Thanksgiving footballs

 

Greeting me at The Plateau were about 50 geese.
That immediately fled and wanted no part of Thanksgiving.

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you might have noticed there haven't been any updates since August.  I caught the Covid but it was a mild case and lasted about 8-9 days, and it was only last month.  The real reason I haven't posted anything here since then is because I HAVEN'T CAUGHT ANY F***ING FISH!  Camping a couple times on the Potomac, fishing the local rivers near my house, it didn't matter where, but I didn't have any great stories or hero pictures to share.  Nobody wants to read an obscure blog about not catching any fish.

In a year that has been weird, actually catching smallmouth bass in late November just contributes to the weirdness.  This is when them brown fish are supposed to be in hiding in mystery wintering holes.  And I was lucky to actually find fish this morning, although they weren't anywhere I thought they would be.

With the pandemic basically cancelling Thanksgiving plans, Karen and I were figuring out what to do.  We kept watching the weather forecast, and it looked like it was going to be unseasonably mild on Thanksgiving day and overnight.  So she rolled the dice and booked a spot at the Antietam Creek Campground on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.

It rained a little on Wednesday night but it wasn't a big deal -- just a little damp, and I guessed the river level wasn't going to be affected.  We loaded up the Crosstrek yesterday and headed out.

First fish of the day!

When we got to the campground, it was like an errant Evegeny Kuznetsov pass -- nobody there.  There was one tent about 10 spots down from us, but that was the only sign of human life other than hikers and bikers along the tow path.  And even then, there weren't that many people.  As we would discover, it was a welcome change from the past few camping trips with loud "neighbors" and unpleasantness during what should be a relaxing time.

After we got the tent set up, I headed to one of my favorite spots, The Plateau.  Site of one of my best fishing days on the Potomac when I caught 10 smallmouth in about three hours, including what was then my personal best on the river, a 16-inch tank.

But the last two years on The Plateau have been bleak.  Everything still looks the same as that 10-fish day, but the action has been virtually non-existent.  It didn't matter if the river was high or low, dark or clear, if the temp was high, middle or low, the fish weren't interested in fake lures to entertain an amateur smallmouth bass fisherman.  

Second fish!

Yesterday wasn't any different, despite partly cloudy skies and 50-degree water temps.  I tried a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm and a Rapala Shadow Rap, and it was an uneventful hour or so other than snagging the Shadow Rap on my first cast with it (but managed to get it free instead of donating it to the river).

Last night on the campfire, Karen and I heated up turkey legs (kind of hoping for a Thanksgiving walleye, but that wasn't meant to be) and cooked baby potatoes and gave thanks for the the silence of nobody within earshot.  Unlike Camp Groinia in October at 15-Mile Creek where the d-bags did lighter fluid shots into the fire until 3 a.m.

This morning, I was planning on fishing another spot past The Plateau but decided that with a basically empty campground, I would try the river behind other campsites.  I usually don't fish these areas because I think those spots "belong" to the campers there, and it feels like I'm intruding, even if campers aren't actually fishing or doing anything near the water.

Third fish!

The game plan was to swap the Rapala for a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait.  I was basically arming myself with my go-to lures with the Z-Man worm on one rod and the Little Dipper on the other rod to try and get something ... anything ... this morning.  It's like in football when times are tough, you give the ball to your best players.

First couple of spots, it was more of the same from yesterday -- nothing.  These looked like prime areas for smallmouth bass to roam if it was between April and September -- a lot of rocks and boulders peppering slow sections and calm pools. 

At another spot, after no interest with the Z-Man worm, I switched to the rod with the Little Dipper.  On the first cast, there was a disturbance on the other end that I haven't felt in a long time.  It was ... really?  .... could it be? ... a fish!  A feisty 12-inch smallmouth!  Took a pic, let it go, and cast near the same spot.  And another smallmouth bass, this one around the same size (I had to check the pictures later to confirm they were different fish).  Two smallmouth on back-to-back casts, the first fish I had caught in more than three months!

On to another spot, and managed to land a slightly larger smallmouth -- roughly 14 inches -- on the swimbait.  

I mentioned before that it's tough to catch smallmouth bass this time of year, but it was odder because these fish were in less than two feet of water.  I'm guessing that with the mild temps (water temp was 50-55), they stalk shallow areas as the sun comes up to warm the water.  Even though this morning was completely overcast.

Thanksgiving dinner -- turkey legs and potatoes!

Breakfast!

If you notice the red on my thumb, this
smallmouth bass actually bit me!  I felt the
fish clamping down, and it felt sharper than
the normal sandpaper-like "teeth."