A whole lotta action but not much catchin' (no pictures so dial-up safe)

Hit the usual local river this morning.  After some thunderstorms during the week, the river was down to normal levels but a bit murky.

This is about prime time for topwater, and I rigged up a the familiar Heddon Zara Puppy, and on the other rod, a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait.

The fish didn't seem interested in either offering initially, but then I started getting bites on the swimbait and some attacks on the Zara Puppy.  Finally after an hour, a smallmouth came out from nowhere and hit the swimbait about 10 feet in front of me.  It thrashed around and did an SDR (short-distance release) before I could get it out of the water.  It looked to be at least 12 inches, likely more.

In another spot a half hour or so later, a redbreast sunfish decided it was brunch time and snagged a Hubs Chub* that was chugging across the surface.  I contemplated keeping the fish because it was hand size, but it wriggled free when I was trying to take a picture.

On to another spot, and a smallmouth torpedoed the swimbait after a few casts.  It was a bit smaller than the first smallmouth, but it also did an SDR before I could take a picture and make it internet famous, and that was that.

I meandered down the river and tossed lures into a few spots without much interest from the fish.  At the turnaround point, I decided to switch things up with my mystery spinnerbait that I still have after almost three years.  After a few casts with nothing pursuing the little spinner, I tied on a classic Rapala floating minnow on my other rod.

The ol' Rapala is a pretty versatile lure.  On the first cast when I started reeling after it hit the water, I thought to myself, "Should I use it as a jerkbait?  Maybe just a steady retrieve?  It could be worked as as a topwater HOLY SHIT THAT'S A BIG FISH!"

An enormous smallmouth (by this river's standards -- at least 15 inches, maybe bigger) emerged from the stained depths and pounced on the Rapala.  I felt the tug on the other end and set the hook.  The fish pulled back briefly ... that was it.  This time an LDR (long-distance release) and freed itself from two treble hooks.

I didn't get any other bites after that, although there were some follows, but it was like a switch had turned off.

It was kind of like the Potomac last week -- it would have felt like a better trip if I actually landed every fish I hooked.

* Donated the Zara Puppy to a river tree so had to switch.  Also, no link to Hubs Chubs because they were discontinued earlier this year.

White men can't jump, and neither can walleye

Woody the Walleye can't jump.

Despite only catching two fish on the Upper Potomac this weekend, the fishing on the river might be better than last year?  I think.  We'll see.  The weather certainly has been less unpredictable with average rains and no sudden surges to the river level, unlike last year.

With that in mind, and me struggling to maintain focus on the LS swap in my 1982 Camaro (Fish?  Work on the car?  Fish?  Oh I can't fish for fun because of a pandemic.), the camping restrictions were lifted in Maryland, and Karen was back to her old SCCA Pro Solo self hitting F5 to reserve a spot on the C&O Canal Trail.

We got to our reserved spot yesterday around 3 p.m., and par for the course, found some squatters on our campsite.  They weren't around but had left their stuff on the site's picnic table.  Mmmmm, potato salad from Trader Joes that has been sun roasted while sitting on the picnic table for who knows how long ... I'm sure that will be great!

After unloading the car, Karen set up camp while I went fishing.  I hiked up to The Plateau, and wading into the water, the river looked murky -- visibility only a couple of feet -- and wasn't down yet to typical summer flow levels.  I made some casts with a Bio Bait DNA swimbait and had two hookups in the same spot.  Each fish jumped and shook the lure.  Both were smallmouth bass, maybe the same fish? They bit in the exact same spot.  It's rare for me to get a smallmouth on the line, get loose and have it hit again.

I tried a spinnerbait on my other rod but after some uneventful casts decided to switch lures to a Rebel Wee R shallow running crankbait.  The same lure I caught my biggest fish ever and my biggest smallmouth from the Little Patuxent River.  My spinning reel had a loop in the fishing line on the spool, and I basically cast the little crankbait out  to get the line straight.  But something tugged on the other end while reeling in.  I set the hook and -- thinking I had hooked another smallmouth, tried playing the fish to keep it from breaching and freeing itself like the previous two fish.

A tiny mushroom ... or a large maple seed.  Just behind our campsite.

The fish didn't jump, and as it got closer I saw why.  It was a walleye.  They are like Woody Harrelson from that 1990s movie -- they can't jump.

It was also far from legal size, so off it went to get bigger.  Good luck on learning how to jump.

After all that in 30 minutes or so, there was zero fish activity after that.  Nothing until I watched a smallmouth bass clamp down on a Bio Bait swimbait right in front of me and immediately spit it out.

Back at the campsite -- the same area where I first tried the Z-Man TRD finesse worm a few years ago -- another smallmouth hit the Bio Bait swimbait, jumped, and shook the lure.  After some casts, I moved a little upriver, then shuffled back down, and another smallmouth clamped on at the same spot as the earlier hookup.  It jumped and looked like the same fish!  Maybe 14 inches, a Potomac lunker for sure.  After the second jump, the line snapped.  That made it three smallmouth unhooking themselves, one spitting the lure out immediately, and one fish getting away because the fishing line snapped.  But there was that one Woody Walleye that couldn't jump.

Nothing after that, and I even tried after the sun dipped below the trees.

In the morning, the tweeting birds woke me up, and I fished behind the campsite again.

Nothing.

Hiking down to mile marker 69, this spot always has looked fishy.  It always does.  One of those things where it should be a prime spot, and it never is.  A fish or two here and there but no where close to prime fish real estate.

Three pictures of the natural dam, and damn if it would
only attract some fish.

Fast water into slack water, seemingly with multiple ambush points.   Several pools and eddies which look like spots where no smallmouth bass river fisherman should pass up.

This morning, more of the same.  Not one bite.

Finally, a smallmouth bass.

Back at the campsite, Karen and I heated maple sausage and scrambled eggs.  Afterwards, I decided to test out my patience with a baitcaster and a spinnerbait behind the campsite.  Not my favorite combination because I'm still trying to get the hang of baitcasting reels, and spinnerbaits don't seem to produce much for me.

So some casts.  Nothing.

A bird's nest, sorted out and some more casts.

Nothing.

OK, one more cast.

And a fish hit!  If I didn't see and land the fish, I would have sworn it was at least 14 inches, that's how much of a tug it was.  But it was maybe 11 inches, if that.  

That made it two fish for the weekend.  Looking back on my fishing log (not blog, an actual log I have been keeping the last few years), I made four trips to the Potomac at this point last year and only caught one smallmouth.  Now it's one trip with a smallmouth and a walleye.  Maybe it will better this time around.

While the fish didn't cooperate much this weekend, we saw lots of birds tweeting around our campsite.  Bluebirds, yellow finches, among others we don't usually see at the backyard bird feeder.

Smallmouth social distancing: Nobody hates rainbows

Double smallmouth, what's it mean?

Because of some virus thing, my birthday fishing trip on the Susquehanna River last month was pushed back.  Karen booked a trip with Jason Shay of Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions, and the recreational fishing restrictions were lifted in Pennsylvania last week, and we hit the river yesterday.

Jason texted me teaser pics of fish he and his client had caught the day before.  Apparently, the smallmouth were hammering jerkbaits, and he said they "put on a show."

Unfortunately, the fish went on social distancing mode for us.  Karen and I got to the boat ramp and hopped right in Jason's AlumaRyder boat right away.  We jetted up to the same spot Jason was at yesterday, and there was another boat anchored in the area but not fishing the exact spot we wanted.  We started casting Lucky Craft Pointer jerkbaits and waited for the show to start.

And waited.

And waited.

Surprise rainbow!

Jason got the first fish, and I got one a little while later.  Then another boat showed up and basically parked right at the spot where we were casting.  It reminded me of "Dicks in a Lund," a phrase my friend and I used fishing in Minnesota when I was 15 or so.  We were using the campground's low-dollar rental boats, just a couple kids trying to catch some fish, and Dicks in a Lund would motor through like they were The Walleye Kings of the World.  These Smallmouth Kings of the Susquehanna didn't seem to mind us all but bouncing our lures off the side of their boat.  Even when Pete Holmes*, one of Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions other guides, parked down river from us.

*Pete also has an AlumaRyder boat nearly identical to Jason's, but his is longer.

A little while later, I had a good hit on the Pointer jerkbait.  Started reeling as Jason went for the net.  I got the fish next to the boat and could tell it wasn't a smallmouth.  Just before netting the fish, it took us a second to realize what kind of fish was at the other end of the line.  And then when the fish was hoisted from the water, the silver and pink sparkled in the sunlight -- a rainbow trout, about 14 inches long.

That goes up there with the flathead catfish and northern map turtle as odd catches.  No walleyes, no muskies, not even sunfish.  Just smallmouth bass and something uncommon.

We weren't getting much action after that, and even more boats showed up or coasted through the area to hit Sherman's Creek. What works in one area one day sometimes doesn't work the very next day, and that's why they call it fishing and not catching. So we decided to move and hit some other spots.

Karen with a fish she called
Stripey McStripeface.

Alternating between spinnerbaits and River2Sea Whopper Ploppers, action was scarce.  Karen had a big topwater blowup on a Whopper Plopper, and I had a fish lunge at a spinnerbait just as I pulled the lure out of the water.  Both fish were easily 22 inches.  Easily.

Maybe.

I think I caught one smallmouth on the spinnerbait, and Jason had a couple more.  Otherwise, we would get to a "fishy" spot that had promise and not get anything.  Several places looked familiar where we caught fish in the past.

Jason got a text later that Pete and his clients had found some fish near where we started, so we headed there.  This area was packed!  At one point, I counted 14 other boats within sight.

It was a complete change of pace from before, though.  Instead of casting and reeling spinnerbaits and hardbaits, we were using Z-Man finesse lures and just dragging them slowly on the bottom.  The theory was that the bass would get angry at something sliding through their beds.  

Karen caught four or five fish and I caught two with three coming off right at the boat.  We even had a double! A couple of the fish had awesome patterns like iconic smallmouth pictures and paintings. The bite was very subtle, almost like the fish were picking the lures up just to move them.

We booked another trip for July, and hopefully with social distancing restrictions lessening in Maryland, Karen and I can go camping along the Potomac River and catch Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia smallmouth.

Our Subaru at the Fort Hunter boat ramp with a much more
common orange Crosstrek.

Sunrise on the Susquehanna and a hint of rain --
excellent formula for a rainbow.

Boat traffic -- there are at least six in this picture.

Karen's first fish of the day.

My first smallmouth of the day.

Fishing for necessity so now Mr. Whiskers is in deep trouble

Jerkbait comparison -- Yo-Zuri 3DB (top) vs Lucky Craft Pointer.
Which is best at putting fish to table?  Read below.

Because of this Covid-19 thing, the Maryland DNR has ruled with an iron fist that there is to be no recreational hunting, fishing or boating.  If you participate in any of those activities, you must be doing so because you want to put food on your table.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." -- Jesus H. Christ

It's OK to gather in masses to walk, run and bike and other essential activities on trails next to a river, but if you're fishing by yourself with nobody in sight along that same river, you better be fishing for food.

So that's what I did today.  Showed up at 7:30 a.m. before anybody reported for essential activities like biking and jogging and walking.  I picked out the best corner-parking space to suit up with a quickness and hit the river.

I've caught plenty of smallmouth bass on this river but I've also hooked catfish, trout and sunfish.  Those would certainly be tasty -- I've wanted to slap a catfish on the smoker for awhile.  Gut it, fill its innards with spices, onions, peppers, etc., and roll coal!

My dilemma is that I don't know how to fish for catfish.  From what I've read on the internet, chicken livers are great for enticing them.  But in these dire times, it doesn't make sense to use food to catch food.  Considering I have an arsenal of lures that have caught catfish (and trout and panfish) in the past, why not use those.

Where all the catfish hang out.  Or maybe not.

Where do catfish hang out?  On a recent fishing show, the presenters sought out logs and other river debris where the catfish parked waiting for chicken livers and other baitfish.  I found an ideal spot this morning where a downed tree created a dam that looked like a good spot for Mr. Whiskers (or maybe trout and sunfish that taste good and are by no means recreational to catch).

Catfish are bottom feeders, and with that in mind, I started off with a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm in chicken liver brown.  I made a few casts, snagged the lure, changed to another Z-man worm that was a purplish chicken liver brown.  Mr. Whiskers was being deceptively clever.

Soon it became apparent Mr. Whiskers (and delicious sunfish and trout) were not going to cooperate in this area with my quest to put un-recreational food on the table, so I moved to another spot.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Some fish nudged the lures (literally watched a fish do this that I didn't feel through the rod) and had a few bites.

Dang illegal (sub 12 inches) bit a Z-man worm.

I switched lures and tried just about everything but a topwater (even though Mr. Whiskers does in fact enjoy smashing topwater lures on occasion), but the fish must have caught on to the social distancing.

(Side note:  I should learn from my friends Kirk and Adam how to use a bow to hunt essential deer.  I saw two does this morning that stood there ripe for the pickings.)

(Side note 2: Also, ducks.)

(Side note 3: Also, geese.)

Eventually after a few hours, I meandered back upriver to a spot, tossed a Z-man worm in a greenish chicken liver color and a fish hit!!  Oh man, dinner for tonight!  Fire up the smoker!!

Unfortunately, it was just a smallmouth bass that wasn't even legal to keep.  It was my first fish of the year, though.

This is the same picture from the top of the page.  My DINFOS
training tells me to "break up the text" to make it more readable.
And here we are.  Yo-Zuri on top, Pointer on bottom.

The day was kind of productive in that I can write about Part 2 of my 10-part installment on jerkbaits.   You might remember last time about the Bomber Long A.  Today I packed a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 in a chicken-liver-flavored minnow pattern, and a Yo-Zuri 3DB with perch coloring and a hint of chicken liver.

The Pointer 78 runs shallow and has a slow rise. The action is good and not erratic --- it's close to a Rapala Shadow Rap, but is slightly shorter and has a more rounded body.  One of those lures to keep along with the Rapala -- sometimes it will work better, or the other one will tempt the fish.

Next was the Yo-Zuri.  It is similar in size to the Rapala Shadow Rap but has a fancy mylar tinsel tail on the rear treble hook.  It runs deeper than the Pointer 78 and suspends wherever it ends up in the water column.  The lure immediately went down and just stayed there. It could almost be worked like a jig -- especially in this shallow river -- scraping the bottom while not floating toward the surface.

Casting practice

Jerkbait comparison: Bomber Long A vs. Rapala Shadow Rap.

I social distanced myself away to fish a river for smallmouth bass for the first time this year.  Surprisingly in my "secret spot," I encountered a guy walking his dog.  I've seen maybe two or three people ever here, and this one time where everybody should be hunkering down in their houses, somebody is out and about.

After almost 80 degrees on Friday, the weather had cooled off a bunch, which I was afraid might affect the bite.  Water was fairly clear and 50 degrees and skies were mostly sunny.

I started off with a Bomber Long A jerkbait (see below) and a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm and didn't have any bites or follows.  I snagged a couple worms on the bottom and switched to a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper figuring it would be easier to control it, i.e., not snagging it.  Still nothing, so I moved to another section.

After a few casts, I felt a hit on the Little Dipper, set the hook and started reeling.  The fish jumped -- a smallmouth, maybe 10 inches -- but got off a few feet before I could land it.  But an almost-fish on the first fishing expedition of the year is still better than nothing.

After awhile, I switched to a Rapala Shadow Rap.  No bites on that, but a smallmouth did follow the lure back.

I called it quits after around two hours.  It was one of those things where it felt like the fish were almost ready to cooperate before a spring smallmouth frenzy if water temps would only climb a few degrees.

I've mentioned a few times about buying a bunch of jerkbaits in ... jeez, 2018 ... and comparing the different lures.  Today I packed a Bomber Long A, and first impressions were ... I wasn't impressed.  I like jerkbaits that suspend in place on the pause, but the Bomber rose to the surface too fast.  To me the standard on jerkbaits is the Rapala Shadow Rap, and it's not just because I caught my biggest smallmouth on one.  Using the standard jerk-jerk-pause and count to five, and the Rapala barely rises up.

Maybe next weekend will require more social distancing.  Also in two weeks, Karen and I are going to fish with Jason Shay of Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions.  Pennsylvania says hunting and fishing is "essential" during these times for providing food, so the fishing trip won't ge canceled.

2019 is thankfully over (year in review)

Google Overlord Big Brother was kind enough
to track the fishing trip in August on Rainy Lake.

Last year was tough for fishing.  For whatever reason, the smallmouth bite on the Potomac and Susquehanna was pretty bleak.  I simply stopped fishing the Potomac.

However on the Little Patuxent, it was business as usual -- typical average of about one fish an hour after the weather warmed up.  I keep meaning to try winter fishing but usually chicken out.  Late winter or early fall trips have never been conducive for catching smallmouth.  And then trout stocking starts, so there are suddenly people fishing when I usually have water all to myself.

The good thing about poor fishing is that I didn't run out of fishing lures.  I'm still well stocked on Z-Man worms and Reaction Innovations swimbaits.  And one of these days I may do a review of the handful of different jerkbaits I've acquired.

2020 marked my first ever trip to Canada during our Wyoming-to-Maryland road trip.  Even though I spent four years stationed at K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in da Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I had never been to Canada.  Karen and I fished on Rainy Lake with Rainydaze Guide Service and caught a few smallmouth bass and walleye.  We never actually set foot in Canada, just fished across the border after launching from Minnesota.

Google (AKA, Big Brother) e-mailed me a "Google Maps Timeline" for my activity a week ago covering my activity in 2020.  Kind of cool and creepy at the same time.  The map above shows the fishing trip on Rainy Lake.  I didn't realize at the time we had ventured that far north!

I actually keep a log in Excel, and last year I caught 66 smallmouth bass, 10 failfish, six walleye, six largemouth bass, five sunfish and two trout.  In past years, I've landed 100+ smallmouth.

Hopefully, smallmouth fishing is better this year on the Potomac and Susquehanna.  I've seen some information here and there of people already catching smallmouth on the Potomac even though winter is supposed to be tough going. 

Karen already booked my "birthday trip" with Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions on April 11.  I'm also trying to figure out what to do for our "road trip" this year.  Smallmouth fishing in Oregon? Washington state? Idaho?  All three?  Stay tuned!

Shoot some guns, rob some banks, catch smallmouth bass

My first smallmouth bass from Red Dead Redemption 2.

And now for something completely different, I'm going to talk about video games.  Well, just one -- Red Dead Redemption 2.  Yes it was released last year, but I just got it, so it's new to me.

Having played Red Dead Redemption, I was anxious to try out the sequel (actually, RDR2 is a prequel, but better than the Star Wars prequels).  But at the time it came out last year, my Xbox went Tango-Uniform, and I didn't have the motivation/funds to waste money on a new console.  Over the last year, I casually looked for deals but didn't find anything to my liking.  Finally a pre-Black Friday online deal popped up from a box store, and I splurged for a pre-Christmas present.

This time, I went for a PlayStation 4 because ... I don't know.  It was $50 more expensive than an Xbox that was on sale.  Maybe just for a change from the Xbox, even though I had a PS1 and PS2 in the past.

The console came bundled with three other games, but I wanted to play RDR2, so I bought that, too.  It has been an amazing game so far.  A nice upgrade from the "original" Red Dead Redemption (which was a follow-up to Red Dead Revolver, which I never played).  The visuals are stunning and the missions have some variety (such as a balloon chase involving shooting a rival gang on horseback as they chase one of your gang members).

So what does a shoot-em-up game that's basically Grand Theft Auto in the old west have to do with fishing?  Because one of the activities in the open-world format is fishing!  And, yes, there are smallmouth bass, as you can see by my screenshot from above.

Lurking in the waters throughout the game are also muskies, northern pike, largemouth bass, trout, gar and sturgeon among others.  Even Mr. Whiskers makes an appearance.  Fish from shore of a lake or river, or grab a boat or canoe.  There are also Legendary Fish to be discovered throughout the waters.

After completing the mission "A Fisher of Men," fishing is unlocked in the game.  A fishing rod is part of your carried items, and you can select to use it after reaching the shore of a lake or river. Rig it up with bait or lures, which can be purchased in a bait shop or general stores (the latter have limited selections), and cast.  Reel in slowly, let the bait or lure sit, or twitch the rod to attract fish.

If you catch a fish, you have the option to harvest it for food (cook it on a campfire or bring it back to camp for your crew) or throw it back.  I've thrown back every smallmouth bass so far, just like in reel life.

YouTube screengrab of the Legendary Smallmouth Bass
from a user's walk-through of catching all the legendary fish.

It's extremely easy to actually entice a fish to grab your lure or bait.  The hints on bait selections -- cheese, corn, bread, worms, crickets -- say they are specific for certain types of fish.  Also, there are two lures -- either lake or river.  But it seems as if the fish bite on almost anything.  I caught a muskie with a cricket!  There are special lures just for the "legendary" fish, but other than that, it seems as if a fish clamps on the other end on about 90 percent of casts.

The most difficult thing is actually reeling the fish in.  You have to rotate the "R" circle joystick, and it's really slow.  Then the fish fights, and you have to stop reeling or the line will break.  The bluegills and perch are pretty easy, but as the fish get bigger, so does the length of the fight.

Anyway, it's an interesting diversion for the winter months.  I'm just at the beginning of the last chapter missions, so it will be fun to explore some more when the main story is complete.  I haven't tried playing online, so I don't know how fishing plays out there.  Maybe there are fishing tournaments to compete against online players?

Maryland DNR stocks 2,000 juvenile smallmouth bass in Upper Potomac

Maryland DNR stocked 2,000 juvenile smallmouth bass
on the Upper Potomac on Oct. 25. (Maryland DNR photo)

Good news for the Upper Potomac smallmouth bass fishery.  The Maryland DNR released 2,000 juvenile (four- to five-inch) smallmouth on Oct. 25.

"Staff were able to transport the fish back to Maryland and stock them at points along the river from Brunswick upstream to Dam 4.  These sections of the river have experienced low smallmouth bass recruitment due to high spring flows for the past several years."

The fish were brought in from an out-of-state hatchery, which I'm guessing is an answer to a failed attempt earlier this year to get actual Potomac smallmouth to spawn "in-house" (scroll down on that link to the May 20 entry).  Smallmouth bass were originally introduced to the Potomac in the 1800s after being shipped by train from the Ohio River basin, so why not go old-school with non-native fish in an attempt to boost the population?

It will be interesting to see how this impacts fishing in the future.  I've been filling out the Potomac Bass Survey after every trip, so I'm sure they've been gathering data from that survey and other areas to realize catch rates have been low in regard to smallmouth fishing on the Potomac.

Where have all the smallmouth gone?



A fightin' Susquehanna smallmouth.

It has been a rough year on the Potomac River as well as the Susquehanna.  I've mentioned it before recapping trips on the Potomac, where I have caught two fish all year.  On the Susquehanna, fishing has been a little better, but I know from reports on a smallmouth fishing forum, others have been struggling.

I'm still relatively new to river smallmouth fishing, so I can only guess as to what has been causing the poor fishing.  Rain for most of the ideal fishing months LAST YEAR caused major changes.  At least that's my best guess.  Fish moved to spots they aren't usually found in or they're just not biting.  I can't believe they just vanished.

On Monday, a study was released on the assessment of smallmouth bass in the area -- the Susquehanna, Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. 

"Anglers, fishing guides and fisheries biologists all have noticed a precipitous decline in the number of smallmouth bass inhabiting our Mid-Atlantic rivers over the past few years. Where have these fish gone and is this just a naturally occurring cycle or an indication that something is amiss in the water itself?"

Further assessment from the report, poor spawning rates and unstable weather are among the factors over the last several years to have impacted smallmouth bass numbers.  One exceptional spawn occurred in 2014, but other than that, it has been fairly bleak.


Although it wasn't a heavy rain, river level went up more
than a 1-1/2 feet but was down to normal in about 24 hours
a few days ago on a smaller Maryland river.

That being said, I haven't had any dropoff on the other "P" rivers in Maryland. I've still caught fish at similar rates from previous years (an average of about one smallmouth bass per hour). While rains certainly affect these waters, they don't have sustained weeks-long high-water periods.  River levels are usually back to normal or close to it after two or three days.

Last month, Karen and I had a trip booked with Jason Shay of Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions.  The day before, Jason texted me asking if we wanted to reschedule since the guided trip he had that day was going really slow.  Only a couple fish by 11 a.m.  Since the weather was also going to be sunny and hot, we decided to push it back a month.

Which leads up to last Saturday (Oct. 12) and the re-booked trip with Jason.  We launched from the Fort Hunter ramp with cloudy skies.  The forecast called for the sun to break through later on, but it didn't really happen.



Jason untangles one of Karen's fish from the net.

After motoring away from the ramp, we weren't getting much early on until we noticed fish activity around a grassy island.  The water was really shallow on the edges, and you could sometimes see dorsal fins knifing through the water with baitfish jumping out of the water ahead of the bigger fish.  Jason took the boat over and told us to cast if we saw feeding fish.  Usually, the fish were just out of casting range (go figure), and by the time we got in position, activity had died off.  If one of us happened to plop a lure in the right spot at the right time, a fish hit.

Karen and Jason were using Whopper Ploppers, and I had a Rapala X-Rap Prop.  The latter a little longer but skinnier, and it had a propeller on either end. Despite having two props, it doesn't churn across the water like a Whopper Plopper. I caught one fish, and they each caught a couple at least.  But both lures had equal interest with some missed hookups.



My first fish of the day on the Rapala X-Rap Prop.

We basically did three or four loops around the grassy knoll chasing fish that were chasing baitfish.  The fish usually stopped feeding as soon as the boat was positioned within casting distance, but everybody caught fish and had several hookups and topwater attacks.

We moved upriver and didn't have much luck, then moved back down to the grassy knoll, and didn't have any luck at all.  It was like the fish checked out.

We moved upriver just past the Juniata confluence and floated down tossing spinnerbaits at underwater ledges and rock formations.  This seemed to entice the most interest from the smallmouth.  I caught two fish and lost three that were hooked up.  One of them, I did all the right things keeping the rod low to try and prevent the fish from jumping.  About 10 feet from the boat, its nose protruded from the water, and the spinnerbait came flying loose.

We called it quits at about 1 p.m.

I might fish some of the little Maryland rivers before winter comes in.  The latest fishing report from the Maryland DNR says walleye are starting to bite in the Upper Potomac, so maybe there's that.  As far as smallmouth fishing on the Potomac and Susquehanna, like Nebraska Cornhusker football, it may be better luck next year.

Topwater frenzy



Topwater river smallmouth caught on a 1960s
Mitchell 300 reel.

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

The little largemouth bass.  Sorry it looks like the
fish was captured on The Grassy Knoll.

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.

Zara Puppy snagged in a tree last month, recovered today.

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.