Egging Smallmouth Bass 4/7/2012

Drove too far today. Stepped in a small creek for a potentially long wade that could be quick. Ended up quick. The thing is in ruin just a couple years ago teaming with fish. Problem isn't habitat, it is the dirt bikes and ATV's riding in and across the creek. Can't see another 60 fish day in there. Bottom stretch is almost completely silted in. Gin clear, cool water, cliffs boulders. There aren't any eroded banks. Literally, the motorbikes are bring it in and churning it up.



Anyways, was going to try and nab mushrooms in spots while I cut through the woods to fish better holes. Struck out on shrooms. Fish were under boulders. Got a 15.75" and a goog on tube and that's all they wanted while I was there. You really had to pick apart the cover to get bit. Later watched a 18"+ smallie chasing off a channel catfish and I knew what that was about. Nests. many of the bigger fish are pulling the trigger. I saw some other fish from 20' up, so I tried to senko them, instead hooked a rooster tail on a branch above me I hadn't noticed. The whole branch came down with the tangle yielding a 1/64th oz yellow rooster tail. Hit a couple more 14-15.5". Left with 5 and a couple Googs.


On the way out I stopped at another stream far upstream of where I had ever been. Lots of silt and wood, Produced a smb almost by accident and I got out of there.



tried a couple new feeders but water wasn't in them. One had dinks so score and score on a Woooly Bugger and Dave's fly rod. Good thing too because I dropped the flies somewhere and snapped off the last one soon after catching the dink.

Bigger stream after 5 and lots of driving. Things started to liven up when I hit the back of a wide shallow pool. Intentionally waking my WC produced an 18.25", 17", 16.25". The 18" came off the right side in shallow slower water. I began to suspect he might have been on a nest, but had no way of knowing from 25 yards away.



Here's what I found:



I had caught a nest guarder. No wonder there were so many misses.

Later pulling fish out of current I had a dink on, then a bigger fish as well. Drag was too loose and they both got off. Googs jumped on hooks too.

On an outside bend with depth I got an impact strike and a pig to hand at 19"





Finished by nabbing a dinko at a bridge for stream number 5.


29 SMB (19", 18.25", 17", 16.25", 3-15") 8 Googs

103 Smallmouth Bass in One Day March! 3/31/2011

Just sick. Long wades from several bridges. Longest outing of the year and the most smallmouth I've ever caught in a day. Lots of dinks.

19" WC


17" R2C


16" wronghanded reel handle challenge. Man was that akward! Luckily hooked well. Had another fish swim in with him. R2C


17.5" R2C



16" Caught smallmouth on 7 different lures


17.25" Wake Crank


Release pic:


103 SMB in 9 hours New personal best by 30 fish: (19", 17.5", 17.25", 17", 16.5", 2-16, 5-15")

Lots of Action! 3/7/2012

My stuff got rescheduled for today. Needed to get the cobwebs off the walking legs, so on a whim I planned to wade/march close to 5 miles and then bike back to the car. Got a late start, but I knew shortcuts through the woods to most of the best holes. Sunny, clear, warming, windy.

Both pairs of waders are leakers. Yesterday I repaired them with AquaSeal. Turns out, I fixed the right leg, but the left still had a leak near the knee. Grrr...

Took a few river bends before I caught a 6" micro dink on FnF. Float didn't even dunk.

Few hundred yards of no fishing until one of those deep bends happened. Turns out the inside bend I was standing on gave some nice elevation to see down 4' into the water.

Thought I spotted a... or is it a rock's shadow? *Throws* 1/8th oz BTjig, planning for current to sweep it down 3' in front of the 'fish'.

The shadow turned, definitely a bass. Then it faced downstream and my jig was gone. I waited a second or 2 (always prudent when sight fishing). *Rears*. THUNK. Immediate head shakes. Great runs, the runs today! Nice 16" smallie. Sooo, that fish was in feeding position in a Winter area, but a feeding position. I worked the inside bend with my hairjig, nailing 4 more smb between 12-14". I could see them taking refuge on the slope of the inside bend, waiting for food, reacting to my jig. This gave me vital information on what I needed to do to get the jig bit.

Float and Fly rod picked another 14" bass from the outside. Another fish followed him, for a second looked like he would inhale the Hunter's orange float. Turned back. In the middle of this bend is a riffle, then another hole, then the final riffle. On the second upstream hole I lose a fish on my jig that felt really nice. Throw FnF in there and nail 4 more 14-16" smallies. I think the hole died, so I switch back to the harijig. Bigger thump. Ugggh, that's not a smallie! Crap! I muscled him and he really didn't get going until he was landed. measured a thick 26". One more 12" after that.

Walked a path to the next spot upstream. First cast on FnF hung on a root. Switched to braid rod and hair jig cast upstream. Thunk. 16"er, then a 15.5", 15", 12", dink", Big Goog. Some misses that didn't hook. Action was awesome. They wanted it moved, then dropped..wait...wait...wait.

Hit a long stretch where nothing was going on. Didn't even see smb for a while. Maybe a mile or more with the sun behind the clouds. Strange compared to the last hole. Where a pipe came in they started up again. Then sun had come back out to play and it was on! I threw on a tube and had a couple fish to hand just to check. Pulled 5 from there from 12-14.5".

Not far upstream in the sun I get bit, see a nice fish on then he head shakes free underwater. Next cast a 12", then a 16.99".

Long walk to the next holes, but what a good one. Rock point and sycamore shelter produced a couple. Then 6/8 come to hand with some head shakers coming off. 3 16-16.5" out of the bunch. Couldn't believe there was a real chance of getting 50 smallmouth this early in the year. Walked up a ditch feeder and found a hole in it, threw in- SMALLMOUTH of 13"!

Last couple holes I needed big things from to hit 50. 4 and 2 11"-14" .

I could see a lot of the bites today from up high on banks.

44 SMB (6-16-16.99", 5-15") 2 Googs, Chub, 26" Carp. 5 hours of fishing Probably lost at least 6-10 fish with a few diamonds in there. Charged up bass.

Biked back to the car. Wind was at my back or side the whole way. Called my wife and told her I'd be late because there was a lot of trash to pick up at the bridge and adjoining road. Grabbed 3 tires and about 70 lbs of bottles, cans, and cups. Only a dent.

Of Hogs and Shorn Banks 2/28/12

 headed west today to take a looks see at two streams. Put in near town to try one hole. Water was 4' visibility and there was only one spot with more than that in depth. I pulled an 11" free lining a fnf jig on the bottom. That turned out to be the pattern. Let it sink, wait, flutter up off the bottom, let it sit, repeat. On the way to the next pool I stopped off at a second stream right along a road at a right angle bend. Kept with tight lining the fly jig.

SMB on the first cast, then a couple more with a couple hard fighters pulling free. Then I lost a couple of spotted bass. Got a larger one casting across a laydown and counting down the jig. A 1/16th hair jig with extra craft hair falls nice and slow. Tick. Pulled a chunky 14" Spot over the log and to me.



Tossed upstream of the laydown and got bit on the inside bend, as I was fighting the fish, a lady pulled up and asked me if I knew where any eagles nests were. I hid the fight from her and the fish got off. After she left a retrieve was getting followed by two good size smallmouth bass. I dropped the jig and saw the 16.5" inhale it instantly. Waited. Set hook. Nice fish about 16.5":



Few casts later I got his buddy a 15.75" smallmouth. I spotted a mink on the opposite shore. Took a couple of shots. This one was 'best'.



Managed to snarf up 6 tires from 3 different locations.



Hit another spot where I got a 13" freelining, then thumped like a bass, but a carp was fighting. Wasn't a carp. Ginormous for this little stream. Looked like my first 20" pig of the year. Thick, thick, thick. Measured short of 18"!! All blubber and no length. Great fish. Largest yet from there. Haven't fished it in 2 years...



The spot I was heading to to find some Sauger/Piggie Smalls was filled in with silt to my dismay. Headed back to the bigger stream.

Went to a former killer spot check out the following pics to see how badly the stream is in decline. The second tree before and after. Granted the water is about 8-12" lower.




Mike's ginormous pig amoungst the big fish we caught there.


There just weren't any deep spots anymore.

I headed home with 12 bass 9SMB 3KY (17.75", 16.5", 15.75") in like 2 hours of fishing and lots of driving

Mike 2/25/2012

I pulled a thick 18" out of an eddy at the first spot. We had floated over some smallies in sunshine right off the bat. Water was clear. Day was windy. Depending on direction of stream you'd have to paddle to go downstream or be absolutely calm.

Mike yanked an old fly jig off a rock. He tried to catch a fish on it, but it didn't work out.





The middle of the float was nearly empty until I had a nice sized SMB pull off my crank unhooked.
We hit a large pool. I got one one 8" on FnF, before crankbaits started ticking over sucker schools and occasionally, a nice smallmouth.
I got this chunk 18.25" then Mike lost two in like 3 casts. I played with some suckers.


Mike had a nice fish follow his crank back to his yak before turning away at the last moment. We think he got it a few casts later. 17.5"



Chartreuse crankbaits in Winter Pools slow water to no movement.

Mike would have had more, the Strike King KVD has terrible hooks. Absolutely catch fish. Hooks need replacing with Gamakatsus.

BT 5 SMB (18.25", 18") 2 Golden redhorse 17-19", 1 Quillback 15-16".
MC 1 SMB 17.5"

4th Annual Indiana Smallmouth Alliance "Smallmouth Stravaganza" Tomorrow

Some Exciting Signs 2/17/20012

Yes, ours aren't often, bronze or brown.

Thought I'd hit a stretch of river I'd kind of given up on as not supporting the fish it once did. Haven't been to this stretch all of last year and gave up on it really back in 2010.

Water was rising from rains and stained 18" visibility. With overhead sun warming, near perfect late Winter conditions. Visibility had been nearly 5' just last week.

I started out on a high bank lined with green pricker vines that choke on any cast you try to make. Measure every cast or else. Ground was mostly frozen still. Maybe a quarter inch of thawed ground then hard. I didn't need to be slipping down this bank. There was a steep slide into chest deep water. I once took the slide to grab a pig, I'd have to do the same if I got lucky and hooked one here.

To make casting FnF less of a chore, I debuted one of my new 1/8th oz snag less BT special hair jig sans float. Basically, a 1/8th oz wire guard Wallyworld Tube jig with like a 2/0 or so hook. Tie on some black, red, brown, craw flash with the red thread. Toss. Repeat. Soon, I had a tell tale tick and yanked a surprised 13" smallie reverse cliff dive style.

Always a rush to land that first cold water fish. Tells you a lot. Earlier in the day, the better. I tired of the long, high, pricker bank I left for another upstream hole. Here, I nailed 3 fish in 20 or so casts with a FnF jig free lined in 5-8' of water. The two largest, (15-15.75") were hooked under their jaw. Telling me they had picked the bait pointing down on it to where the long shank was outside their mouths when they bit the front. I just couldn't figure out which direction they can from. Soon crossed to the other side of the pool. Hooked up there quickly with the braid rod and 1/8th BT Hair special. As the jig came to the end of a log in slack- thunk! Another 15.5" SMB. Then a dink flops off the larger jig on the backswirl off a sandbar. I go to the sandbar to fish and pull another hard fighting smallmouth bass off the log from a different angle, 14".

Next stop, I hit three dinks, 2 freelining, one on the float, lose what feels like a nice fish on the BT special on my braid rod (drag tightened and I'm sure I had that fish helicoptering!

Back in the car to some rip rap like they use to keep erosion from happening: Sidewalk, blacktop, etc. Not pretty, but holds fishes. Float dunks and a 12" SMB gets me to 10. I am about to quit, so I try the 1.5 RC LC imitator from Strike King Kevin Van Dam Square Bill chartreuse crank- with rattle. Parallel to the banks in the slack and not really slow. Kind of too fast. They react! Crank is bouncing along and off large rip rap, when it just stops. Hell Broke Luce! Zig-zag. Not used to braid rod getting so much abuse. I get the pig to shore with one hook of six embedded 1/4" into the skin/bone of the bottom jaw . Measures an 18.5". Thick. Biggest so far this year.



Release him downstream, from my original position firing upstream along the rip rap, into the shallowing of the eddy. Thunka, thunka, thunka, STOP! Snagged? Nope, another nice smallmouth bass of size. Fights. He's well hooked. 18"



Released downstream. Fire back the same direction. After about 5 casts, I'm really burning it in again and it stops dead like hung on a fence. Then it rips drag and feels bigger yet. Doesn't turn out to be, but maybe the coolest looking, 17":





Glad I tried the crank out, thought about it before but there was too much wood and depth for what I had brought.

13 SMB 4 hours 15 minutes (18.5", 18", 17", 3-15-15.75")

2012 INSA Smallmouth Stravaganza- Next Saturday!!!!

Great event with a great group of guys and gals. Some nice stuff to bid on, catered meal and beer available.

Be there!!!

Not a Bad Day 2/15/2012

Fished on Wednesday. First part was via kayak. Really quick action to start with a 17.5", 18.25", 14" in the first half hour.





Little trickle of rain shut them down after. Drug kayaks back took to another creek with less water. Guessed correctly that our slow gray warm up effected big stream less and small stream more. Bingo. 9 SMB in an hour most 13-15.5" with a couple dinks and a thick 17".



Last 4 were caught freelining black/red/brown fly jig. Slow hop, drop and sit, slow drag, shake. Combination of all those seemed to get bit. Fish were just 'on'.


4.5 hours 13 SMB (18.25", 17.5", 17, 2-15")

More Indiana Smallmouth Bass on Float and Fly 2/9/12

Failing to hook up with Jon and Brett. I floated a couple big pools, and walked a third. Maybe .75 mile float and that far dragging back.

Hit as many quick holes, hopping from bridge to bridge with my kayak in the back. 5 fish in the first hour 14-18" off a long ledge. Fell into a trap of hitting the pool below. Got a dink on the way but it was a huge time sink as I made a bad cast with my last float, spent too much time freeing, then lost the fly in the drink. A special black, brown, red, with copper colored flashaboo. So declothed and swam down after it, gripping it with my teeth like a dolphin. That's a lie. Rolled the sleeves up and grabbed her. 45 minute detour for 1 dink. Mistake that would cost more fish. Killing time on a hot bite.



Second spot on foot. 17"er, couple of 14"'s.



Bass were where I thought they'd be. Even saw the 15"er take the fly from above, which was really cool. Dark shadow (I think, but not sure) float barely tweeks. He's on. Visibility was 4'. Really helped me drift along ledges and see target boulders. Got out in 15 minutes as the spot was spent.

The last pool and longest float down to the last pool I pitched over to some slack along a slower bank, float dunked on the dead drift, a 16"er ran all over the place. Target pool actually was a dud. Again. Just a dink, then a 13" off the bank as I was packing it in. Could have been a stellar day if only that pool was on. For a second, thought about hitting one more as it was 5:30 by the time I dragged back. The sun was out briefly. I chose to go see if the lads were done and how they'd done. Looks like they'd just finished up.

12 SMB all on float and fly (18",17",16", 2-15") about 4.5 hours of fishing including my tree mess. Smallmouth were fighting hard for the time of year.