In Reel Time Fishing: 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!