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First smallmouth, measured at 12 inches.

Went out for a couple hours this morning on the Little Patuxent River.  I wasn't expecting anything like Monday on the Susquehanna River, but it was nice not to get skunked.

First fish of the day was a small failfish, maybe five inches long.  Peck, peck, peck -- typical failfish bite.  I got it on a ... who cares?  It's a failfish.

I moved upriver to an area I had never been before and had a few bites, but I think they were failfish or sunfish.

After an hour or so, I moved downriver to a slow section that was below a ripple of rocks.  I spotted some large submerged rocks so figured it might be a good area.  After a couple casts, I had a smallmouth hooked.  Definitely wasn't fighting like a failfish or sunfish.  I reeled the fish in closer and it was a smallmouth bass, about 12 inches.  It jumped within a few feet of me and freed itself.  Oh well.

Spot where I got the first smallmouth.
Notice the large submerged rocks.

That fish was on a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper, and I switched later to a Z-Man TRD Finesse worm.  Working the worm slowly on the bottom -- hop, pause for five seconds, hop, pause for five seconds -- I felt resistance when trying to hop the lure.  Definitely not a snag and definitely not a failfish.

This time I landed the fish, and it was a 12-inch smallmouth (pictured at top).  It looked almost identical to the one that jumped off previously in the same location.  Hmmmm.

I had a few more bites but nothing could clamp on.

Last fish of the day, an angry 11-inch smallmouth.

Moseying downriver, I stood on the bank -- about a two foot drop down to the water -- and tossed the Little Dipper across the river on the opposite bank.  After a few casts, a fish clamped on -- another smallmouth, about 10 inches.  But there was a large branch in the water, and when I tried lifting the fish over the branch, the smallmouth freed itself.  The fish landed in about an inch of water, kicked up some mud and silt, and sped away through through the water.

Moving downriver some more, I hit a few spots and couldn't get anything in some "fishy" areas.  I was about to call it quits when I cast parallel to the shore and had something hit within five feet of where I was standing.  Another angry smallmouth!  Gills flaring like an angry bull trying to shake the hook.  I successfully landed this one and measured it right at 11 inches, albeit fairly chunky.

So two smallmouth landed, two almost landed, and a dumb failfish.