Mike gets after 'em

Got the big MC on the water tossing some ultralite action. Braiding up the pannies on grubs like its 1999.


We waded a bit and found some slower, but consistent action.



Mike made the right choice to seek creekmouth, we got into a bunch of hard fighting 12-14" slabs.



Saw a bald eagle flying overhead and briefly contemplated the eagle attacking some canadian geese in a cage match.

Gonna have to go to the 8/1 braid for this kind of fishing.

I had fished for 3 hours in the AM rain. Totals were better today on the bigger white bass with many 12-14"ers.

33 crappie, 44 White bass, 11 yellow bass and 6 largemouth bass. About 6.5 hours

Mike had close to 30 fish in the 3 hours we fished.

We had a blast. Fishing for smallies definately good training for river run panfish in cover.

Something Completely Different

Grabbed the old school ultralight, some 4lbs test and my early smallmouth lures, the jig and grub. I stalked pre spawn white bass on a small creek. At one rocky riffle area I started getting bit on the 2.5" grub with 1/8 oz head. Crappies!



In about an hour, I got 29 crappies from that spot. None too fat. The one above the largest with most going 7-8". Also caught my first ever yellow bass (above), it wouldn't be the last.

I bankwalked and pitched into holes looking for larger white bass, the dog had a great time barking at deer. The stream had plentiful shad, yellow bass 5-7" everywhere, then finally some white bass. Then fun really began.

It took a while to get the casting down with the ultralight, as I did get better I began to get fish all over the place.





55 crappie (11", 7-9"), 25 yellow bass (5-7"), 20 white bass (9-12"), 8 largemouth bass (to 12") even saw a smallie at one point near a riffle.

108 fish in 5 hours. Quite different from chucking bigger baits for smallmouth, though I'd guess I could come close to that many if the dink smallmouth wanted a grub in summer.



The yellows and whites are a riot on the ultralight.

Went hunting, ended up fishing.

Jim is officially nuts about Morels. Dude took the week off to hunt them. Since rivers didn't seem very fishable, I went out 'shrooming' with the Shroom doctor himself. He wanted to head north as the season was getting good according to Jim. We picked a particularly wooded stretch along a stream I frequent:



We decided to hunt mushrooms the first half of the day and let the creek clear up. After 5-6 hours of mushroom hunting we had a total of 8 large Morels, and had found at least that many dried out.
We went fishing. The creek was up about 4", it dramatically cleared in the last few hours from 8" to 18". The fast current put fish in more predictable spots. At normal flow, this stream is packed with Smallmouth bass despite being very shallow throughout its length. It does drain fast however.

We both caught fish right off the bat and it continued as we found holes, until Jim started hunting mushrooms again. He got a couple 16"'s. The bass were threatening to break or lines they were fighting so hard.

I had about 8 fish from dink to 14.5" on crankbaits and spinnerbaits.
Heading back upstream I started nailing fish like crazy. This 17"er was caught on a spinnerbait on a current seam where two channels came together:



I skipped a tube under one of those big rocks the creek is famous for, got immediately slammed, then slammed again. Picked 8 smallmouth off that rock from 13-16.75". They fought like lions in the current. I was impressed.



I headed back to meet up with Jim, who had found a couple dozen Morels not in the woods, but just off the road we drove in on.

22 SMB in 4.5 hours(17", 16.75,16, 15, 3-14)1 Rock Bass

The 17"er looked like a spawned out female.

High End Baits- Make you a better fisherman?

Do Lucky Craft, Mega Bass, Team Diawa and other high end Japanese baits make one a better bass fisherman?

In my opinion, yes. No doubt about it.

They may be a status symbol for some, overpriced example of the inflation in the price of fishing tackle to others. Try and throw a couple of these lures in the appropriate places at the appropriate times. Your opinion on whether any lure is worth 15$+ may change quickly.

In terms of inflation, a Rapala husky jerk was 5$ 20 years ago. By inflated measures it should cost more than it does today.

Most people who successfully throw higher end lures use heavier line to protect their investment from the pike family as well as hangups. Even easier to retrieve 15$baits from a boat while fishing.

Why are they more effective?

Attention to detail. You get the feeling that Japanese engineers really are looking to engineer the most fish catching lure. Some of their ideas are wacky, like the Gatta X Buggy(above) or Xpod. Japanese culture breeds a very unique form of perfectionism. The Japanese love to fish and have fondness for creating bio mechanical things.



But a Lucky Craft lure is usually more than just a life like finish and profile. Internal weight transfer systems allow extemely longs casts. This keeps your lure in the strike zone longer in the case of crankbaits. In the case of stream angler, long casts keep big bass unwary of your approach. Fine hooks mean a great hookup percentage as well. The baits cast well into the wind. The action on some baits simply cannot be reproduced elsewhere. IE, Splashtail 90's vrooping and fwapping sounds when it's twin ball bearing props rip through the water. All topwaters are not the same all the time. The right noise and profile produces strikes when others may not.

Does all this mean if you go out and buy some Lucky Craft or Megabass lures today, you're automatically a better fisherman? No, first one has to match the right lure with the right place and situation. But, by mistake you'll catch fish on these lures. The learning process begins.

It can ultimately be said you still have to find the fish seasonally. To consistently catch nice smallmouth bass you need to get in close and tight to cover and obstructions. It's true LC's do neither for you.




The test is, do you catch more/better fish since throwing high end baits? The answer many times is 'yes'. Otherwise, they wouldn't be getting gobbled up at those prices (by good anglers). A 10% more fish difference is still a difference. For me, Lucky Craft has increased the learning curve if just by confidence alone.

If you think high end baits don't help you catch more fish, feel free to donate.

What has it got in its pocketses? Spring version.

Here's most of the contents of my spring stream fishing vest (clicky-clicky for blow up):



Most important item in the fishing vest:



Impending spawn and soon to follow topwater season have me switching out the old guard and bringing in the gunslingers:



Jerkbaits, odd colors, seldom thrown baits, and duplicate crankbaits are mothballed:



On their way in:



Add to the above waterproof camera, hat, polarized sunglasses and a couple of snacks.

Some people like to travel lighter. I don't regret carrying what I do. Each thing has it's valued uses. Except maybe the senkos and mono. I do have to add some weight to the back of the vest for counterbalance.

As Summer approaches and the crankbait bite goes away, the crankbaits get mostly rotated out.

Color versus Cadence

Anglers often 1st talk about lure colors when they want to catch a bass. It is understandable to look for the simple reason to get a fish to strike. What I find under conversed on all the best forums is how to work a lure.



For many lures a visible color such as white allow an angler to see the action imparted by rod movements. Then when a strike happens, you can often see what triggered a strike.

The fish see your bait on every cast, without the data of knowing how the bass react to your lure, you simply may not catch as many of them.

Do they flee? Follow? Strike on fleeing attempts? When a lure bumps obstruction? Disinterest despite full view? Site fishing can be some of the most educational fishing you can have. No wonder anglers like their bass boat decks. It's why I like high banks to fish from.



Color matters in this case in how you can see it and watch the fish react to your puppet strings. I strongly believe cadence is more important than color.

Dragging a tube not getting you bit? Work it like a jerkbait, or crank it slowly through the middle of the water column. Most moving baits like crankbaits, spinnerbaits are a lot more effective when you bounce and drag them off obstructions and nick the bottom.

Anticipating where a bass may hold and casting not to the point where he sits, but a point where he will react to some erratic movement in your bait.



Ever played yarn with a kitten? Eventually they grow bored of playing kill the yarn, but partially flee it behind something and they get reactivated. Twitch, twitch, pause works awfully well doesn't it? Sometimes just letting it sit.

Like kittens, bass have moods. Put yourself in position to see them, record their reactions on many different days. You'll do yourself a favor when you fish for what you cannot see.

Spro Swimbait for Smallmouth Bass?

Picked up one of these 4" Spro slow sinking swimbaits to fish in those large featureless pools for big smallies. Checked the action in a pond. Sinks slightly faster than advertised, has a sweet swimming action, rises a bit too much for my tastes, would also make a great wake bait.Going to add a suspend dot or two to the nose to get it to stay down. We'll see. Excited about this lure.



Going to throw it on my medium 6'8" spinning rod even though at about an ounce it is overweighted. It lands like a brick.

Dog Walk Pig 4/22

Took Wendy out for a trot along a small creek for about an hour and a half this afternoon. By small, I mean less than 20cfs in Spring. She loves this kind of thing. Woods aren't too prickely or nasty yet. Brought my rod, a couple tubes with bright red tails, spinnerbait, and a crankbait.

Got this 14.5" fish on a RC LC 1.5 below a kind of dam. Trying to take more interesting shots:



Moved up to a rip rap area. This spot is key to this whole stretch being worth fishing. It is a 60-70 feet of broken sidewalk dumped in the creek to prevent bank erosion on the adjacent farmland. The rip rap creates homes for crawdads and smallmouth bass to hide as well as a couple slack portions of the pool that are prefect for spawning (we are getting closer). Home, depth, food, beds, shade. Perfect.

Wendy didn't like the uneven rock, so for once, didn't jump right in the creek. I made the world's worst cast ever over the top of a couple pricker branches that extended over the slack corner. My tube got immediately struck. Resulting in this embarrassing mess:


Managed to get the line to snap. Poor smallmouth has a tube stuck in his mouth. Uff. Next cast I skip the tube under the branches and hit another 15"er.

Working my tube back next to current up in the mid water column when a big fish jets out from under a sidewalk panel and nails my tube 4-5' from me! What a fight! Plucked the monster out of the water. Wendy was impressed.

Indiana Smallmouth Fishing/Conservation Clinic April 25th Terre Haute, IN

I'll be giving a INSA smallmouth bass presentation at the Gander Mountain in Terre Haute, Indiana this Saturday, April 25th from 10am-11:30am. Come chat about stream smallmouth fishing in the state of Indiana. Or for those of you close in Illinois, the information applies to you as well.

I'll have some of the Indiana Smallmouth Alliance tackle packs for anyone who'd like to sign up. Topics will be smallmouth conservation issues in Indiana, what is the INSA, reading water, seasonal smallmouth patterns.

Basically, get everyone in the mood to fish hard.Free of charge. Might have some extra buzzbaits along with....

See you all there Saturday!

Blue Bells, Morels, and Smallmouth 4/20

Today was forecasted a high of 55, rain intermittent and thunderstorms. A cold front. Except the overnight low was 53. Time to do a wade. The warm up plus overnight warm temps and bad weather should have the smallies moving about. Only thing missing was water clarity info. It's been about 2 weeks since I've been out to this particular river and its been running high and getting pretty regular rain.

If the water was stained I'd throw chatterbaits and big crankbaits. Luckily, clarity was no problem. Drizzle and grayness made it hard for me to see my yellow power pro against the water. I worked a tube in some eddies, rewarded with 9 bass from dink to 15" in the first few hours in the AM.

I moved fast and caught a couple more before I finally missed a fish on the tube jig. I fish very fast when I know a stream or know fish are keying on riffles, for example. Target the high percentage areas until the time of year where bass are everywhere in the stream. Not quite yet. Getting there.



I was walking up to a large pool I wanted to fish. Disheartened to think how slow I would have to fish that tube in the large pool. I hadn't had a sniff on crankbaits, chatterbaits, jekbaits, or flukes. I noticed a Morel mushroom sticking out of the ground in front of me. I stopped paying attention to fishing. An hour or two later I had found about 9 Mushrooms ranging from tiny to about 4". The drizzle stopped and the sun came out.

I tried on a chart/white spinnerbait, slowly dragging it across the bottom letting it nick everything. A huge fish made play for it right in my eyesight. I yanked the bait away trying to set the hook. The bass had whiffed. Turning point. The gold blades were really catching sun. I started catching smallies on the spinnerbait. The 17.25" above came right in heavy current.

Not far up I caught this 17" bass in a spot I never catch any fish. I was on to something dragging the spinnerbait slowly across the bottom, bumping, bumping. I have heard about this technique, but never applied it until today.



This 17.75" Smallmouth was also in a spot I don't usually catch anything:



This 18"er fell as I let the spinnerbait fall to the bottom in 5' of water right near shore. Slowly brought it in banging roots, just as I was about to pull the bait up, Smack! Smallmouth fought hard. The rain was falling pretty good at this point.


Will be interesting to see how the dragging spinnerbaits works. I've always tried to impart too much action or pulled them in too fast. Bass like to attack bait fish that foolishly knock into things I guess.

Caught 6 or 7 dinks. Looks like they are on the verge of waking up for the year.

20 SMB (18, 17.75", 17.25", 17", 2-15") 1 rock bass