Six in one, half dozen in the other

Loved watching people fishing up ahead of this ripple, and they weren't catching a thing.

This is a late writeup from fishing a couple weeks ago, but as they say, better late than never!

I mainly write this stuff so I can keep track of my fishing prowess not to generate single digits of views!

Anyway, Karen and I returned to 15 Mile Creek Campground. Last time I had some luck near the boat ramp, which had not really happened before.

First fish of the weekend, and they were all this size.

My preferred spot is tough to get through either by wading or venturing through thick vegetation (usually easier early or later in the year), so I decided to try again.

Also, I was pretty sure I saw a small muskie last time, so you never know.

I caught six fish over a couple hours each day, and every fish was about the same size -- around 10 inches -- and caught on Reaction Innovations Little Dippers. I should have taken a picture of every fish to see if I tricked the same one twice, that's how alike they were.

One from Sunday morning that may or may not have been caught before.

I cast the lure out and let it drift in the current, which was rolling pretty good. It was really shallow, but the speed kept the lures from snagging -- I don't think I lost a single one.

Sunset on the Potomac.

No shutout on Super Bowl Sunday!

Smallmouth No. 2 for 2024 caught on a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm.

Karen and I went camping for her birthday this weekend, and I managed to catch one smallmouth bass -- about 12 inches. Got it this morning just behind our campsite on a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm bouncing it on the bottom.

Skies were overcast, and it in fact started to rain lightly before I caught the fish. The water temp was around 50, and the Shepardstown gauge was just under four feet.

I tried a swimbait, too, with no luck. I think I might have had a sunfish nibble, so other than that, the smallmouth bass was the only action of the day.

I fished a little last night but we got to the campground just after the sun had gone down. I can barely see anything in daylight, so I only fished for 10 to 15 minutes.

Looking back on my blog posts (other than for the tens of viewers, I write stuff so I can remember shit), the earliest smallmouth bass I've caught looks like Feb. 25 back in 2017. And this year, I've already caught two. The smallmouth action usually doesn't start until late March.

Here's a short video I captured using my Olympus Tough TG-6 while releasing the fish:

Fishing is like a box of chocolates and this weekend I found good chocolates

The Reaction Innovations Little Dippers
caught some fish, but would anything else entice
chocolate bass?

Another productive overnight stay on the Potomac River catching 10 smallmouth bass -- same tally as last time. Compared to then, the water level was a little lower and clearer. The weather hasn't reached the typical summertime heat, though, as I think we've only had a couple days near 90 and not much rain. It was about 75 degrees last night and cool temps this morning.

This time of year, it's hard for me to get a feel for how productive fishing will be. Since I'm not fishing every weekend at the same spot, it's like as Forest Gump would say, "Like a box of chocolates." Sometimes you get that fudge covered in milk chocolate. Sometimes you get that chocolate with that unidentifiable gooey mess inside that you spit up and toss in the trash.

Fortunately, I've had the good chocolates the last couple times on the Potomac River. Three weeks ago, it was catching 10 fish while camping overnight. And this weekend, it was again catching 10 chocolate-colored fish on another camping trip.

The only differences were at sundown last time, the fish weren't as active, but the next morning they heard it was fish-o'clock and went on a feeding spree. Last night as the sun getting real low, the fish were active chasing startled baitfish, but this morning there was almost zero activity. Weird how that works out.

I caught eight last night and had numerous other hits and near misses. Once again the Reaction Innovations Little Dipper was the weapon of choice. These aren't quite as lazy as tossing a bobber with a worm underneath, but they are close. Cast the rubbery lure out, real in steadily, wait for fish to bite. I also had some luck on a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm, but the bottom of the river had too many fraggly rocks, so they were getting hung up a lot.

Last fish from last night. Only about
12 inches but it punched above its weight class.
I really thought a 15- or 16-inch fish was
tugging on the other line.

With the TRD worms snagging and the sun tucking behind the West Virginia trees, I switched over to a Heddon Zara Puppy to pair with Little Dippers ("Dippers" is plural because I used many after they got battered easily) on my other rod. The Zara Puppy is more of a finesse topwater lure -- it has to be worked jerking the rod so the cigar-shaped lure does the "walk the dog" motion like its famous relative the Zara Spook. My technique is to jerk it a few times and pause. Jerk-jerk-jerk, pause. The pause seems to prod smallmouth bass to strike.

The fish were hugging really shallow water -- most were found wading further out in the river flinging lures toward shore. 

At one point, I saw baitfish breaching the surface fleeing from something. I made some casts with a swimbait and Zara Puppy and had some attacks but nothing hooked on. After things calmed down, I waded over to that area and was standing in ankle-deep water.

Two smallmouth snapped on the Zara Puppy had no business trying to eat something that size. Both fish might have measured six inches. I guess my expert presentation enticed them to bite more than they could chew -- ha ha!

Seriously, dude, what are you doing?

This morning, I didn't see as much activity from baitfish as last night, even though my "fish watch" indicated it was time for fish. 

I kept scanning in all directions looking for surface activity, but baitfish and other surface disturbances were virtually non existent. I managed to catch one 10-inchish smallmouth, and after breakfast fished behind the campground. Instead of the Zara Puppy, I switched to another topwater lure, a River2Sea Whopper Plopper. It has zero finesse compared to the Zara Puppy. It's bigger and louder with a rotating tail that bubbles and churns the surface. The Whopper Plopper hits the surface and chugs through the water like that obnoxious friend you really didn't want to invite to your quiet Sunday brunch party.

One smallmouth was enticed by the Whopper Plopper's ruckus but it didn't hit with an explosive strike. The fish barely slurped the lure, and if I wasn't watching, I might have thought the lure bumped a stick or a rock and missed setting the hook. It was like the fish was trying to steal something it shouldn't have. But I could tell it wasn't a dink. I got the fish within lipping range, and it was the biggest of the weekend -- about 14 inches.

The "big fish" from the weekend, about
14 inches. Notice the Whopper Plopper
doesn't have OEM treble hooks.

Whopper Ploppers are equipped with treble hooks out of the box, but if you'll notice in the picture, I've replaced them with single hooks. The OEM treble hooks are big and are a pain when trying to fish them out of small mouths (see what I did there). This was really my first experiment seeing if it would actually work, and that fish didn't shake the hook.

I've even removed the trailing trebles on a lot of my stick lures. The front hook is almost always in a corner jaw while the trailing treble flails around. More likely to get caught in a finger or the fish's eye.

Usually a finger.

Some bonus coverage, releasing the 14-inch smallmouth.

Miscellaneous pics:

Swooped into a neighboring campsite
this morning ... hawk or juvenile bald eagle?

Botched attempt to video releasing a smallmouth
bass, but you can see it toward the center-right.

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As always don't forget to read how I chronicle my misadventures autocrossing my 1982 LS-swapped Chevy Camaro.