And so it begins ...

Cookie-cutter smallmouth, first of the year.

With the unseasonably warm weather, I decided to venture out to my secret spot on the Little Patuxent River.  Water temp was right around 60 degrees!

I ended up catching only one fish, but it was the first fish I've caught this year.  I tried a Z-Man TRD Finesse Worm with no luck and then switched to a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper.  After about the fifth cast, I felt what I thought was a strike but nothing clamped on.  A couple more casts in the same area and a fish was hooked -- a cookie-cutter smallmouth bass.

I had about four or five more hits on the swimbaits but couldn't hook anything.  Nothing was interested in the Z-Man worms.

I fished a couple sections I hadn't really fished before -- didn't go down far enough to find the dogs.  I did find a pack of two new curly-tailed grubs, so while I've never seen anybody fishing in this area, somebody knows about it.

At one point on the opposite shore, I spotted what I thought was a ferret or weasel of some sort.  It was a solid, chocolate brown with a long fuzzy tail.  Poking around on the internet when I got home, I'm pretty sure it was a mink.   

Time spent on the water was around 90 minutes, and I finished up just before a smattering of rain turned into a downpour with hail!

My first smallmouth last year didn't come until March 12, and my first Little Patuxent smallmouth didn't come until April.  So already ahead of the game.

Cabin fever

McCoy's Ferry smallmouth.

As I sit here typing, it's almost 70 degrees.  It's February.  In Maryland.  Hopefully I can make it out this weekend to hit the Little Patuxent River before the weather returns to normal.

I tried the river last week during a lunch break.  Wednesday at noon, just above Savage Mill, and nearly every single spot that I like to fish was occupied. Don't people have jobs??!! I saw a handful of golden trout roaming in one section, but they weren't interested in the Rooster Tail I tossed.  Still haven't caught a fish since October.

Looking back, last year was a pretty good year fishing.  I caught more fish than I did in 2015 and got a few smallmouth bass 18 inches and over, including one that measured right at 20.


The total:
158 smallmouth
12 walleye
7 sunfish
5 catfish
3 largemouth
3 failfish
1 rock bass

Total of 189.

Hopefully I can top 200 this year and maybe find a lunker smallmouth bass on the Potomac.  Or a muskie.  Yeah, muskie.

Karen and I have booked another trip the first week in April with Jason Shay of Ken Penrod's Life Outdoors Unlimited.  Another experience like last year at that time would be great!

Bass Pro Shops at Arundel Mills Mall has been offering free fishing seminars the past few weeks.  Nobody has anything on smallmouth bass, though, so I've started something that I might try and present next year on getting into smallmouth bass fishing in this area. Just a bare-bones approach to catching them brown fish from rivers and creeks.  I've already written a good bit of the "speech," but I want another year of experience before unleashing my knowledge on the world.