Ferris Bueller's Day Of Dinks

BFOD -- Big Fish of the Day! An 11" 
smallmouth bass!  OK, maybe it was 10.5 inches.
Or 10.  But it was HUGE!

I haven't been fishing much the last year or so because I'm trying to get my autocross Camaro running.  It actually runs and makes #Merica noises but hasn't been reliable, even failing while trying to load it on the trailer the Friday night before an autocross. Even routine maintenance on the tow vehicle has been a chore.  Work the past couple of months has been a huge grind stapled to a desk answering phones, so like Ferris Bueller, since life moves pretty fast, I took a "sick" day for fishing this Friday morning.  No phones.  No people.  No stupid cars.

FFOD: First fish of the day, a surprise
largemouth bass.  This seems to be
the ideal size on the little Maryland 
rivers -- nothing over 10 inches.

Weighing the options, I decided on the Patapsco River, which I haven't fished in [searches blog] five years.  Parking in this area on the weekend is usually sketchy, but since it was a Friday, I was hoping it wouldn't be a problem.

Sure enough, easy pickings.  And of course nobody else was fishing.  

It looked to be ideal topwater time, but the trusty Zara Puppy didn't get much attention at all today.  The other trusty lure -- Reaction Innovations Little Dipper*-- had the little smallies swing batter batter batter swing.  

The water was really clear and low.  I basically waded up the middle of the river casting to spots close to shore on both sides.  A protruding rock here, shaded area from over-hanging trees there, some fast ripples.  Fish to the left of me, fish to the right, here I am stuck in the middle.

One previous time I was in this section [searches blog, can't find a writeup], I had encounters with some meaty smallmouth, but not this time.  I landed six smallmouth bass and one largemouth, and they were all of the dink variety.  Really soft bite on the swimbait.  One smallmouth might have been 11 inches.  Maybe.  Didn't even see any big fish but a lot of small bass were cruising the water, and had three or four fish that got off before pulling them out of the water..

I'm pretty sure I haven't fished here since at least the last flood that devastated the area and since the Bloede Dam was removed, so I'm not sure if the smallmouth population is in a recovery mode or what.  The terrain seemed a lot like the Middle Patuxent River -- flat water and not many hiding areas -- so maybe it is what it is.

* Seriously, follow this link, choose whatever of the 31 flavors of swimbaits you like and fish them.

In search of the big Little Patuxent monster

Looking upriver to "The Spot."  This looks like
several sections of the river in this area, but for
some reason fish like this one more.

It's been a rough couple of years on the Little and Middle Patuxent Rivers.  I've had several trips where not only have I not caught anything, I wouldn't even get a bite.  Today was a little weird in that I caught one small sunfish but had a lot of interest and just about encountered a Little Patuxent monster.

With temps down during the week, it seemed like the dog days of summer were trying to exit.  The river was down to normal level but a bit cloudy.  Of course I felt it was ideal to try top water but instead of the usual Heddon Zara Puppy, I tied on a H.C. Baits Hub's Chub.  Why don't I link to their website?  Because the lure is no longer produced!  I have several still in their original packaging, so maybe unload them on eBay in a few years.

The Hub's Chub is similar in size to the Zara Puppy but doesn't have as much side-to-side slithering action.  It's sort of like a popper but also has a small propeller on the back. The lure doesn't churn through the water like a Whopper Plopper, though.  It seems to work best with short flicks of the rod in between pauses.

There seemed to be immediate interest in the lure but mostly what looked to be sunfish.  On the other rod, I decided on a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper.  Actually, it wasn't much of a decision -- these have become my go-to lure just about anywhere.  There are stupidly easy to use -- cast, reel in, cast again.  They have great action in the water -- kind of a wobbly motion and almost feel like a crankbait.

Anyway, went to a couple spots, had interest in both lures but mostly just soft pecks.

I moved down to The Spot.  This section has produced maybe 50 percent of the fish I've caught on the Little Patuxent.  OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it sure feels that way.  I've caught a couple 15-inch smallmouth bass here, which are huge for a trickle of water this size.

Made some long casts with the Hub's Chub with the usual nips from below the surface.  Made a short cast and when the lure was maybe 10 feet from me, a GIANT smallmouth appeared from the depths and flashed its side at the lure and disappeared.  Again, "giant" on this river is 15+ inches, and it looked like it was an easy 15 inches.  Biggest smallmouth bass I've caught on the Little Patuxent is 16 inches and ... well ... this fish was probably close.

Not a giant -- a redbreast sunfish.

I reeled in, dropped the rod and picked up the other rod with the Little Dipper swimbait and made a short cast.  Just as the lure was entering the danger zone, a tiny fish emerged from out of nowhere and thieved the swimbait!  By tiny, I mean it was maybe twice as long as the rubber lure.  And just after it hit, that big bass flashed again.  For a brief moment, I thought the bigger bass was going to gobble the little fish but that didn't happen.  The bigger fish disappeared, the little fish shook loose, and that was it.  

This encounter was almost exactly like one downriver from this spot a year ago where a big smallmouth bass emerged from the cloudy depths and attacked a Rapala floating minnow.  That fish also didn't manage to jab itself in treble hooks.

Made some more casts with both lures but the bass had decided it had enough.

Wandered down to another spot, and then another, still getting the same action from little fish but no giants in site.  Eventually a redbreast sunfish managed to actually hook itself after switching to a white Zara Puppy.

Just one fish to show for my efforts, but the encounter with a potential Little Patuxent giant still has me shaking my head.  And cussing a little bit mainly at the little fish that struck just before the bigger smallmouth bass.

Weapons of choice. Old-school Hub's Chub
and Zara Puppy with a Mitchell 300, and a Daiwa
Tatula with Reaction Innovations swimbaits.

Blame Canada

Karen with the biggest fish of the trip --
a 22-inch walleye.

Road Trip No. 3 (for me) started Aug. 6 when I flew to Missoula, Mont., and Karen met me at the airport after she started driving out a little over a week prior.  It's kind of a tradition now to schedule a fishing trip during the middle of the return stint, and this year we went back to Rainy Lake on the Minnesota-Canada border to fish with Rainy Daze Guide Service like we did two years ago.

This time, it was a little different.  Because of that virus thing, Canada had made it difficult for American anglers to cross the border (no walls, no checkpoints, just open water) to fish.  When I scheduled the trip, Canada wasn't allowing ANY boats across the border.  By the time we got to Thunderbird Lodge on the following Wednesday, we learned from a couple other guides in the restaurant that Canada had just relaxed restrictions.  Some. Maybe.  American guides needed a work permit, which meant taking a full day to drive across the border, present the proper paperwork, and if all your I's were dotted and T's were crossed, you should be OK.  But that still usually meant a full day away from the water.

A Potomac-sized smallmouth followed us!

Wednesday morning, we met up with our guide Brent Amy at the lodge.  He's a seasonal guide and had his boat docked a little ways away and could just motor over to the lodge to pick us up.  Really convenient to just roll out of bed and wander down to the dock -- like a fishing Uber guide service!

Brent kind of echoed what we heard from the other guides the previous night, but he heard from his best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with a girl who is a Canadian official at the Thunder Bay office that it was OK for American boaters to cross the Rainy Lake border.  If they weren't guiding.  Or maybe it was alright?  Brent had decided that it wasn't worth the risk because worst-case scenario, the Canadians would confiscate his boat!  Maybe if the Canadiens had done better at hockey and didn't let a U.S. team beat them in the Stanley Cup Final, the folks north of the border would be more lenient.

The forecast looked OK for Wednesday morning -- high 70s to low 80s in temps and partly cloudy.  But the wind would play a big factor.  The choppy waters proved difficult to find fish and entice the bite.  The fish were there but they didn't seem to be hungry.  We were jigging leeches off the bottom in 30-plus feet of water.

I started off hooking the first fish and got it close to the surface, but it got off.  It looked like a really nice walleye, probably more than 25 inches.  Brent I think was more excited about it and speculated throughout the day that it may have been 28 or even 30 inches.

The bite throughout the day was spotty at best.  I caught four or five early while Karen didn't get anything.  I even caught a small northern pike and a Potomac-sized smallmouth bass.

We moved around to a few spots with limited success.  Karen finally got on board with some walleye and another smallmouth bass that seemed to have followed us from home. She even caught the biggest fish of this trip -- a 22-inch walleye.

Here's where the Canada complaints come to fruition.  Even though Rainy Lake is huge, only about 25 percent of it is on the U.S. side.  The Canadian side has more islands and coves which would have made it easier to hide from the wind and choppy waters.

We decided to go to plan B and try for crappie.  While they aren't big or good fighters, they are tasty panfish.  We anchored in a small cove and used small spinners.  Brent pulled out this contraption that looked like a massive ultrasound.  He mounted it to the side of the boat and could see the fish on a computer screen.  I don't know, I couldn't see anything, but he said the fish were there.  

I caught a decent sized crappie, which would be my last fish of the day.  Karen got one, too, then we moved to another spot.  She caught two more, and Brent caught a few using minnows.

Fresh fish is fantastic.  Not what you get from
the local grocery store.

Kind of bummed at the weather putting a damper on things, but we caught a few eater-sized walleye and crappie.  And the Thunderbird Lodge was great -- good selection of beers at the restaurant bar and walleye on the menu.  The walleye "taco" was fantastic!  We also had a great view of the water from our room and the lodge had real room keys!  Not some card that you swiped and swiped and swiped and hoped it worked, a real, actual room key that we haven't seen since maybe 1998.

Not sure what to do next year.  I keep wanting to try the Columbia or Snake rivers in Washington/Oregon.  We drove through trout territory in Montana, too, and hitting an isolated river or stream would be fun, too.  That's kind of a bucket list trip, to fly fish a "River Runs Through It" trickle of water with a chance of hooking a monster trout.

View of the Thunderbird Lodge docks, grey
clouds just passed through opening up sunlight.

Summer swimbait smallies

Always take a picture of the first fish, no matter
how small it is.  The Reaction Innovations
Little Dipper was the ticket over the weekend.

It's been a rough year fishing, in fact a rough couple of years.  Quite a few times fishing trips have ended without any fish.  Last weekend when Karen and I camped on the C&O Canal along the Potomac River, I had one swipe at Heddon Zara Puppy, and that was it!  

We camped again this weekend, and I didn't have any expectations.  There was some rain during the week, but otherwise, conditions were about the same, although temperatures were a bit cooler.  Sunday morning, water temp was actually a tick higher than air temperature.

On Saturday, I waded out in a spot that I don't usually fish hoping to change some luck.  This was the same section of the river where I caught a catfish on a topwater lure a few years ago.

After a few casts, a little smallmouth clamped onto a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait with furious anger.  These swimbaits are really simple to use -- cast, retrieve steadily through the water.  With a lightweight rod, they can even feel similar to a crankbait pulsing through the water.

Over the next hour or so, the Little Dipper enticed three more smallmouth.  Actually five total counting one that broke the line, and another that shrugged the lure free after leaping from the water.  The latter was likely a 14- or 15-inch fish.  And then another dink while fishing behind our camp site.

Every smallmouth fisherman loves to catch them little brown fish on a topwater lure.  I tried enticing bites, and despite all the conditions screaming TOPWATER, I didn't get a single bite.  Zara Puppy, Rapala X-Rap, Hubs Chub ... nothing.

I must be in the front row!  Rather than crunch-crunch-crunch
along the trail in the morning and waking up campers, drove
the super stealthy Crosstrek to the other end of the campground.
At 7 a.m., you get prime parking

Sunday morning, I returned to the same spot, and caught two more smallmouth.  Nothing of size, but at least it felt like the monkey was off my back.

I ended up landing seven smallmouth, all dinks but better than nothing.

Be sure to stay tuned to the blog because in just over a month, there might be another post.  Hopefully it doesn't rain on anybody's parade.

One topwater smallmouth is better than none caught on the bottom

Hitting the water for the first time in 2021.

If the first trip of 2021 is an indication of how the rest of the year is going to be, it will be awesome!

Or it will suck.

Maybe it will be awesome?

Karen and I camped overnight along C&O Canal Trail like we've done so many times to start fishing season (she calls it camping season, but whatevs).  Rain hit the area in the middle of the week and I expected a high Potomac River.  But monitoring the gauges throughout the week, it seemed like the water level would be OK.

Arriving at the camp site, the water was a bit higher than Thanksgiving Football Weekend, but not much.  It sure seemed safe for wading.  And I would strap on my new L.L. Bean wading boots purchased in part with a Christmas gift certificate.  These are really trick -- instead of traditional laces that are tied by hand, they are tightened with a "Boa closure" system that is snugged down by twisting a knob on the boots.  Tighten down, then pull the knob to loosen.  

New shoes and a new reel!

And also purchased in part with a Christmas gift certificate and using for the first time was my new Daiwa Tatula LT spinning reel.  As it turned out, the new reel caught no fish while a Mitchell 300 reel from the 1960s caught the only fish of the day!

The river was slightly higher than Thanksgiving Football Weekend and fairly clear.  The skies were partly cloudy, temps in the mid-60s, and the water temp was around 55 degrees.  It seemed like conditions were perfect.  Except the fish didn't cooperate.

I started behind the camp site and waded upriver.  Z-Man Finesse TRD worms, Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbaits and, because the water was high enough they shouldn't get snagged, Rapala Shadow Rap jerkbaits.  These are basically my go-to lures.  After two hours of fishing, they were no-go lures.  Not even a single bite.  I made the walk of shame back to the camp site.

Kind of regrouping with the sun sinking low, it seemed like a good time to try a topwater lure.  Actually, this time of year isn't ideal for topwater fishing.  But in my opinion, there is never a bad time  to try enticing a topwater smallmouth strike. If it's the middle of summer or the dead of winter, might as well try because anything can happen.

I lumbered down the bank behind the campsite and tossed a Heddon Zara Puppy in a bullfrog pattern.  This is my go-to topwater lure.  Even though it's a smaller version of the famous Zara Spook, it fires like a bullet and is easy to work in a "walk the dog" pattern.

After a few uneventful casts, I made a cast hoping to let the current steer the lure underneath some overhanging trees protruding from the shore.

Cast.

Plop.

First smallmouth bass and first
fish of 2021 ... on a Heddon Zara
Puppy ... in March.

Five seconds later, without even twitching the Zara Puppy, a fish smashed the lure like it was The Fourth of July when The Topwater Bite is on.  Not like late March when smallmouth bass are between winter slumber and spawning mode.

There was immediate tension on the other end, and the fight was on.  The fish thrashed on the surface, and I yelled for Karen, who I could see up the bank at our campsite.  It wasn't a huge smallmouth, but it was a good size by Potomac standards.

I had a blowup a couple casts later but that was it for the rest of the night, and I got skunked the next morning.  Still, getting the first catch of the year on a topwater lure is still pretty cool, especially considering it didn't seem -- by a long shot -- conditions were ideal.

Also kind of funny, I stopped by a flea market last week and stumped across a guy selling a new Zara Puppy, unopened, exactly like the one I used, for $5 in a bundle deal with a Rebel Wee Craw.  He also had a classic Mitchell 300 reel but it was basically just usable for parts, so I passed on that.

Hot Pockets! L.L. Bean Rapid River Fishing Vest Review

L.L. Bean Rapid River Vest Pack

River smallmouth fishermen share a lot in common with their trout-loving brethren.  Wading in rivers  searching for elusive fish, we all like to have all our gear at our fingertips instead of lugging around a tackle box that's parked on shore.  

However, one thing that stands out among the differences between us (heathen smallmouth fishermen) and them (snooty fly-tying trout fishermen) is the size of our equipment.  Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm talking about fishing tackle!  Where did you think I was going with this?  Let's get back on track -- smallmouth fishermen are going to have an arsenal of larger lures -- spinnerbaits, hardbaits (crankbaits, jerkbaits and topwaters), and jigs and small plastics that dwarf the size of of usual trout flies.

A few years ago I searched the interwebs for a fishing vest like what trout fisherman had but what could accommodate larger bass lures.  I bought a fishing vest that looked "right" as advertised on the web, but after trying it a few times concluded it was not functional for smallmouth fishing -- pockets were too small and didn't hold much tackle.  Christmas time was rolling around and I searched again online for an ideal fishing vest and came across L.L. Bean's Rapid River Vest Pack -- looked to be a good size with lots of storage space.  I put it on my Christmas list and Karen got it for me!

After two years of use, it has held up really well, so I thought I'd highlight some of the features and benefits.

The front pockets are ideal for storing
plastic containers for hardbaits and spinnerbaits

First off, it has a lot of pockets, so many that when I first started using the vest, I would forget where things were.  "Oh my Z-Man worms are in this pocket ... nope ... maybe this one ... nope ... oh here they are."  Or maybe I'm just getting old.  There are two zippered pouches on either side on the front, a zippered pouch on either side of those, and above each of them, a larger zippered pocket.  On the waistband, there are two more zippered pockets.  That makes 10 storage areas just on the front of the vest.

I finally have figured out how to keep track of where everything is -- pockets on the right have jigs and soft plastics, and on the left are larger spinnerbaits and hardbaits.  Or maybe it's the other way around?

But wait, there's more!

Flipping the vest reveals inside pockets with
soft mesh ideal for bulkier items like a cell phone,
small camera or extra spools.

On each inner flap on the front is another zippered pouch with stretchy mesh material that is ideal for holding bulkier items like cell phones, cameras and extra spools. One pouch has a heavy duty "ziplock" bag for keeping those electronic items dry. I use one pocket for a stringer with a thermometer attached for checking water temperature.

We're not done yet!

Even more storage space on the
back of the vest!

On the back of the vest are three -- yes, count 'em, three -- zippered pouches.  This is ideal for storing stuff in between fishing trips.  No need to hunt around the house for sunglasses or a fishing license or pliers or whatever -- I tuck those away in a pocket after each trip.

One of the pouches is suited for a water reservoir like a Camelbak (not included), and it has an opening for the "straw" to slide through for easy access to the front of the vest.

The vest is equipped for a bladder so you can stay
hydrated.

The L.L. Bean vest is lightweight with plenty of storage for river anglers. At $149, it's great for smallmouth fishermen and maybe even trout fishermen, and it comes in any color as long as it's green.

Thanksgiving footballs

 

Greeting me at The Plateau were about 50 geese.
That immediately fled and wanted no part of Thanksgiving.

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you might have noticed there haven't been any updates since August.  I caught the Covid but it was a mild case and lasted about 8-9 days, and it was only last month.  The real reason I haven't posted anything here since then is because I HAVEN'T CAUGHT ANY F***ING FISH!  Camping a couple times on the Potomac, fishing the local rivers near my house, it didn't matter where, but I didn't have any great stories or hero pictures to share.  Nobody wants to read an obscure blog about not catching any fish.

In a year that has been weird, actually catching smallmouth bass in late November just contributes to the weirdness.  This is when them brown fish are supposed to be in hiding in mystery wintering holes.  And I was lucky to actually find fish this morning, although they weren't anywhere I thought they would be.

With the pandemic basically cancelling Thanksgiving plans, Karen and I were figuring out what to do.  We kept watching the weather forecast, and it looked like it was going to be unseasonably mild on Thanksgiving day and overnight.  So she rolled the dice and booked a spot at the Antietam Creek Campground on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.

It rained a little on Wednesday night but it wasn't a big deal -- just a little damp, and I guessed the river level wasn't going to be affected.  We loaded up the Crosstrek yesterday and headed out.

First fish of the day!

When we got to the campground, it was like an errant Evegeny Kuznetsov pass -- nobody there.  There was one tent about 10 spots down from us, but that was the only sign of human life other than hikers and bikers along the tow path.  And even then, there weren't that many people.  As we would discover, it was a welcome change from the past few camping trips with loud "neighbors" and unpleasantness during what should be a relaxing time.

After we got the tent set up, I headed to one of my favorite spots, The Plateau.  Site of one of my best fishing days on the Potomac when I caught 10 smallmouth in about three hours, including what was then my personal best on the river, a 16-inch tank.

But the last two years on The Plateau have been bleak.  Everything still looks the same as that 10-fish day, but the action has been virtually non-existent.  It didn't matter if the river was high or low, dark or clear, if the temp was high, middle or low, the fish weren't interested in fake lures to entertain an amateur smallmouth bass fisherman.  

Second fish!

Yesterday wasn't any different, despite partly cloudy skies and 50-degree water temps.  I tried a Z-Man Finesse TRD worm and a Rapala Shadow Rap, and it was an uneventful hour or so other than snagging the Shadow Rap on my first cast with it (but managed to get it free instead of donating it to the river).

Last night on the campfire, Karen and I heated up turkey legs (kind of hoping for a Thanksgiving walleye, but that wasn't meant to be) and cooked baby potatoes and gave thanks for the the silence of nobody within earshot.  Unlike Camp Groinia in October at 15-Mile Creek where the d-bags did lighter fluid shots into the fire until 3 a.m.

This morning, I was planning on fishing another spot past The Plateau but decided that with a basically empty campground, I would try the river behind other campsites.  I usually don't fish these areas because I think those spots "belong" to the campers there, and it feels like I'm intruding, even if campers aren't actually fishing or doing anything near the water.

Third fish!

The game plan was to swap the Rapala for a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper swimbait.  I was basically arming myself with my go-to lures with the Z-Man worm on one rod and the Little Dipper on the other rod to try and get something ... anything ... this morning.  It's like in football when times are tough, you give the ball to your best players.

First couple of spots, it was more of the same from yesterday -- nothing.  These looked like prime areas for smallmouth bass to roam if it was between April and September -- a lot of rocks and boulders peppering slow sections and calm pools. 

At another spot, after no interest with the Z-Man worm, I switched to the rod with the Little Dipper.  On the first cast, there was a disturbance on the other end that I haven't felt in a long time.  It was ... really?  .... could it be? ... a fish!  A feisty 12-inch smallmouth!  Took a pic, let it go, and cast near the same spot.  And another smallmouth bass, this one around the same size (I had to check the pictures later to confirm they were different fish).  Two smallmouth on back-to-back casts, the first fish I had caught in more than three months!

On to another spot, and managed to land a slightly larger smallmouth -- roughly 14 inches -- on the swimbait.  

I mentioned before that it's tough to catch smallmouth bass this time of year, but it was odder because these fish were in less than two feet of water.  I'm guessing that with the mild temps (water temp was 50-55), they stalk shallow areas as the sun comes up to warm the water.  Even though this morning was completely overcast.

Thanksgiving dinner -- turkey legs and potatoes!

Breakfast!

If you notice the red on my thumb, this
smallmouth bass actually bit me!  I felt the
fish clamping down, and it felt sharper than
the normal sandpaper-like "teeth."

Drumming up some dam walleye

Sunrise on Lewis and Clark Lake.

If you remember the post from last year, Karen and I took a road trip across the upper west/midwest/east with a stop with Rainydaze Guide Service to fish Rainy Lake along the Minnesota/Canada border.  This year, we trekked on a similar excursion -- starting in Idaho -- with a fishing trip booked with The Walleye Guys on Lewis and Clark Lake (Missouri River reservoir formed by Gavins Point Dam) on the Nebraska and South Dakota border.

Growing up, I watched just about every fishing show possible, and one of them was Tony Dean Oudoors, which seemed to target upper midwest and Canadian fisheries -- not the usual largemouth bass shows from southern U.S. states like Roland Martin, Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, etc.  This was kind of a "bucket list" fishing experience since Tony had several shows on the Missouri River reservoirs and since my parents didn't fish, I had to experience real fishing vicariously through him.

Anyway, Karen and I met up with Brian Bashore last Wednesday and hit the river.  I mean, lake.  Hopefully to get some walleye and maybe a surprise fish species.

First northern pike in 25+ years!

We started off trolling crankbaits in Brian's four-stroke (super quiet) Ranger boat.  After an hour or so, we didn't have a bite.  He decided to turn off the motor and let us drift lead jigs with nightcrawlers, and we caught plenty of fish that way, but none of them walleye.  Karen caught freshwater drum, and I caught channel catfish.  Literally, she caught the drum, and I caught the catfish. (You don't find Mr. Whiskers; Mr. Whiskers finds you!)  None of them really decent size, but the drum put up a good fight.  After awhile, it was clear the walleye didn't want any part of the jigs/nightcrawlers, so we went back to trolling crankbaits in five-plus feet of water.  

Almost immediately, a fish hit a crankbait on one of the four rods.  Brian grabbed the rod and handed it off to me -- "That's a good one!"  I started reeling, and it certainly felt like a good fish, but I didn't know how much of that was from resistance as the boat continued to motor slowly through the water.  This was also a new experience as (I found out later) I should have kept the rod tip high and reeled in at a steady speed, as opposed to catching river smallmouth where I want to keep the rod tip low (sometimes in the water) to keep the fish from jumping, and play the fish more on lighter line.

We never saw this fish.  The line broke when it was 10- to 15-feet from the boat.  Brian swore it was a nice fish, whatever it was (big walleye or decent northern pike), but he guessed it was probably some toothy creature like a pike or walleye that sliced the line.

Brian helps Karen unhook a drum.

We continued to troll doing racetrack patterns around a flat, featureless part of the lake.

We got a couple walleye (biggest 20 inches), a sauger (first ever for me) and two small northern pike (first time catching those since I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), but none of them felt like that first fish.  It was probably a catfish anyway.

We boated around 20 fish total -- not a bad day considering the heat, and the boats circling around us didn't seem to be having much luck.

For next year, I'm already looking to something else.  I like catching walleye (they are good eating -- we kept one and the sauger, which is almost identical to a walleye) but they don't fight hard.  I prefer more of the challenge of casting and reeling over live bait or trolling (we did both last year on Rainy Lake, too).  I tried finding a guide for smallmouth bass on the Snake River in Idaho, but most guides seemed to fly fish for trout plus wanted $$$$.  Maybe smallmouth on the St. Lawrence River?  Big pike or muskie somewhere up north?  Maine smallmouth?  I really, really want to fish Lake Erie, but the weather plays a big part, and a trip could be cancelled at the last minute because of unstable conditions.

The biggest walleye we caught, about 20 inches.

Three's company, too

Big fish of the day, on the last cast.  It fell for a
swimbait "dying" on the bottom of the river

I haven't fished the other Patuxent river this year, so I gave it a try this morning.  The last couple years, this branch has been tough.  There just aren't that many fish, and they are usually small cookie-cutter size.  Although I have seem some bigger smallmouth cruising while observing from banks above the water, there is still always some hope of landing a nice fish.

The weather was great -- 65 degrees and overcast to start the morning.  I tied on a Heddon Zara Puppy in a bullfrog pattern on one rod and a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper on the other since the latter enticed fish last week on one of the other Patuxent branches.

First fish of the day, a scrappy cookie-cutter smallmouth bass.

On the very first cast with the Zara Puppy, a fish went after it just after plopping into the water.  It was probably a sunfish, but still, I thought it was going to be a good day for topwaters after that, but I only had one other bite the rest of the morning.

After an hour of hitting small pockets and pools, I finally got a fish to snare a Little Dipper.  About a 10-inch smallmouth.  Two casts later in about the same spot, another smallmouth was landed, maybe slightly bigger than the first one.

Then the action dried up.  No more bites and not much activity.  Even throwing lures in a few spots that always seem to get activity, the fish were on social distancing mode.

I trudged back upriver and decided to fish the same spot where I caught the two fish from before.  This time a Rapala floating minnow was in place of the Zara Puppy, and two smallmouth bass gave chase on the first cast.  I kept peppering the area with the swimbait and the Rapala.  I could even see fish below the surface, but they didn't seem interested in fake food.

A spot that has held fish before.  This time ... nothing.

I cast the swimbait in the perfect spot and reeled in steadily.  Two fish -- one small and one bigger -- emerged from the shadows in pursuit.  The bigger one seemed more intersted but it suddenly gave up.  I killed it -- the swimbait that is -- by letting the lure hit the bottom of the river.  This last dying act triggered the fish and it took the bait -- literally -- and scooped the lure into its mouth.

The smallmouth bass jumped twice but couldn't shake the hook free.  It looked close to 12 inches.  And  I decided to call it quits after that --  better to go out on a high note than flailing lures for the next half hour or so. 

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.