I Went to Wisconsin and Now I Can't Stop 5-27-2025

 I've stuck to fishing Indiana Streams only until last year's trip to Chimaquan Bay. As sick as that was, it was guided bed fishing with Forward Facing Sonar. 

I'm definitely not a bed fisherman. Smallmouth are too valuable. Their young are too valuable. But they had either finished or were about to spawn. I did see some guarders, but for today, most everything was non bed aggressive feeding areas. Temps were in the low 60's

Random scouting  rivers resulted in 23 SMB 19.75", 19.5, 3-19.25", 19", 18.75", 6-18", 2-17.5, 2-17". In 6 hours. Almost all walk the dog. I guess my 'style' of fishing works here too. Cloud 9. 4 more days of this?

The fights were incredible, I lost about 6 really good fish. They just wouldn't stop going on runs and shaking head. Explosions on Sammy 100 were ridiculous in this shallow river. I walked for miles then turned around and did it again.

18.75" on  Sammy. I was stunned after this first fish. It tore up the river to get away and it was in doubt the whole time. I knew I was on to something.

I was on cloud 9 for the next 6 hours. But it was hard work. A fish or 2 every 300 yards or so. Density was not high.

18.75" Thick

18"

19.5"

19.5"

19.75"

19.25"

18"

19.25" Definitely Spawned out

19.25"

19.25"

18"

19.75"

Fisherman's Journal September 2014

Whoops, forgot to post this. I'm in the September 2014 issue of Fisherman's Journal. Check it out! Click on 'expand' and use arrow buttons.

 Full article can be read here:

http://thefishermansjournal.com/blog/2014/09/06/the-september-2014-issue-of-the-fishermans-journal/

Wade- Mixed Results Dinks and a Handful of Nice Smallmouth 7-3-14

Got out for a wade by midday. Picked a mediocre stretch of stream characterized by shallow, rocky, flats and few wide pools. I threw a Sammy 100 into shade and perceived depth. Had some early micro dink smallmouth bass. Made me wonder if I hadn't made a poor decision in rehashing this old, previously rejected stretch of creek.

Along one tall, cavernous bank on an inside bend the water showed darker green, I took a 17.25" smallie, performing acrobatics the whole way in. I look for these color changes to reveal depth and hiding spots. Typically, my casts with a Sammy 100 are 30 yards to keep froom spooking bass. Smallies in shallow water are extremely spooky, thus the longer casts.

Nailed a 15"er at the one decent hole on the entire wade.  On the way back, picked this 17.25" smallmouth casting downstream at a rootwad. I think I had 14 bass at this point, 4 of which broke 12"!

I decided to wade downstream with the limited time I had left. I abhor wading downstream because it really fouls the fishing. Wading through a large pool, I managed a chunky 17", a 14", and a 15" before things got really quiet.

Not a bad day with the three good ones, the 25 smallmouth contained a lot of small fish. Surprised by quality, but not a stretch I'd hit again for a long while.

5.5 hours 25 SMB (3-17-17.25", 2-15")

8 Perfect Moments 10/14/13

Ok, this one's going to have a lot of pics, because ultimately, I can't decide which ones are best! We didn't take any pics of anything under 18" (except 49.5" Triple) , but still a lot of good ones. All new stretch for this one.

Things started out with a couple decent 12-14" smallmouth bass at a shaded choke point on a smoke purple/green tube. I felt it looked like a shad. Whatever, they were on it early, if you could find small enough water to comb.

Perfect Moment #1: I was throwing the tube over into some deep water near a large stone. Trying to keep it still and deep. I was in the middle of a complaint about fishing a tube after so much topwater mastery. Tube stopped. Set hook. Whoa! Heavy. Immediately knew that was not a bass swimming too slowly, too powerfully. We were standing groin deep in the icy water and what the hell was this thing. Went on 4 ridiculous drag peeling runs. I looked for a place to land the fish and saw a "beach". FLATHEAD. It was 9-12" longer than my 23" mark on my rod.









Did I say the water was ice cold? Trees were casting a shadow over quite a few pools. We arrived at a bend where I had a large swing and a miss on a Sammy. Sunlight fell everywhere. We climbed up to a higher vantage point and could see the bass swimming around, or just sitting there in the sun. I tubed a dink from under a rock and spotted what looked like a 16" bass on patrol.

Perfect Moment #2: I threw behind that fish, maneuvered the tube into position, it spun, as if it could hear something it couldn't see. I budged the bait a foot onto a slanted rock. The fish kept looking. Pause, pause, pause, in place twitch, twitch. The bass rocketed over to the slanted rock, tube disappeared. All in one motion. It got bigger on the way in and measured over 18". Phenomenal to watch that unfold.



Picked another deep at 15.5" on the tube. We didn't know it then, but that would be the last tube bite of the day.

We moved up and spotted three huge Asian/grass carp in the 36" range. Along some willows I worked a walk the dog with a couple chasers. When the bait fouled I streaked it quickly away, which drew more interest. 16.25" bass to hand, followed by a larger fish which came right in the water willows at my feet after his buddy.

Lots of walking and shallow gravel runs passed. We must have passed a mile mile and a half of nearly unfishable water.

Nearly Perfect Moment #3: I made a fifty yard bomb cast to a water willow shallow area and overshot into the willow. My resulting shaking pried the Sammy just loose in the water. Immediately smashed. No hookup. I told Mike, "If that would have been a pig, the angels are looking down."

Which Brings Us to Perfect Moment #3: To me, this was one of the coolest moments I've had with Mike in one of hundreds of cool moments. We finally got to the top of a long gravel straight run with no depth. We had not done much casting for a while and lots of trudging. It made a semi swirl in direction to a riffle with a lone, large boulder. Looked like 12-18" of water, fully shaded. Mike throws to the rock with his Sammy 100. His lure quickly gets bit and followed. He yells out there's like 5-6 fish visibly following the lure through about a foot of water. I can't see a thing because of the glare and shadow. First one bass hooks up, then another. He's got his line high, pointing in the shade where he see the bass 40' from shore. While fighting those fish, he has presence of mind to be my artillery observer! I threw a perfect cast into the melee. Whack!

We both land fish. Three all told. The results are 49.5" of smallmouth bass to hand. Two 16"ers and a 17.5" for Mike. Amazeballs!







The middle of the day was characterized by lots of fishing very good looking water, but not many fish. We hit one water willow line pool. Mike nails a 15.5" bass, then I get a 17" followed by 6 other fish the same size or larger. They mug my Sammy and one other hooks up, for a second. I throw and nail a 16", but that's it for a while. Until Mike nails a 15" behind a rock after he misses my bait three times.

Things start to heat up around 4PM. We've covered more ground, to ensure we get off the water before dark. Mike and I both catch 15"ers. A large fish whiffs horribly at one riffle. The river has gotten sexy as hell, riffle-pool, riffle-pool. Mike sees a 20"er he nearly steps on.

Perfect Moment #4: Dead sexy push water crowned by molars of bolder, as if it were a giant maw water pours through. Mike throws to a bolder blocking current above. Woosh! Destroyed. The bass zigs and zags in between the teeth and finally comes to hand on a bed of leaves and river rock. 18"!



Perfect Moment #5: We're still in the same pool here, moving up through the middle like a couple of gunslingers drawing on targets to either side of the river. Nothing doing in the mid pool all day. Was almost a complete waste of time. Had to be in sun, near water willows, at the front, or back of pools. Well, we were almost finished with "maw" pool. The front looked like a dud. Glare made it hard to judge what was ahead. I threw to the shallow side near some roots. Surprised by a strike, but it didn't seem too significant. Turned out to be a fighter and largest smallmouth bass of the day at 18.5".





Perfect Moment 6: Mike plays with a couple pigs, one getting loose at the back of push water after a short hookup. We nab a bunch of 15-16"'s. Quickly. I waste time fishing too much pool, when Mike casts ahead and seems to fighting a fish, swims towards him, to hand at 18" and change! Nice pics!





Mike got worn out by our pace, had a couple line issues during the peak of the bite as we rushed to finish the wade before dark. I went on a crazy run that was 4-17-17.75"'s and 3 16"'s in the last hour. Flirted with a couple doubles of my own of bigger bass. The backs and fronts of every riffle. We had maybe 10-12 dinks all day.

Perfect Moment 7: Managed to get to the bridge just as it was getting dark. Another 20 minutes and we'd have been in the black. 27 bass over 15" on the day over 6+ miles of river. Never did get a huge bass, but heh, can't complain. Still don't believe it.

Perfect Moment 8: Butt in seat driving home with so many awesome replays.

BT 37 SMB (2-18"-18.5", 17.75", 2-17.25", 2-17", 5-16-16.75", 5-15-15.75") 32"+ Flathead Catfish
MC 15 SMB (2-18-18.25", 17.5", 2-16", 5-15")

 

Wading Indiana for Smallmouth Bass in the Fall 10/12/13

Thought MC was coming, turns out he wants me to take days off to go fishing with him it's so good. He was on call. Dunked my boots alone in water by noon. Walked down part of the way, waded down the rest. Plan was to turn around and fish all that undisturbed water.

 

 

Turns out, the woods didn't last long and the nettles were thick through much of them. I opted to fish on the edge, making a cast here and there. Finally, just fishing down. Creek is on average 50-60 yards wide. I could move without spooking everything. There was a wind meaning no topwater. Leaves fell everywhere. A fish here or there on a senko. Mainly hard to fish going downstream. There were a couple areas cleared by slow current I could throw a Sammy in, the first produced a 16.25" smallmouth. The second, a ridge along a cliff line, at the top of a very large pool produced an explosion and a really nice 19.25" smallmouth bass.

The fish was followed back to me by one about the same size. Moments later, I hooked a 14" largemouth bass that was mugged by a squad of larger smallmouth bass goons. They failed to hook up, but I think I got them on the way back up wading. Continued down. The wind stopped, the skies got gray, it rained a sprinkle for a moment. The wind stopping really made it possible to fish. Soon the leaves were mostly submerged or piled in eddies. GAME ON. I had 7 bass when I turned around. It was 4:45PM. Plan had failed, 3 hours to fish 2.5-3 miles, I had wanted to pick it apart, but now there wouldn't be time. A 16" bass smashed my WTD, then the dinks showed their faces a bit. By the time I got back to that cliff, fishing from the sames side retrieving my lure straight down the strike zone, I nailed a 17" and two more 15"'s.

Here's a fat 17.5" that streaked to the bait before destroying it. Great fight too!

Airmailed another 16" who had been dumb enough to stay in the spot I spooked him in on the way down. Picked a bunch of quick 12-14" bass in quick succession. It was starting to get dark, fish were still biting I got O'Dark thirtied finished with 28.

28 Bass 27SMB (19.25", 17.5", 17", 3-16", 4-15")

Aquarium Plus Bass Fishing 10/3/13

The algae stain in the water is starting to die off due to our colder temperatures lately. That made this last trip kind of neat. Lots of clear water, I'd never peered down into. Thousands of fish, schools of shad 10-14", quillback carpsuckers, golden redhorse suckers, channel catfish, freshwater drum, northern hogsuckers, huge greater redhorse suckers, carp, even some buffalo fish.

Things started out fast when the rain was falling. Throwing a buzzbait, I hooked up with 7 in the first hour or so including a 16" who shot out from in front of a rock with several friends. A wind began to kick up not long after and leaves were on the surface everywhere. I couldn't walk the dog at all. Flukes were even hard to work. I could basically just burn a waking crankbait under the leaves.

Then, things changed again, wind stopped and the sun came out. Fishing stunk for a while, but the surface began to clear. Fish happened, this 17.5" smb exploded on a Sammy 100.

 

I'll say this, bites were light uptop, so these bass weren't getting hooked really well. I think I lost 10-15 during the fight, including  a couple 15-17"'s. Things really heated up from there and I picked this thug 18.5". The fish exploded in shallow water on the lure. Air felt great on my skin as I tried to tan up a bit.

 

 

 

32 SMB (18.5'" 17.5",16", 15")

Mike Dips His Knees in a Creek 9/22/13

I managed to rope Mike into fishing a stretch of creek far from home, the first time we both had fished this one. It was beautiful day cool, 50-70F, with a nice warming sun. The leaves were just starting to turn colors. A times, a wind would kick up and make the necessary long casts difficult. We also were completely under the shade of tall bluffs which was like suddenly being in the dark. 

Fishing pretty much started out good, tossing "DUAL SAMMY" 100 the entire day. Never let the Sammies touch, best rule. Could have left everything else at home. Mike grabbed some nice 15"ers here and there. We caught some in odd places. No rhyme or reason to where, but hit at pretty high percentage to hand.

We hit a large pool that looked pretty good. Mike had a big swipe at his lure that completely whiffed in the sun. This fish exploded on a Sammy where the sun met shade. Hit 18" by a hair. Extending the 18" streak to eleven in a row. Got a 15" shortly after. 

At the top of the next pool a couple swipes followed by excited pull away. I started to walk the dog again when a big fish had it. Made the ole first one way, then the other zig zag, rear hook popped out under a lot of pressure. Mike and I had just talked about putting new hooks on and found we were [i]both[/i] out of size 4 Gammie trebles. Surely the pig would have been stuck deeper and more often, if I'd maintained my stock. Bummed me for a while. Slower action that Thursday on another stream, threw me for a loop. When you get used to frenetic action and then there is just good action.

Certainly, we pulled more bass together than one person would have. The stream was wide always.  Not many dinks so action seemed slower as there weren't the playful misses.  During that cliff shaded straight away, wind became a problem. Pinpoint accuracy and subtle control on your Sammy get you bit more often. It became difficult as the lure would drift 20' in the breeze, or get knocked down entirely landing well short of an intended target. But it was all cool. Spending time with a good friend in an obscenely beautiful place.

On one cast to a boulder field, a huge fish went completely in the air, not touching the Sammy, only to be grabbed 10' later by a 16.5" fish. A splash at a cross stream rock drew first Mike's attention (missed by 8') then mine (bingo), resulted in an impact strike and this beautiful 17.25" smallie to hand the colors of the mountainside.

Then Mike nails a 16.5" after he almost walks into the spot. I yelled, "fish are there!" He is rewarded with his largest at that point. Not many jumpers, these bass would get square and bulldog. Dinks would leap. 

2 bass one lure:

A camera shy Mike goes on an impressive run with a couple 15"'s and a 17"er who nails his lure as it is about to plunge down a riffle. Very impressive sequence.  Fish are everywhere for a while. I airmail a couple chunky 15"'s.

The last pool was sadly under heavy shade. I picked a 15" and airmailed a strong streaking 17"er who was followed back by a larger fish. Mike picked a 12" and headed to the car, as I grabbed another last ditch 15" above the bridge.

Just a great time. Won't be many more of these.

BT 44 (18", 17.25", 17", 16.5", 7-8 15"'s) Difference was a couple airmail 17"'s and I caught more dinks

MC 31 (17", 16.5, 7-8 15"'s)

Nom, Nom, Nom, Goes the Smallmouth 6/23/13

Network problems again at work, so I went fishing. Did a long stretch, with bike at the next bridge. Big pools and 3.5 miles on foot. Air temps in the 90's. Water temps have warmed up considerably. Water clarity had improved a bit since last time out. Day started off overcast, hazy which helped. No lie, it was hot.

Loaded up ice in my platypus water bladder. Set out wiping my sunglasses as sweat formed constantly. Smallmouth were biting a Wake Crank on the day, but man, we're they flopping off easily. I had partially hooked and lost 5 nice bass by the time I had 7 landed. Didn't have a spare feathered treble or a hook sharpener (trying to keep weight down on long wades). This hurt me in terms of numbers and size of smallmouth bass throughout the day.

Fishing was ultimately very frustrating. I ended with 57 smallmouth bass and 6 rock bass. Could have caught double that if I had that sharp, rear, feathered treble. I had thought about tying just a couple days earlier. Not sure I lost any real pigs, but definitely 4-5 15-16" bass.

Pulled a few on tubes when I gave it a chance low and slow in faster deep current.

Also, found a single flat on the entire stretch where some late spawners were guarding beds. Kind of a shock here because I thought they had finished up. Thousands of black fry on that flat. Good to see.

Another note is the record flooding has moved riffles and bottom substrate in very advantageous ways. Deeper overall and different. 

Lots of 6-8" smallmouth, which I try to avoid catching, kept impailing themselves on my hooks. kind of a hollow 57 bass, the most hollow high number day I can remember. All those lost fish were frustrating. Such light bites.

57 SMB (17.5", 4-16"ers, 4-15") 6 Rock Bass