I haven't fished in the area since Sept. 1, so I went out this morning mainly for casting practice since Karen and I are fishing on Saturday with Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions. Maybe I could catch something, too, but I didn't know what to expect because temps have dipped down into the 70s, and the rain has been infrequent for the last two months.
The river was the lowest and clearest it has been all year -- the bottom was visible in almost every section. The water wasn't crystal clear, though. With the rocks and gravel, they created shadows that made it difficult to target and track fish.
With the water level and overcast skies, I started with a Heddon Zara Puppy, and the small topwater lure produced immediate interest. Unfortunately, none of the fish could get hooked from the mix of "real" smallmouth strikes and passive sunfish slurps.
On my other rod was a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper, and I cast the swimbait in spots where the topwater lure was getting bites. And it was like casting crickets. Not crickets as in live bait, but crickets as in silence from the fish. While I saw a few sunfish following the lure, the fish weren't actually biting. Weird since the Little Dipper had been my go-to lure this year, and the topwater bite has been infrequent.
In another pool, I finally hooked a smallmouth, but for some reason, the drag on the reel was set really loose. With the drag squealing, it sounded like I had a tarpon on the line. As far as I know, there are no tarpon in Maryland.
I paused to tighten the drag, the fish seemed to sense the lack of tension, jumped, and got off the hook. Reely weird since I have drag set tight on all my reels because I'm not expecting an epic fight from a monster fish
Anyway, more of the same in this section -- the fish lurked below the surface with hits on the Zara Puppy but didn't feel the need to bite the Little Dipper.
Since the attacks on the Zara Puppy were coming after pauses, I changed the lure on the other rod from a Little Dipper to a Z-Man Finesse TRD. I figured pausing the worm on the bottom might trigger bites versus the steady swimbait retrieve.
Sure enough, the first cast with the Z-Man worm enticed a little largemouth bass to make a beeline to scoop the lure resting on the bottom. I have never caught a largemouth bigger than 11 inches in this river, and this one was no different. It was maybe 10 inches if it was lucky.
But other than that one largemouth, no other fish were interested in the bottom-bouncing Z-Man worm.
When I fished here last month, I hooked a Zara Puppy in a tree, couldn't free the lure, and had to break the fishing line. In between casts today, I started looking for the lure, and sure enough, it was still snagged in the same branch. Because of the water clarity, I saw a larger rock just below the surface and thought, "You know, maybe I could reach the lure."
I waded down, reached up, used a fishing rod to pull the branch down, and easily plucked the lure free. If you notice in the picture to the right, it doesn't have a treble hook on the back. I've been removing rear trebles on most lures because they are more of a nuisance. Almost every smallmouth bass gets the front treble hook in their lip, and the rear treble flops around (fun when trying to unhook a squirming fish) or sometimes hooks the fish on their body. Or when catching a sunfish or fallfish, they almost always bite the rear treble hook, making it a pain to remove it from their little fish mouths.
On to another spot, and again the Zara Puppy (the one I brought with me, not the one I recovered from the tree branch) had the fish breaking the surface to try and snatch the lure. Finally, a smallmouth bass persisted, going after the lure three times before getting the treble hook (barely) in the corner of its jaw.
After that fish, the bite completely dried up. I think with the shallow water and the clarity, fish were easily spooked.
Fallen leaves weren't much of an issue, but I suspect in a week or so, getting leaves snagged will be more of a problem.
 |
| Topwater river smallmouth caught on a 1960s Mitchell 300 reel. |
The river was the lowest and clearest it has been all year -- the bottom was visible in almost every section. The water wasn't crystal clear, though. With the rocks and gravel, they created shadows that made it difficult to target and track fish.
With the water level and overcast skies, I started with a Heddon Zara Puppy, and the small topwater lure produced immediate interest. Unfortunately, none of the fish could get hooked from the mix of "real" smallmouth strikes and passive sunfish slurps.
On my other rod was a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper, and I cast the swimbait in spots where the topwater lure was getting bites. And it was like casting crickets. Not crickets as in live bait, but crickets as in silence from the fish. While I saw a few sunfish following the lure, the fish weren't actually biting. Weird since the Little Dipper had been my go-to lure this year, and the topwater bite has been infrequent.
In another pool, I finally hooked a smallmouth, but for some reason, the drag on the reel was set really loose. With the drag squealing, it sounded like I had a tarpon on the line. As far as I know, there are no tarpon in Maryland.
I paused to tighten the drag, the fish seemed to sense the lack of tension, jumped, and got off the hook. Reely weird since I have drag set tight on all my reels because I'm not expecting an epic fight from a monster fish
 |
| The little largemouth bass. Sorry it looks like the fish was captured on The Grassy Knoll. |
Since the attacks on the Zara Puppy were coming after pauses, I changed the lure on the other rod from a Little Dipper to a Z-Man Finesse TRD. I figured pausing the worm on the bottom might trigger bites versus the steady swimbait retrieve.
Sure enough, the first cast with the Z-Man worm enticed a little largemouth bass to make a beeline to scoop the lure resting on the bottom. I have never caught a largemouth bigger than 11 inches in this river, and this one was no different. It was maybe 10 inches if it was lucky.
But other than that one largemouth, no other fish were interested in the bottom-bouncing Z-Man worm.
 |
| Zara Puppy snagged in a tree last month, recovered today. |
I waded down, reached up, used a fishing rod to pull the branch down, and easily plucked the lure free. If you notice in the picture to the right, it doesn't have a treble hook on the back. I've been removing rear trebles on most lures because they are more of a nuisance. Almost every smallmouth bass gets the front treble hook in their lip, and the rear treble flops around (fun when trying to unhook a squirming fish) or sometimes hooks the fish on their body. Or when catching a sunfish or fallfish, they almost always bite the rear treble hook, making it a pain to remove it from their little fish mouths.
On to another spot, and again the Zara Puppy (the one I brought with me, not the one I recovered from the tree branch) had the fish breaking the surface to try and snatch the lure. Finally, a smallmouth bass persisted, going after the lure three times before getting the treble hook (barely) in the corner of its jaw.
After that fish, the bite completely dried up. I think with the shallow water and the clarity, fish were easily spooked.
Fallen leaves weren't much of an issue, but I suspect in a week or so, getting leaves snagged will be more of a problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment