Early Spring Indiana Bank Pitching 3/29/08

Mike C was fiending to get his fish on. Unfortunately, after an inch of rain everywhere 2 days before, most streams were at 3-4 times normal spring flow. Our one local fallback suddenly raged and we took a wildcard and fished this stream for the first time this year. Visibility was about 4-6" current was up and fast. Sun was out and warming. All fish were caught in direct rays of the sun.

Now usually, I wouldn't be excited to drive half across the state to hit high, muddy, cold water, but it was a challenge. I met Mike and we got out to the water with a plan of hitting every feeder creek area we could hoping on clear inflow, shelter, and food attracting Smallies. The first 2 hours we hit a couple of different spots that were mainly muddy banks with plenty of silt everywhere. We were about to pack it in and go fish greenies when I decided to try what I thought was a wintering hole. Mike demanded we go try.

While passing over the bridge Mike spotted a slack area with high bank and sun beating down. Furthermore, there was a small feeder feeding in between two sycamores. I tossed my recent lucky tube down the steep bank for the second sycamore 2' from the bank. My line got fouled on some plants, when I untangled it, I felt the 'twang' of a strike and set the hook by hand. Grabbed my rod, it was a pretty large smallie that I had to haul up three feet onto the bank.
18.25



We moved up dragging heavy tubes trying every current break we could for SMB.

We hit a pocket area where a piece of turf deflected the current away. I again dragged a tube close to the bank along the protruding roots. A big fish 'thunked' again. It went 19.5". Pig fat. Mike got arty with the pics.








Mike and I moved up a ways letting those spots cool, while trying to find a couple like it. The day burned and we returned to the spot where I caught the 19.5"er.

Running one of my white Clatter-B's past the same spot mere inches from the bank, I saw a fish nail the bait. 17.5" Then a few casts later a 15.5" first fishes I have caught on my home made baits- they work! Both were kind of a slow roll, the second being a hard strike.




BT 4 (19.5, 18.25, 17.5", 15.5)

There's fish to be had in high water, work parallel to the shore as much as possible. Might have been an undercut bank there, but I'm guessing it would be nothing in the summer. Put in quite a few hours, and it really was only Mike's persistance that got us on fish. Funny how fate can sometimes lead to a lightbulb moment while fishing. Keeping bait in the zone close to shore was key. This time last year, I found similair size Smallies in shallow flooded flats. Warmer water, shelter, and minnows to eat.

Thanks Mike for being patient with me catching fish. If it makes you feel better, the worst Hardies ever gave me terrible diaherra last night :)

Good week.

Spring Smallmouth Turn On! 3/26/08

Jim F and I went out for the wade we've been talking about all winter. Actually, more a Nascar race around a large circular pool with huge boulders, a cliff wall and several stepped shelves which the creek spilled down through. Some of the deepest water I've fished in a creek. The sun was out and the water was green! Vis to 2-3 feet and the water warmed up to 50F as the air got to 65 during the day! Finally!

I imediately thought: "shiny jerkbait". I threw on a LC Pointer 100 in Misty Shad, first cast a 15"er hit the bait. Jim was working from the riffle shelf down the deep side of the pool with FnF. I caught two more on the Pointer 100 on the pause. Surprised a 10" would hit the pointer 100.

Moved over to fish the deep current cut bolders on Jim's side of the stream. Jim was getting bit on a small worm and soon had a nice 18"er to hand!

18"Check out the worm in it's mouth:




I pulled free my tube from a 16-17"er who never had the hook in flesh.

We started to circle the pool I got three SMB on a venom Watermelon black pepper/red flake tube with 3/16th oz jighead hopped along the slacker water. Most of these fish were thin. They meakly tried going airborne to prevent my unhooking them.

I circled to the deep side again and was rewarded by two solid hits on my tube in current, both felt like pigs, but I pulled the new unkirbed hook free of both fish. A couple casts later my now kirbed jig hook struck home on another 15"er, then this 17"er:



These fish were under the main current sitting at the bottom of some rock shelves my 3/16th oz tube was tumbling past them just right.

We left the smaller and hit the larger river. :) Did I say I love this river? When you aren't catching SMB you can marvel at the geology. Too bad its so far away , over 2 hours of driving today round trip.

I got three fish on the Pointer 100 12, 14.5, and 16". The 12"er had come from some crazy current.

Jim and I hit a large flat ona bend near some current with bigtime drop off. I nailed a 16"er on tube then this 17.5 on the next toss, right as I was about to pull it out of the water. Ended up with 6 fish off that spot 16, 17.5, 15.75, 16, 15.5, 17", all on tubes. These fish were all very fat and fought like [b]crazy[/b]. I had forgotten how BA Smallmouth can be over the winter. They were smacking the tubes with authority and fighting like the wanted my rod out of my hands.

17.5"



17"



We headed back and Jim went off into the woods and caught a couple dinks and a 17". Poor guy had problems with his line snapping all day on casts. Jim was also tossing a lighter tube. BUT he had big bass!

BT 17 SMB (17.5, 2 17,3 16, 4 15") 6 Pointer 100 11 tube. 0 FnF bites. Jim 6 (18, 17") We fished 6-7 hours.

Good company and absolute blast. It really was great fun to feel that twang of a large fish nailing a tube again. The fight on these fish is just unheard of.

Brenden

Flock of turkey, herd of deer, and lone piggie. 3/17/08

Got out for a wade today, more like a bank pounding with crossings made to test my waders. The air was cold 39F with sleet and drizzle off and on. Water was clear to about 2' and 41F.


I got two 16"ers on a tube near a current seam. They fought hard, surprisingly hard.

Moved on to my target pool and looked for the slackest areas that held fish in summer. I got a 15"er on FnF which was followed by a huge carp as it fought hard. Don't know what was up with that. Got 3 more 13-15" on FnF, with some behind boulders in current.

Saw a turkey up the hill within 30 feet of me, when I got out to get warm, I saw this:






Blurry flock (term?) of tukeys didn't like my presense. They were quite comical running away like that.

Went back down to the bottom of the pool to take it from the other direction. My fly dunked after going over a point about 10' in front of me and there was a brief struggle with this 19"er who was quite well fed! Smaller fish fight harder.





Caught another 13"er and headed back home. On the way, I spotted a herd of deer at least 10 strong. Cool.

8 SMB (19", 2 16") No dinks

Cold Water Float and Fly Smallmouth 3/12/08

Went out for some more cold water smallie action today. Stream was still up in the 1,000's and green. Temps may be approaching 40. So I brought along my jerkbait box. The bugs have started to come out and were all over my kneck all day. The kind you are constantly squishing on your kneck. Even heard a bee at one point. Saw a mink, we got in a stare down, he left just before I got my camera out.

Plan was float and fly in the same holes that have proven fish, drag smaller tube, and use jerkbait around muddy flats. Started off slow with a couple 12-14"ers on the fly and a dink on the tube. Crossed stream and got a 13"er on the xrap during the pause. Moved on to the pool JB saw me catch some crappies on Saturday. Caught smallies on three straight casts on fly 13-15" (the 15" went airborne!), then an 11" crappie on the next. Slammed 3 more crappie 8-10" then the next dunk was really heavy, a large black fish came near surface and made a run for some branches, I knew it was big. Went 19.5". when I banked her.



After that I got a 14", a 13" greenie and lost another crappie.

Went back to first spot and got three more 13-14"ers.

4.5 hours 11 SMB (19.5) 1 LMB, 4 nicer crappies, and a Goog.

Beautiful day

Another High Water Bank Stomp for Winter Smallmouth Bass 3/8/08

3/8/08
I called Jbcook for some wintertime bronze fishing. He was just waking up so must not have realized the weather wasn't great. Slight breeze, flow was up around 1,000, and the air temps were in the mid-twenties, Partly cloudy. We aranged to meet at 2pm and got fishing by 2-230pm. Jason hit the first fish, a 14"er on a Hairy Bug Jig. I finally found the Smallies and hit 4 on FnF in about 25 minutes from 12-15".

We decided to move to another spot. As fate would have it, we were chatting about things when I realized we might have missed our first hole. We cut short and ended up on the side opposite of where I ususally work. Two big downed trees stood parralell to the stream next to 3-4' of water. I zipped a float in between the seam and the rootwad. Quickly the float dunked and I wrestled a 16.5"er to hand. Then a 12-13"er. Then Jason hit this 16.5" on a hairy bug jig in the same spot only on the bottom!



Jason lost a good fish on a break off that had his pole bent double. Jig still in fish jaw! It shook a few times afterwards and we could see it was in the 17-18" range. The fish had wrapped JB's line on a root. Then I lost a jig in that same rootwad and decided to climb up on top of the upturned rootwad. I caught 7 fish 13-17" + crappie in the next 30 minutes on float and fly, they were using the rootwad as a current break to the eddying water! JB hooked another good one, that shook of at his feet.



The fish were really stacked in there! We had to let the spot cool as neither of us got a bite for 20 minutes. Moved up to another pool and caught a small LMB and 4 more crappie.

We went back to the laydowns 45 minutes later and the fish were back. JB landed a nice 15" on the HB, I got a couple more on FnF 12-14".

We were both cold so we headed back after 22 fish between us in a bout 3.5 hours. Hope that broke the cabin fever for ya, JB!

High Water Winter Float and Fly 3/7/08

3/7/08
Took the dog out for another walk today. Water was up in the 1,000's CFS, however the visibility was 10-12" and green :) . Air temp was 25-27F and water temp was 38. Most of the ground was still thawed.

In the first 15 minutes, the float dunked and a 16" SMB came to hand. The fish had hit close to the main current seam.




I landed a dink about 30 minutes later. Moved downstream and got a 10" Rock bass on a chartreuse fly from the middle of a large eddie. Moved back to the first spot and tried a more natural color. Either, the fish had turned on or they like the chub imitation better. I landed another 16" and a 13" and 14". All the fish had red 'lipstick' from the cold water.



Decided to leave, warm the dog up in the car ride to the next spot. One which I haven't hit this year.

This spot is a tall steep western bank with a long a 45 degree bend in the stream. Quickly found fish close to shore in the high water. Picked up a beautifully yellow 17" within 6" of the shore in a beaver hole. Yanked it straight up without a fight.



Let the beaver hole cool and moved up a bit. Landed two more a 12 and 13 on the fly, again close to the bank (within 5 feet), after it cooled I lost my fly in a tree. Decided to try a blue/black 4" Hooked Up tube dragged painfully slow in the Beaver Hole. A solid thwack, startled, then the fish camer to surface and I lost it. Looked about 13-14". The aggressiveness of the strike was a definate clue to drag the tube some more.

Casting parallel to the steep bank, I was rewarded by another solid 'thunk'. it was a large fish that went on a solid run, then I pulled up the 4 foot bank thanks to strong braid. It went 18+



What a goofy picture :D:D .

9 SMB (18+", 17", 2 16") 1 Rock Bass (10")

Brenden

Smallmouth Bass Caught in Winter by Golden Retriever 2/27/08

Took my Golden Retriver Wendy out for some outside play that included a fishing rod and some hair jigs and float for me :) . We walked the long walk through corn fields and woods. The temp was around 25F, mostly cloudy, but not gray.

When we got to the spot, most of it was covered with a thin ice layer. I did have about 15 feet of eddy in which to play followed by 25-30 feet of ice before the steep bank I stood on. Wendy was busy frolicking in the snow, she is truly a winter dog. Burying her head in snow drifts and walking out on the ice for fun.

About an hour and a half in I was using about 5' of leader below my float when it started to swim sideways a bit, then dunked! I pulled tight and soon had a nice smallie pulled up on the ice flow. Well about halfway in the line caught on a branch laying on the ice. Wendy ran out and grabbed the stick :) :shock: enough to free Mr. Bass! I reeled him in and noticed he was kind of large :) :) . No idea she was going to to do that, so I can't take credit. Guess she wanted the stick? The rest of the time I had to try and keep her off that ice.









19.25-19.5"er Pretty sure I've caught this one before, check the top of the caudal fin:



Try as I might, I got one more bite, the fish swam under the ice and sawed off my old mono backing. Looked about 17".

Wendy 1, BT 0

Crazy Winter Float and Fly Fishing 1/14/08

Got out for a wade today by 11am. Decided to something entirely new and different (except for the float and fly part). Water was up and cool with some decent clarity.

Sky was overcast temp around 30- 23F dropping as the day progressed with a wind chill in the teens.

Got 7 fish of all sizes in the first hole including this nice 18"er:



And this nice 13" crappie:



Thought for a minute about stringing the crappie up. I almost never catch them. Ended up getting 6 on the day most about the size of my hand. I never catch them because they don't eat 4" baits :-) . Crappie [i]do[/i] eat FnF. More than I caught in the last two years combined!

Hit the other side of the hole and pulled a 16" out of that eddy. Was hampered by low hanging trees- though it looked fishy. I only had two floats on me. So I didn't risk close in casts

Then headed upstream towards my second hole and was delighted to see a spot where I've caught nice fish in the past holding a sizeable eddy with the water up. Basically threw where fish were in the summer and caught 4 on 4 casts! They seemed to spook from my yanking their buddies so I moved up to one final hole.

This was a huge pool that you really can't get at in the summer without a kayak on the west side. In the meantime, my guides were icing up fierce and I had trouble with frozen line. This was a pain the rest of the day. I lost a float and a fly when the line caught on that spool clip on my Pflueger Supreme. Funny, a fish hit the fly and swam with it for a while.

Retied and caught about 16 SMB from dink to 15" in that pool. It was clear there was some kind of circuit swimming going on. The fish were rotating clockwise around the pool. When I found them, bam, bam, bam. A couple idiots even jumped!

With a 4' leader I pulled in this fish in the process of changing color. Looked cool, so I snapped a quick couple pics:







I finally decided to leave the pool because I wasn't finding any pigs, so I turned around and headed back to the second spot. Got a dink and a 17" in the same spot I hit the 4 in a row.

Returned to the first hole finished out the day in the snowfall with a 15, 16, and 3 other 12-14"ers.

It was getting dark and my gloves, waders, and coat were stiff with ice.

Tooks some pics of smaller fish that looked cool. This one had a brass color that was quite striking:





Broke off a jig on a log and went home. Incredible winter day. 32 SMB (18, 17, 2 16, 2 15) 6 crappie, 1 Goog.

New Year's Eve Pig Smallmouth Bass on Float and Fly 12/31/07

Started out with 3 from 12-14.

Then fish got larger as I went deeper:




Then a lot larger:



Thought this one was a flathead it dug deep:





Ended up with 11 SMB in 4 hours (20", 19", 17.5, 17, 16, 2 15) all on FnF. The all came in 4-6' of water with 3-4' of leader. Most of the action was around noon when the sun made a surprise appearance.

The startling part about these larger fish this winter is simply I've never caught a Smallmouth bigger than 18" in this stretch.

Great year. 10 Smallmouth Bass 20"+, 53 18"+

Happy New Year!

More Winter Action for Smallmouth Bass

Got out to try my new Gorillapod and maybe catch a couple of fish. I actually made it on the water by noon. Water was still up, but not as much as it has been. Visibility was less than a few inches. FnF jigs with some black were in order.

FnF all the way today. Caught a 15" right off the bat. Then like a brutal hour where nothing hit while the sun climbed higher and I adjusted depths like 5-6 times. Then finally another 15" before another long period without a bite.

Then just like that fish, fish, fish: 15", 14.5, 13", 16", 14":



Then it died out and I moved to another spot. I had 1.5 hours until dark and 7 SMB. I returned to my previous spot when casting proved difficult.

After about a 30 minute period, the float sunk another 15", then a 13", a 16", a bunch 12-15" I was casting out into current and bringing the float to the pausing water on the seam where fish kept hitting the fly. Rapid hopping the float and then pausing it was the ticket. Last 1.5 hour I caught 13 SMB and 1 goog with a 17"er being the largest.





20 SMB in 5.5 hours no real hawgs, but no dinks either:(17", 3 16", 5 15") 1 Rock Bass. Caught on a mixture of Black/White blue/pink blue/black hair jigs.

What fun, I love seeing that float sink. After I hook up there is like a 3-4 second period where you aren't sure how large the fish is. Could be a monster or a dink. Pretty exciting. Almost as much fun as topwater. It's also nice not being frustrated by missed fish. Stuck 21/21 today.