Found some cookie cutters since the holiday season is around the corner

A cookie-cutter sub-12-inch smallmouth bass from the Upper Potomac River.  This picture was taken with my new Olympus TG-6 submerged underwater.  The river was really clear, and the clarity is really close to a picture I took out of the water of the same fish.

It was a return to Fifteenmile Creek Campground along the C&O Canal this weekend on the Upper Potomac River.  I finally tested out my new Olympus TG-6 camera with a couple fishy pictures with the camera submerged underwater.  The clarity of the river now barely affected the pictures -- they were almost as clear as the pictures taken of the fish out of the water (see below).

In just under two hours on Saturday, I caught two cookie-cutter (sub 12-inch) smallmouth bass each on the same Reaction Innovations Little Dipper.  Rando-casting into the middle of the river, both chomped on the swimbait and fought bravely despite their size limitations.  

Fish had no other interest in a River2Sea Whopper Plopper (I didn't think a topwater lure would entice them, but ya gotta try!  Because topwater.) or a shallow-running Rapala Shadow Rap.  

The clarity of the water made it deceptive for wading.  The bottom of the river with its rocky terrain looked to be extremely shallow -- maybe a foot or so deep, and I could walk across to the West Virginia side.  But a few places, I would take a step and plunge to my waist in water.  If the flow isn't as clear, it's easier to identify shallower water because the sunlight still can't penetrate murkier sediment.

Oh and the water was around 48 degrees.  I didn't have insulated waders, but it was tolerable thanks to the sun and air temps in the mid-60s.

What time is it?  It's fish o'clock!

Another new techno product I was trying was a Casio Active Dial Multi-Task Gear Sport Watch.  In layman's terms, a "fishing watch."  I don't wear watches but for some reason stumbled upon this one, and Karen got it for me for our anniversary.  It's water proof (can be used diving down to 200 meters) and has a fishing mode based on moon data (I think common solunar tables integrated with GPS).

It is fairly inexpensive, and I was intrigued by the functionality.  Plus I could check time the old fashioned way -- glance at my wrist instead of fumbling with a phone.  In the middle of a river.  Where I could drop the phone.

There are five LCD icons that indicate the ideal fishing conditions.  Basically no icons means fish aren't prone to feeding, and it progresses from one to five.  The four fish icons lit plus the "FISH" text blinking every second means you better stop what you're doing and cast a line in the water.  Which of course was happening as we were driving home on Sunday.

But whatever.  It tells time and is waterproof.  A small hindrance is the watch hands obscure the digital display, and nobody is going to mistake it for a Richard Mille.

Now here are pictures of smallmouth bass!

Smallmouth number one, picture taken out of the water ...

... and with the camera submerged.

Another photo comparison with the next smallmouth:

Smallmouth number two out of the water ...

... and about to be released.

Moar pics with the Olympus TG-6:

Landscape mode.

Underwater shot.

Setting sun.

River shot.

Sunrise on Fifteenmile Creek at the Potomac River confluence.

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One and a half fish

Under an I-95 overpass, the best view
as morning rush hour was winding down.

Not much doing on a Monday in October with water temps at 50 degrees.  A Columbus Day off directed me targeting non-indigenous fish of Maryland -- smallmouth bass!

After the remnants of Hurricane Ian stammered through the area last week -- just steady, moderate rain -- the Little Patuxent River was at its normal self this morning and actually wasn't very stained.  One cookie-cutter smallmouth slurped a Heddon Zara Puppy on my third or fourth cast and freed itself after a brief struggle.

Later another cookie-cutter smallmouth hit a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and stayed on so I could take a picture.

Which didn't work out as planned.  I had purchased an Olympus Tough TG-6 to replace my aging (10 years old, LOL) Canon S90.  While replacing my Samsung Galaxy A6 with a newer variant might get me something that takes better pictures, I opted for the TG-6 because it's waterproof and a bit more rugged.  Duh, that's why "Tough" is in the name!  I can drop it in the water and even shoot pictures underwater of fish.  

I envisioned my first fishing expedition with the Olympus camera with me taking a picture with the camera submerged while setting a fish free.  But for some reason I got an error message because of the data card.  

So here are just some random underwater pictures taken with the new camera with no fish present:

Pictures seem better than the Nikon Coolpix I shot with a couple years ago.  I stopped using because of battery life and, well, the pictures weren't that good, although the little camera captured one of my top-five pictures of all time.

And here's a comparison of the Olympus TG-6 (first picture) versus the Galaxy A6 (second picture) at the same spot just seconds apart:

The Samsung phone isn't very good under low-light conditions and even the Canon S90 excelled there.  It looks like the Olympus is better for normal colors and not muddying things down.

Karen and I are scheduled to go camping on the Potomac in two weeks, then there's the first trip of the year with Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions after that, but otherwise, I think the fishing season is winding to a close.

Do not adjust your monitor if you see spots. Or walleye. Or a meanmouth.

The first of many largemouth spotted bass.

As has become a tradition in our yearly road trips, after Karen drives out from Maryland and picks me up at an airport somewhere out west, and we fish the following Wednesday.  In 2019, it was Rainy Lake on the Minnesota-Canada border.  In 2020, it was Lewis and Clark Lake part of the Missouri River system on the Nebraska-South Dakota border.  In 2021, it was back to Rainy Lake.

Karen has left it up to me where to fish, and this year I chose Table Rock Lake in the Ozark territory of Missouri.  We stayed at a hotel the first night, and I didn't find a stash of money hidden in the walls.

This was an experience that wasn't turning out well even before we got on the water.  First, I booked a guide with Fishing Booker, and all I heard from him was the robo, "Thanks for giving me a deposit!" email.  I sent a message a couple weeks later asking where we would be launching from and NOTHING.

After cancelling with him, I went to Fishing Booker again, and because of his positive ratings, I booked a trip with Eric from Eric's Elite Guide Service.  Got the robo response and immediately messaged asking where we would likely be fishing so Karen and I could book a hotel nearby.  He responded within a few hours.

It was a Wednesday trip, and the day before as Karen and I were cruising toward Branson, Missouri, Eric called me.  He had boat issues.  I was afraid he wanted to cancel, but he gave the option of starting to fish at 3 p.m. (initial launch was supposed to be 6 a.m. and fishing for four hours) while he commandeered a backup boat from one of his guides.  I told him I would mull it over and call back.

One of three species I caught for
the first time -- a longear sunfish.

It was HOT at this point and didn't seem to be letting up for the next day.  Mid-90s temps, and we would be fishing right in the middle of it.  I asked Karen what she wanted to do, and she gave me the usual, "It's up to you."  

Thinking we would have to stay another night in Branson since it would be a later trip, and it would be too late reserving another hotel room had me on the fence.  But I found a tent site open at the local KOA.  Called Eric back and told him, "Fish on!"

Instead of fishing at 6 a.m. as originally planned, we had the morning free.  I wanted to go to Pea Ridge Battlefield but Karen suggested another nearby battlefield, Wilson's Creek, and we could visit Pea Ridge the next day.  So we drove to the former.

When we got there, the parking lot at the visitors center looked full, and there were a couple of park rangers heading us off at the pass.

"Are you here for the ceremony?"

"What ceremony?"

"The one for the 161st anniversary of the battle."

Then we saw a large canopy with a bunch of people underneath escaping the heat and the about-to-be-sweltering temps.

It turned out, we stumbled on the exact day of the Battle of Wilson's Creek 161 years later.  Of course we obligated to stay and drove the battlefield tour afterwards.  Spoiler alert:  The Confederates won.  

Looking back on how the events unfolded, if it wasn't for Eric's boat issues, we probably would have fished in the morning and visited Wilson's Creek the next day missing the ceremony. 

After leaving Wilson's Creek, with the sun getting higher in the sky, we meandered through the winding roads of the Ozarks to Baxter Marina.  As the crow flies from Wilson Creek, it's about 20 miles.  As it drives, it's 120, or so it seemed.

We found Eric at the end of the dock already waiting for us, and boarded the boat.

His borrowed steed was a Skeeter of some flavor with a quiet engine even at full throttle.  His regular boat was a 2022 model that had a compressor issue, and he had to be towed back to the marina the day before.

Eric was confident the bite was on, but I was sweating and downing water not sure of what to expect.

After about 20 minutes knifing through the water, we stopped at a spot maybe 30 feet from shore.  It looked shallow but since Table Rock Lake was a reservoir produced from damning the White River in the 1950s, looks were deceiving.  It was roughly 30 feet to the bottom of the lake at that spot.

Eric rigged a "drop shot" -- a sinker with a hook tied 8-10 inches from the weight.  Threaded with a plain nightcrawler on the hook, I let the bait sink and hit the bottom of the lake.

"You have a fish on," Eric calmly said while still trying to assemble Karen's rig.

Double spots?!  What's it mean?

I jerked the rod, and there was indeed a something fighting on the other end.  Cranked on the spinning reel to bring the fish to the surface, and it looked like a largemouth bass about 14 inches.

But it wasn't a largemouth.  It was a close relation, a spotted bass.  "Spots" look almost exactly like largemouth but their mouths aren't as big, and they don't sprout more than smallmouth bass size.  A 14-incher like the first one I pulled up was picture worthy.

An easy way to identify a spot over a largemouth is to feel the fish's tongue -- spots have a small sandpaper-like patch on the tip.

That first spot was the beginning of a short frenzy.  Karen caught one.  I caught one.  Karen caught another.  And all the fish were legal size, although we didn't keep any.

I think I had 11 fish while Karen had at least as many before we motored to another spot.  Here I reeled in what looked like a smallmouth bass, but it wasn't a smallie.  Read about The Legend of the One-Eyed Meanmouth Bass.

Double walleye?!  What's it mean?

We trekked to another area and still tantalizing fish with a nightcrawler and found walleye territory.  Minimum keeper size on Table Rock is 18 inches, and we boated three while having to release a few that didn't measure up.  Karen had the biggest walleye at 22 inches.

After four hours, I counted 18 fish for me.  Karen didn't keep track but I'm sure she had at least as many.

Sometimes our guides are more pumped than we are, and Eric was sure the late start made for better fishing despite the heat.  The breeze was comforting and maybe the fish were on the cusp of fall feeding.

Karen and I caught our first spotted bass, and I caught my first meanmouth bass, plus another first, a long-ear sunfish,

Definitely in you're in the Branson, Missouri, itching to land fish, check with Eric's Elite Guide Service on availability.

From water to flame, not many -- if any -- fish
taste better than walleye cooked two hours after
pulling them out of the water.

Want to see more pictures from the trip from Utah and Canyonlands and Arches and the New River, click on the picture below:

The legend of the one-eyed meanmouth bass

This one-eyed meanmouth bass could not wait to feed again. 
No, really.  It could not wait.

If a blind squirrel can find a nut, the odds are way better for a one-eyed fish.

Fishing today on Table Rock Lake in Missouri with Karen and Eric of Eric's Elite Guide Service, I caught what appeared to be a smallmouth bass.  But Eric said, "Hold on a second," and lifted the fish.  He put a finger in the fish's mouth and proclaimed, "No, it's a meanmouth bass!"

Meanmouth bass are hybrids -- offspring from smallmouth bass and spotted bass spawning together. You know, momma spotted bass lays the eggs, papa smallmouth fertilizes them, or vice versa.

Spotted bass look a lot like largemouth, but their lateral lines are darker and their mouths don't extend past their eyes.  Sometimes smallmouth and largemouth breed, but it's rarer since they usually don't share the same habitat.  They might swim in the same body of water but live on different sides of the track.

Spotted bass are found in southern states from Texas to Florida.  Table Rock Lake is one of those bodies of waters where "spots" and smallies run together, so it's definitely possible to find a hybrid meanmouth at Table Rock.

Which I did today.  

And caught the same one twice.

Without taking a DNA sample and sending it off to a lab, the easiest way to differentiate a meanmouth from a smallmouth is to check the fish's "tongue."  Meanmouth and spotted bass have a small sandpaper-like patch on their tongue.

This meanmouth I caught -- verified by Eric checking the fish's tongue that it indeed have that patch -- was missing its left eye.  Maybe it had lost it getting hooked before?  A battle over territory with a walleye?  At the wrong end of the claw with a crayfish? Who knows.

Eric tossed the fish back, and I dropped my line baited with another nightcrawler to the bottom of the lake -- about 25 feet of water in this spot

Waited a couple minutes dead-sticking the bait and felt another bite.  I set the hook, reeled the fish in and it looked like another meanmouth.  No, wait.  It was THE SAME meanmouth with only one eye.  We all laughed -- that fish must have been hungry for nightcrawlers.  Eric said he had seen some weird stuff -- like three different times people in his boat hooking the same fish at the same time -- but never catching the same fish twice.

The joke the rest of the trip when getting a bite but reeling up a bare hook was that the one-eyed meanmouth bass had finally figured out a way to get the worm without getting caught. 

This is just a tease from today's trip where I caught two other species I had never caught before, plus some tasty walleye.  Guess who caught the biggest fish too?  Stay tuned ....

Eight For Eight: The rogues gallery of my most memorable smallmouth bass over the past eight years

Like how ESPN has been showing its "30 For 30" series, I bring you my "8 For 8."  

It's been eight years since I took up fishing again mainly trying to catch smallmouth bass.  With temperatures this weekend in the high 90s and not really feeling like fishing and dealing with the heat, I thought I would look back on the Top Eight smallmouth bass I have landed over the past eight years.

These aren't necessarily the eight biggest ranked by size but of most memorable (spoiler alert: a 16-incher is in the Top Three).

No. 8: First 15-inch smallmouth on the Little Patuxent, May 29, 2015.

First 15-inch smallmouth on the tiny Little Patuxent River. 
This is probably like catching a 20-inch smallmouth on Lake
Erie or the Susquehanna.

Since the Little and Middle Patuxent rivers were close to me, figured those rivers were home to smallmouth bass.  Everything in Maryland somehow connects to the Potomac it seems, so it shouldn't be too far fetched that them brown fish lurked in those skinny rivers.

Searching the internet, it appeared -- yes -- there were smallmouth bass, but I wasn't sure if they were plentiful or if they had any size.  The first one I caught on my first time fishing the Little Patuxent tipped a tape measure at maybe six inches.  And that fish was overshadowed by three rainbow trout.

Fishing near the shadow of an I-95 overpass in early 2015, it was confirmed these rivers had decent fish.  This was 15-incher jerked on a Rapala Shadow Rap.  A couple months later, I caught another smallmouth bass stretching 15 inches again on the Little Patuxent, and the game was on.

Oddly, I haven't caught any "big" smallmouth on the Middle Patuxent even though it feeds into the Little Patuxent.  I have seen a few nice fish, though, but they have been shy about their eating habits.

Next up, unlucky number seven ...

No. 7: The One That Got Away, October 2014.

No pictures exist of this fish.  

I've mentioned it before, but maybe fishing "doesn't take" if I don't hook this fish.  Camping overnight with Karen at McCoy's Ferry, had a few smallmouth and sunfish Saturday night.  

Sunday morning, I had not had that much luck and was about ready to call it a day around 11 a.m.  Working a Heddon Zara Puppy, I noticed the line was kind of frazzled where it was tied to the lure and didn't re-tie.

Kind of bored.  Karen should be about ready to go home.
Close to one of those "one last cast" moments, I let the Zara Puppy sail out, started working it side-to-side and a smallmouth bass EXPLODED out of the water -- it was hooked.  It jumped again, and I was desperately reeling.  The fish charged straight at me where I was standing on the bank.  Not even wading in the water, standing on the "safety" of the bank, and this smallmouth was coming right for me.

It jumped again and then it was gone.  

The line broke.

I've replayed this 100 times.  That smallmouth was easily 16 inches.  Maybe bigger?  The lesson was: Should have cut the frazzled line and re-tied the lure, and this has a better ending.

Up next, six is good.  I like six ...

  

Personal-best smallmouth bass at
that time.  Caught it wading literally
 in the middle of the Potomac River.

No. 6: First 16-inch smallmouth, July 25, 2015.

It was my little niece's first birthday, and I decided to go fishing early on the Potomac River with the plans of meeting up with the family later on to celebrate.  

I was wading in the area that I now call The Plateau.  The bottom of the river has rock formations that angle diagonally to how the water flows.  Easy to wade, and the water is low and clear this time of year.

I was mainly using a three-inch BPS plastic worm on a slider jighead.  Had not discovered the Z-Man worms yet.  

Casting as far as I could down river, this fish clamped on, and it was a battle.  Trying to keep my rod tip low so the fish wouldn't jump, I finally landed it -- 16 inches!

Up next, staying alive with number five ...

First 17-inch Potomac smallmouth bass.  

No. 5: First 17-inch Potomac smallmouth bass, Sept. 17, 2017.

This is a fish that solidified the Reaction Innovations Little Dipper in my arsenal.  They are cheap swimbaits (sub $6 for a pack of 10 from Susquehanna Fishing Tackle), so if one gets snagged, usually it's not worth crying about to lose one.  They are durable enough for two to three hookups.  Most importantly, fish like them.

I was wading about 20 feet from shore and spotted a slow eddy -- about two feet in diameter -- hugging the bank.  Not much room for error to hit this spot, but I made one of the best casts of my life.  Wouldn't you know it, this smallmouth was looking for something to eat and pounded the swimbait.

Up next, number four caught off the Susquehanna floor ...

My personal best smallmouth bass at that time. 
It would be surpassed just a couple hours later.

No. 4: Susquehanna 18-inch smallmouth, April 1, 2016.

My first fishing trip on the Susquehanna River with Jason Shay (he was guiding for another outfit -- Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions was just a glimmer in his eye).  Searching through forums and sleuthing The Google, I read how the Susquehanna in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area was prime smallmouth territory, and I wanted to experience it.

I coaxed my buddy Kirk to join me, and we trekked up to meet with Jason.

On my first cast as Jason was still helping Kirk get his gear ready, I caught a 14-inch smallmouth.  FIRST CAST and something worthy of a picture.  

Bigger ones were yet to come.

Later on, this one went for a small tube cast as we were drifting down the bank running next to Highway 15.  Precision casting to small pockets, and this fish slurped the tube.

This was my personal best smallmouth at the time, and that record would be broken only a couple hours later.  

Up next, though three was caught on a Wee, it was fierce ...

Personal-best smallmouth for the Little Patuxent River. 
After catching three 15-inchers, finally found one that
was bigger.

No. 3: Little Patuxent 16-inch smallmouth, April 11, 2018.

Like I wrote earlier, this isn't ranking the size of the fish but telling the whole overall story.  The Little Patuxent River is a trickle of water that flows through eastern Maryland.  Not suitable for kayaking or swimming in most places, but this is my home river.

Usually the smallmouth bass are in the 10-inch range, and I consider anything above 12 inches a trophy.  If I consider a 15-inch smallmouth bass a trophy from the Little Patuxent, what about something bigger?

I have identified three or four good spots on the Little Patuxent and hit those regularly.  For some reason on this day, I tried an area of the river that never produced a fish for me before.  On an old (actually the term is vintage) discontinued Rebel Wee-R square bill crankbait that had been rattling around my tackle assortment since even before I started fishing again in 2014.  If I remember correctly, it had never caught a fish before.

The Wee R had some interest that day from rainbows.  Casting to another section to avoid the trout, this smallmouth bass hit lightly.  At first, I thought it was another trout or a dink smallmouth, but then it started pulling.  I was standing on the bank about three or four feet above the water and had to heft this beast up hoping something bad didn't happen.

Three 15-inchers prior to this, so it was a great feeling to see there are bigger fish in the little river.  I swear I've had two hooked since then that were just as big.

Up next, number two reaches for twenty ...

No. 2: Susquehanna 20-inch smallmouth, April 1, 2016.

When I caught smallmouth bass No. 4 on this list, it measured 18 inches.  It was also my first time on the Susquehanna River, so the river had already lived up to my expectations.

But the river produced more.

I cast a Rapala Shadow Rap downriver behind the boat and started working the lure back.  Felt a light tap on the line and set the hook.  Jason Shay, the guide, saw me set the hook and asked if I needed the net.

"Nah, it's not that big."

Reeled some more and got a look at the fish.

"Uh, yeah I need the net."

That Shadow Rap got a work out that day.  It also enticed a fish that length wise wasn't even close but probably chunked out to the same weight as the 20-incher.  One treble was missing from the front hook, and the two rear hooks were bent.

Up next, number one ...

Biggest smallmouth I've caught on the
Potomac and matches my personal best.

No. 1: Potomac 20-inch smallmouth, June 25, 2022.

I had seen pictures of them.  Big smallmouth bass from the Potomac River.  So I knew they were out there, but up until this day, my efforts had only yielded a 17-inch smallmouth (No. 5 on the list, and it was caught five years prior to this).

This makes No. 1 because it was caught wading (not on a boat), it smashed my personal-best from this river, and it was caught on a TOPWATER lure.  This is the only fish on the list landed after hitting a topwater lure, a Rapala X-Rap Prop.

I just wish I had taken a couple more photos before releasing the fish.  This was taken on my phone, which isn't great under low-light conditions.

Honorable mentions:

My tube hanging out of this smallmouth's mouth. 
And if you enlarge and peer down the throat, there
is another tube AND a crayfish!

Karen and I with a double on the Susquehanna River.

Another double!  Earlier this year on Lake Erie.

Perky nibbles

Nothing better than looing UP at I-95.

I went out early this morning on the Little Patuxent River to try and beat the heat humidity.  We have had some showers here and there during the week, but nothing major, so the river was low and fairly clear.

As usual, I tied on a Heddon Zara Puppy on one rod and a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper on the other.  They are usually my go-to lures so why not?

Well the Little Dipper was getting a ton of attention from what I think were small sunfish.  It was almost comical.  I could see the lure in the water, then it would go sideways with a fish grabbing it.  Then letting it go.  I'm sure there was one point where five casts in a row were like that.  Finally actually hooked one and it was a sunfish barely bigger than the swimbait.  Maybe some kind of scent to spray on the lure would entice the fish to stay clamped on longer, but considering the size of the fish, I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.

A dink smallmouth bass that hit the no-name
spinnerbait.  I think increasing reel speed may
have enticed the fish to be more aggressive.

The Zara Puppy had some interest but I think more of the same with little sunfish that should have been chasing a lure that size (and that Puppy is maybe three inches).

Hit my three usual spots with the perky nibbles but couldn't find a smallmouth.  When I got to the turnaround point, I did a 180 on lure selection, too.  Off went the swimbait on the lighter rod/reel (St. Croix Avid-X with a Daiwa Tatula 2500), and on went a hair jig that I had picked up ... somewhere.  On the medium rod/reel (BPS Extreme green with classic Mitchell 3-0-0), the Zara Puppy was replaced with some random small white spinnerbait that I got ... somewhere.

And wouldn't you know it, the spinnerbait enticed a legitimate smallmouth bass to bite.  And the hair jig enticed ... well ... a sunfish.

Lots of follows on those lures, too.  Even though the spinnerbait wasn't very big, the profile compared to a swimbait is bigger, and the sunfish thought better of actually trying to bite it.

On the way back to the car, a guy on a bike stopped to ask me if I was fishing for smallmouth bass.  He said his dad caught a 19-inch smallmouth on the Patapsco River a couple years ago.

Smallmouth smashing a topwater and smashing my personal Potomac best

A 20-inch smallmouth?  If not, it was
really close and easily my personal
best on the Potomac.

Possibly a 20-inch smallmouth on the Potomac?  If not, really, really close.

Headed up last night to meet with Karen to stay overnight at Antietam Creek Campground.  I got there around 7:30 p.m. so didn't have much time to do some real fishing -- just drowned some lures behind the campsite for 20 to 30 minutes.  With a family a couple campsites away causing a ruckus in the river, I didn't think fishing would be very productive.  

It wasn't.

Saw baitfish just in front of the tip
of the line of rocks closest to the weeds.
With no bites, then made a cast near
the overhanging branches in the
center at the top.

This morning, I suited up and went upriver to near where I caught my personal best Potomac smallmouth -- 17 inches -- almost five years ago.  Maybe 100 yards upriver from that spot is a rock formation that creates a set of rapids protruding almost the width of the river.  The water in front is smooth as glass, but the current is pretty fast.

As I ambled down to the water, I saw baitfish activity on the surface just in front of the rapids.  A few small fish jumping here and there, some feeding from the top.  Then there was a boil from a larger fish -- a smallmouth? -- so I made my first cast with a Rapala X-Rap Prop and churned it through there.

Nothing.

I made another cast.  Nothing.

I was casting toward the center of the river, so I turned 45 degrees and fired the lure upriver under the edge of overhanging branches.  The twin propellers frothed the water for about two seconds before a fish slammed the lure.  I waited a half second, couldn't see the lure anymore, and set the hook.

Fish on! Only issue was that I was in fairly fast current.  Even dink smallmouth bass can use the current to their advantage.

The fish didn't jump but shook its head a couple times out of the water.  The fish was going for the rapids, which is definitely something I didn't want happening.

Usually I bring a lighter rod for jigs and swimbaits and a medium rod for larger lures like topwaters, jerkbaits, crankbaits, etc.  Instead of grabbing a medium power St. Croix rod with a cork handle and a Pflueger reel, I grabbed a medium-light rod with a cork handle and a Pflueger reel.  So now I was battling this bruiser in current with the lighter rod and wondering why I wasn't making much progress.

Basically I held ground and finally muscled the fish along the weed bed.  There was still strong current but it wasn't even ankle deep, so the fish couldn't swim anymore -- just dragged it along the water until I could grab its lower lip.  With me clamping on its mouth, it wiggled enough so part of the treble hook went into my thumb (notice the small blob of red in the picture at the top).  If it started thrashing, I was going to be in trouble.  Fortunately, it stayed calm -- the hook wasn't embedded too far and came out easily.

It was a nice smallmouth.  A beast by Potomac standards.  I didn't have a tape measurer so eye-balled it next to the rod and figured I would measure the rod after getting home.  It looked to be an easy 18 inches, possibly more.

After that, I lost a smaller fish on a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper, and that was it for the next two hours.  No bites or anything.  

But it was worth it.

After I got home, I immediately took the rod and headed for the garage to get a tape measurer.  While standing in the river, I had put the fish's tail against the butt-end of the rod, and the nose went to a logo on the main shaft ahead of the cork.  With the tape measurer, this was 19-3/4 inches.  This was just holding the fish by the jaw and not measuring properly -- the mouth wasn't closed, and the tail wasn't squeezed to narrow it the length of the tape.  If it wasn't 20 inches, it was really close.

From the bottom of the rod to the "RS" logo ...

... 19-3/4 inches!  Not measuring it "properly" with
a closed mouth and squeezing the tail so it wasn't
fanned out.

Finally photogenic fish

First smallmouth this morning.

Looks really fishy but not much activity.

The results over the last two days of fishing -- this time near Fifteen Mile Creek -- were similar to Friday's exploits.  Caught some dink fish, although these stuck around to have their picture taken.  I only took two pictures of fish.

Similar conditions from Friday.  No rain or anything, but the weather was much better, and the water was flowing low and clear.

Luck in this area has been hit or miss.  There was one time I caught 10 fish over two days, similar to yesterday and today.  Actually, other than that, it has been mostly miss.  Usually the thing to look forward to fishing this area is trying to spot a muskie lurking in the creek. 

First and only smallmouth yesterday.  They almost
always seem to get hooked in the corner of the jaw.

Fished the exact area as in 2017 (linked in previous paragraph).  Looks really fishy with protruding rocks and slow eddies but could only muster a smallmouth and a sunfish yesterday, and two smallmouth this morning.  The two this morning I think hit the Reaction Innovations Little Dipper because it basically landed on their heads, and they were angry for being disturbed on such a peaceful morning.

The smallmouth from yesterday was also tricked into biting a Little Dipper.  The sunfish was landed on a Heddon Zara Puppy as it followed it out of a slow eddy trying to slurp down the forward treble hook.

Still, it's better than a good day at work, and way better than the best day at my previous job (which I left on Thursday).

Dam fish, saving a turtle and a summary of a transition day before my next job

No fish pictures.  Just trees.

Yesterday was my last day at my current job and planned to take today off before starting the new job on Monday.  What I didn't realize is that since the new job is working as a contractor for the government (U.S. Air Force) that I couldn't start on Monday because it's a federal holiday.  Should have said I would start today and then gotten paid for the holiday.  I opted to just make it a four-day weekend.

The background picture of this blog,
this is the tree that has the 
overhanging branches.  Definitely has
some stories to tell.  Probably laughs
at the smallmouth I lost eight years ago.
Shut up, tree.

Tried to get on a boat with Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions, but since it was last minute (gave two week's notice last Monday), there weren't any openings.  So I decided to just hit a few spots on the Potomac River.

First stop was McCoy's Ferry.  Ah, McCoy's Ferry.  Where I will never forget the fish I lost ... geez ... eight years ago?!  Basically a smallmouth bass ANNIHALATED a Heddon Zara Puppy, charged right at me standing on shore.  Let me say that again, the fish charged at me while I was standing on shore!  It jumped a few times, and the line broke.  Probably at least a 16-inch smallmouth.  

Anyway, I think of that every time I'm here.  I think about that every time I tie on a Zara Puppy.  So what did I try today, eight years later?  A Zara Puppy.  And a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper.

This section of the river, because of Dam 5 just downstream, has almost a lake-like quality.  There's some flow, but it's really slow.  Which is why I like using topwater lures here because they don't hit the current and float away.

There were a couple guys fishing in a boat just off shore when I got there.  By the time I tied on my lures and everything, they had shifted more toward the middle river and eventually floated away.

Lots of fish were roaming near the bank, but they were small.  Some sunfish, a few smallmouth and even largemouth bass.

Other than a tiny sunfish trying to slurp the Zara Puppy, the lure had zero strikes.  Caught one smallmouth on the Little Dipper, but it released itself after I was about to grab it when I pulled it out of the water.  While I couldn't get a picture, those are probably the best.  Don't have to perform surgery to remove a hook.  The fish doesn't try to impale you with spiked dorsal fins or the hook in its mouth.

I eventually switched from the swimbait to a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm, AKA, the Ned Rig.  I don't know who Ned is, but he probably stole the presentation from somebody else and just slapped his name on it.  

Searching for some dam fish.

The Ned caught one fish that looked like ... yes ... I thought it was a largemouth?  But it also wriggled free just as I was about to grab it.  No surgery.  No stabbings.

Headed back to the car and drove down to Dam 5.  I used the roads -- the Subaru Crosstrek isn't an amphibious vehicle.  Stopped and helped a box turtle complete it's journey across the road.

The river at Dam 5 was really shallow.  We had heavy rains for brief periods the past few days, and I was expecting high water, but the level seemed like ideal summer flow.  Other than right at the overflowing waters at the face of the dam (which is hard to get to), it was ankle deep for a long stretch.  I finally found a nice, small pool just off current.  

Let's try that Heddon Zara Puppy again.

First cast, a smallmouth ICMB'ed out of the water.  I try to refrain from my excitement of a topwater strike and pause before setting the hook until I don't see the lure anymore.  The fish jumped again, and I wasn't sure if the lure was still floating, so I set the hook, and the fish was on!  It jumped a couple times, and it looked like it was barely keeper size (12 inches ... but I've never kept a smallmouth anyway).  Got it to shore, pulled it out of the water, and it also wriggled free before I could grab it.

No surgery.  No stabbings.

The next cast, another fish went after the Zara Puppy but didn't get hooked.

Reaction Innovations swimbait and Heddon
Zara Puppy with the 1960s Garcia Mitchell reels.

Eventually I caught one more fish on the Little Dipper.  It was really funny, just as I was pulling the swimbait out of the water, this fish zipped in from out of nowhere and grabbed the rubbery bait.  Basically exactly the length of my rod to my left where the water met the shore.  I pulled the rod up, and the fish was on, but I wasn't sure if it was actually hooked or it was like a terrier not wanting to release a squeaker toy.  The fish wriggled free and splashed down into the water.  An easy release with no surgery or stabbings.

I thought today was supposed to be nicer but it was 95 degrees at this point, so I called it quits.  Hopefully there will be another entry on Monday because Karen and I are going camping Sunday night.