A Wee smallmouth

Rebel Wee R that was slightly smaller than the
smallmouth bass it hooked today.

You would think that getting two hits within the first five minutes would lead to a stellar day of fishing.

But it wasn't.

Fished the Potomac River at the mouth of the Monocacy River, a spot that I had not fished for a few years but have had pretty good success in the past.  I started off with a River2Sea Whopper Plopper on one rod and a Rapala Shadow Rap on the other rod.  Water was fairly low but stained enough that I had to watch my footing as I waded out into the current.

On my second cast with the Whopper Plopper, a fish hit the lure as it churned across the surface.  Nothing like a topwater bite to start things off!  No more luck after a few more casts, so I switched to the Rapala jerkbait.  I think it was the third cast that a fish clamped on but did a self release after a few cranks on the spinning reel.

This was going to be good!

Remnants of wood deposited on shore after the
river had overmatched its banks.  Almost scary to 
think of the height of the water to create this logjam.

Nothing at all for the next two hours.  Moved down river and hit a few protruding logs and timber.  No bites.  Moved back upriver and cast a Rebel Wee R a few times.  You might remember this lure as it (not the exact one -- it got donated to the Potomac River a couple months later) caught the eye of the biggest smallmouth I've landed on the Little Patuxent River ... geez, four years ago.  This one is a crawfish pattern that was scored off eBay because the little crankbait is no longer in production.

It's a shallow-running squarebill crankbait, but easily goes down three-plus feet.  I could feel it ticking off the river floor.

I was about ready to call it quits when a fish slammed the lure.  But as I started reeling, it seemed like the fish had gotten off?  Kept reeling because smallmouth sometimes are tricky like that.  The fish had stayed on but it was a tiny smallmouth bass.  Like so small that if I had another the same size and put them together it wouldn't even equal a legal-sized 12-inch fish.

Kind of disappointing considering the start of the day but one fish is better than zero fish.