Smallmouth bass free their oppressor (me) on the 4th of July

Sunrise on the Potomac River.

The Potomac River smallmouth bass declared their freedom today in the pursuit of life, liberty and crayfish!

Or something like that. 

Karen and I camped overnight at 15 Mile Creek Campground on the historic C&O Canal, and I hit the river around 6:15 a.m. this morning hoping to escape the oppressive humidity.

The sun was still trying to peak over the hills, and clouds would keep it mostly at bay for awhile.

First cast with a Heddon Super Spook (the middle brother between the Zara Puppy and Zara Spook) was greeted with a typical topwater blowup! That left the lure floating on the surface. I tried a couple more casts and couldn't get the fish -- any fish -- to bite.

I switched to my other rod with a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and was zeroing in on "slick" water behind some barely protruding rocks. After five or so casts, there was ever-so-slight resistance on the other end. Either the lure bumped a rock or it was fish. I pulled back on the rod, and the resistance stayed there as I kept reeling.

Sometimes smallmouth hit subtly, and I don't think they realize they are hooked. They swim in the direction you're reeling (sometimes this could also be a stick!).

Until they realize the trickery. In this instance, I cast upstream, got the hit, this fish got a bit downstream from me then started fighting. It swam back upstream, made a couple jumps -- and looked to be about a 12-inch smallmouth -- before freeing itself from the hook.

This same scenario happened three more times over the next 90 minutes. Hook a fish after a light bite, reel frantically until the fish suspected something was up, a couple jumps, and then the fish was gone.

FOUR TIMES I had fish on, could identify the species and roughly the size after they breeched the water, and FOUR TIMES they declared their freedom. I couldn't even oppress them for a few seconds for a picture.

Bonus content: The trouble with trebles

I'll make this a two-parter going back a couple weeks ago just so I can post a picture of an actual fish. This was from the Little Patuxent and was the only fish I caught on a Sunday morning the day after autocrossing my Camaro.

The trouble with trebles. Even with removing the trailing treble hook
on a topwater lure, releasing a tiny smallmouth bass was a challenge.

I've mentioned removing the trailing trebles on "stick" lures because smallmouth bass always seem to get part of the leading treble hooked in the corner of their mouths. 

Not this little one. All three hooks from the front treble were in its tiny mouth. I struggled for about 45 seconds trying to get the treble free -- pushing the hooks further in its mouth, but it was so small there wasn't any room. 

I dropped the fish back in the water, and let it swim for a few seconds. Pulled it back up, and the part of the treble that was in its bottom lip was free! The other two parts of the treble were in its upper lip, but they were easy to remove now.