cast a 16" slurped the BZNR and fought like mad. Then 3 more 11"ers. Hit another deep riprap run slammed a 16, then a 16.99"er, then 11"er all on a fluke near current. Thing started getting crazy with 11"ers. They were hitting Russ's buzz and getting hooked every attempt it seemed! I was getting like 90% of the fish that a hit in, until the walk back.
A 15", another 16" below the bridge, most spawned out, above the bridge this 17":



Couple more 11"ers, then along long deep riprap, slurp!



This one went 17.5". Caught a few more then started walking back. Got another 17, 15 on the walk back and a hard fighting 16"er at the first spring Russ showed me.
Pretty crazy day-2 miles each way. Only a handful of 12-14"ers. Saw some around beds. Most of the 16"+ fish had spawned, a couple of the 16's had not yet done the deed. Awesome day of topwater and fighting PO'ed smallmouth.

39 SMB (19.75, 17.75, 17.5, 2 17, 1 16.99, 1 16.5, 3 16, 3 15-15.25) 1 Rock Bass

Sammyfest 5/6/08

Voted and did a couple of other errands. Went out for a wade in Russ' territory again. Water was clear and the sun was out. Fishing started out very slow. First 5-6 hours: 2 6" dinks a goog and an 11"er on a fluke :( .

Kept going thinking the sun would eventually go behind the tree line and I walk up on better water. Lots of silt the first half of the stretch, river was wide and shallow/flat.

I found better water and Sammy made them pay, I got 20 Smallies in 2 hours, then 3 more on the walk back to the car. Most were 11-13". Acrobatics in full effect.

Biggest was 16.25 on the walk back, also had a 15.5 that was spawned out. Don't know if the lack of bigger fish was spawn or the relatively poor habitat. Lots of gar hanging out

Walked 7 miles and drank 5 waters. Woof.




26 SMB 1 Goog (16.25, 2 15-15.5")