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| Karen's first smallmouth ever! |
I went back to the same spot below Dam 4 on the Potomac River today. Re-stocked the exact same Berkley worms and used them right off the bat ... and didn't catch a thing on them. Not even a bite. Even tried some that were more of an orange color.
So I started changing lures, going with three-inch worms and tube baits and still nothing. Meanwhile, Karen decided she wanted to come with me to fish, too, and she quickly had two "8-10" smallmouth. Which were her first smallmouth ever! I let her use my old Shimano spinning reel with the "Quickfire II" bail mechanism for easy casting, and that was on one of my new Shakespeare Ugly Stik rods.
I waded further downriver and eventually had a fish hooked on a red four-inch worm, but it got off when I was about ready to pull it from the water. It was a typical "8-10" smallmouth. I must have been fishing for two hours at this point, and that was the first bite.
A little bit later, I had another fish on, and this one felt better. And it was angry! The fish fought really good going further out on the river then coming back to shallower water. Finally wore him out some, got the fish close and pulled him out of the water -- a nice 12-inch smallmouth!
After starting off the year on the Potomac not catching anything measuring 12 inches, I've now caught at least one smallmouth 12-inches or bigger in seven of my last eight trips to the river. The 16-inch fish I caught in July is still the biggest, though.
I fished for a little while longer, had one bite, and decided to switch to topwater since the sun was going down. Like on Friday, I went to the Mitchell 300 with the Bass Pro Shops rod with cork handle and tied on a Super Spook Jr. This time, I made sure the spool was seated properly. First cast, and I had three strikes working the lure back in, but the Houdini fish didn't manage to get hooked on the two treble hooks.
A couple casts later, I watched the Super Spook sail through the air as, for some reason, the knot tying the 8-pound monofilament to the 30-pound braided line let go. At least a fish didn't hit the lure when it hit the water.
I had another spool with heavier braid and 12-pound monofilament and put that on the reel and tied on a silver/black Rebel Pop-R, which I'd never used before. I've caught a few fish on the same lure in a frog pattern, but never even used this lure in this particular pattern. One of those things where I was looking through the tackle box the other day and thought, "Hey, why not try this $7 lure I've had for six months!" Like a lot of stuff that I haven't tried yet.
After a handful of casts, I got a strike and the fish somehow managed to get one of the two treble hooks in its mouth. A couple jumps later, I had an "8-10" smallmouth.
Karen was trying her hand with the frog pattern Pop-R without much success. I didn't get anything else either, and the sun had gone down behind the trees upriver. This area is supposed to close at dusk, so we called it quits. Four smallmouth between us, although I was hoping for more considering the eight I caught in the same section just two days before.
So I started changing lures, going with three-inch worms and tube baits and still nothing. Meanwhile, Karen decided she wanted to come with me to fish, too, and she quickly had two "8-10" smallmouth. Which were her first smallmouth ever! I let her use my old Shimano spinning reel with the "Quickfire II" bail mechanism for easy casting, and that was on one of my new Shakespeare Ugly Stik rods.
I waded further downriver and eventually had a fish hooked on a red four-inch worm, but it got off when I was about ready to pull it from the water. It was a typical "8-10" smallmouth. I must have been fishing for two hours at this point, and that was the first bite.
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| Another 12-inch smallie. |
After starting off the year on the Potomac not catching anything measuring 12 inches, I've now caught at least one smallmouth 12-inches or bigger in seven of my last eight trips to the river. The 16-inch fish I caught in July is still the biggest, though.
I fished for a little while longer, had one bite, and decided to switch to topwater since the sun was going down. Like on Friday, I went to the Mitchell 300 with the Bass Pro Shops rod with cork handle and tied on a Super Spook Jr. This time, I made sure the spool was seated properly. First cast, and I had three strikes working the lure back in, but the Houdini fish didn't manage to get hooked on the two treble hooks.
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| Smallmouth on a topwater. |
I had another spool with heavier braid and 12-pound monofilament and put that on the reel and tied on a silver/black Rebel Pop-R, which I'd never used before. I've caught a few fish on the same lure in a frog pattern, but never even used this lure in this particular pattern. One of those things where I was looking through the tackle box the other day and thought, "Hey, why not try this $7 lure I've had for six months!" Like a lot of stuff that I haven't tried yet.
After a handful of casts, I got a strike and the fish somehow managed to get one of the two treble hooks in its mouth. A couple jumps later, I had an "8-10" smallmouth.
Karen was trying her hand with the frog pattern Pop-R without much success. I didn't get anything else either, and the sun had gone down behind the trees upriver. This area is supposed to close at dusk, so we called it quits. Four smallmouth between us, although I was hoping for more considering the eight I caught in the same section just two days before.
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| Karen's picture of me with the fish I caught on the Pop-R. |
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| Karen's second fish. |
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