Passive non-aggressive smallmouth

Sorry if I'm giving away the exact location where I fished.
Just pull over to the shoulder and walk down to the river!

Fished the Little Patuxent River today and had better success than the last time -- a bit further upstream than before.

We had heavy rain the previous weekend, and the river had been really high (5-6 feet, which is close to overflowing its banks).  But while there was moderate rain the previous couple days, the water level was close to normal and surprisingly the clarity wasn't bad either.

The second fish of the day and the only one that
found the Zara Puppy worthy of an attempted meal.

This part of the river has three or four good spots and a few more that are worth checking out.  This section is where I caught my first Little Patuxent smallmouth and the first 15-incher a few months later.

I tied on a Heddon Zara Puppy topwater lure on my trusty Bass Pro Shops "Extreme" rod with an old 1960s-era Garcia Mitchell 300.  The other rod/reel combo I brought -- a more conventional St. Croix AvidX with a Daiwa Tatula LT reel -- had a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait.

The Little Dipper had the most interest throughout the three hours or so I was on the river.  Lots of passive non-aggressive fish, though.  Because the water was fairly clear, I could see fish ambushing the rubbery swimbait, but in most cases, they wouldn't stay clamped on.  Nip at the tail, swipe at it but not actually bite, whatever.  Most weren't that big so it wasn't as frustrating as seeing a big fish get away.  One little redbreast sunfish followed it and attempted to pounce as I lifted the lure out of the water.

Always like the variations of coloring -- this
smallmouth bass was exceptionally dark.

I managed two smallmouth bass on the Little Dipper -- both under 12 inches, but I had one that was easily 12-plus that did an SDR (short distance release) just before lifting it from of the water.  Not a lot of interest in the topwater lure until one wee smallmouth bass pestered it and finally got a hook in the side of its jaw.

Weather was overcast and close to 75 degrees.  I actually saw one fisherman getting out of his car as I was ambling to the water trail.  I think he was after trout because he asked if the river had been stocked recently.  Sorry, bro, rather fish for smallmouth bass that have been here for a hundred years instead of stocked trout.

One of my "tricks" -- removing the rear treble
hook.  Smallmouth almost always get hooked on
the lead treble hook.  The rear treble is more akin
to going into their eye or gill or whatever. Also
the failfish and sunfish slurp the entire rear treble
into their tiny mouths which means minor surgery
to remove those fish.