The angriest smallmouth

First smallmouth of the day was really hungry.

Hit the Middle Patuxent again today, and it marked the third straight trip here catching a legal-size smallmouth bass, which is always good to find in a little skinny river that doesn't have much fishing pressure.  And that barely legal smallmouth thought it was much bigger!

I decided to try the same spot as Tuesday but ventured downriver past the bridge where I parked.  There are a few nice pools within the first 50 yards but after that it runs straight and feature-less -- a lot like what makes the Patapsco River above Daniels Dam so unappealing.

We had a cold front move in, and temps were in the low 70s.  Plus the sky was overcast, so it was a little different than Tuesday.

My game plan was to try the reliable Z-Man TRD Finesse Worm but -- to change things up a bit -- a white spinnerbait on my other rod.  If you remember my post from last month's trip to the Susquehanna, I've never had much luck with spinnerbaits.  But that day, I caught a handful when we ended the trip on the Juniata River.

The first fish of the day was a small failfish that put up a fight like a wet sock.  Actually, a wet sock might put up a better fight.  Ugh, hate catching these things.

First smallmouth of the day, on a spinnerbait.

While that fish was caught on a Z-Man worm, I was actually getting some attention with the spinnerbait.  Lots of little fish giving chase and taking swipes at it -- probably sunfish.  Finally, I got a smallmouth to clamp on -- a decent fish  about 11.5 inches.  It must have been hungry because there was a small fish in its mouth already (picture at top).

This was caught below the bridge as I had started to make my way back upriver.  Past the bridge, the fishing was more of the same with lots of little fish (probably not smallmouth) interested in the spinnerbait but nothing clamping on.  Then finally got one that was around 10 inches.

A little while later I caught another smallmouth in the funniest way.  I cast a Z-Man worm upriver, but it sailed through an overhanging tree branch -- but the fishing line stayed hung up in the tree.  The worm was suspended in midair about two feet above the water, so I let out some line, and the lure slowly descended to the surface.  And just as it entered the water, a fish took it!  It was like topwater worm fishing, if there is a thing.  I yanked the rod back, and the line came out of the tree, but the fish was still hooked.  It wasn't a big fish, but at least it was a smallmouth.

I fished this area for 20 minutes -- shaking my head and laughing the whole time at the fish that took the "topwater worm" -- and kept getting hits and misses but couldn't land a thing.

I explored upriver further than I went on Tuesday.  Lots of fast water but not many areas that looked like they held fish.  The bottom was really shallow and sandy -- but I'm thinking these areas might be better suited for the summer when it seems like the bass are looking for more turbulent water since the temperatures are higher.

I had been out for a couple hours at this point and started heading back to my point of entry. You know, low on water, not wanting to catch dysentery.

I stopped at the place I caught the third smallmouth and threw a Hubs Chub topwater lure.  No bass but I did catch a decent-sized redbreast sunfish.  It actually hit the Hubs Chub pretty hard, unlike most sunfish which timidly strike topwater stuff.

The angriest 12-inch smallmouth EVAR!

Finally I stopped at the pool where I caught the first smallmouth -- that was 12 inches -- on Tuesday.  Some interest in the Hubs Chub but nothing clamping on.  And then I snagged the Z-Man worm (orange color, I think it's "green pumpkin orange") on the bottom.  But it wasn't a snag, it was a fish.  It came to the surface pretty quickly -- it was a smallmouth bass, but it wasn't very big.

But this fish didn't know it wasn't very big.

After a brief battle where the fish managed to get into current and work against me, I landed it -- measured right at 12 inches.  It has to be the hardest-fighting 12-inch smallmouth I've ever caught.  If I didn't see the fish right after hooking into it, I would have thought a bigger fish was fighting on the other end of the line.

That made it six fish for the afternoon with four of them being smallmouth bass.