Mr. Whiskers returns and you will never guess what happened to him

"oh hai! my name iz mr wiskers!"

Sitting by the campfire on Saturday night at along Potomac River, Karen said, "You haven't caught a catfish in awhile."

Pondering that for a bit, I couldn't remember the last time Mr. Whiskers found me. Probably our 2020 road trip where we fished Lewis and Clark Lake (Missouri River) on the Nebraska-South Dakota border. (I don't write this blog for its tens of views -- I write it so I can "remember" stuff like this.)

This is foreshadowing.

Sunday morning, waking bright and early, ambling down from our campsite to wade in the Potomac River, before I even stepped foot in the water, I spotted a wee catfish cruising around a rock.

More foreshadowing.

After about 45 minutes casting a Cabela's swimbait and a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, I didn't have a bite. But my persistence rewarded me with a hard strike after firing the swimbait toward a dark formation of submerged rocks in the middle of the river. This was an actual smallmouth bass that looked to be around 12 inches.

Smallmouth bass clearing the area before Mr. Whiskers showed up.

With only one other bite the entire time, I glanced at the fish watch and saw it had been almost two hours since dipping my toes in the river. Figuring maybe only another five or 10 minutes before heading back to the campsite, I made a few more casts. Again making long casts with the swimbait near the middle of the river, something grabbed on. The fish wallowed on the surface, and I could see that distinctive dorsal fin -- catfish.

It was a good "eatin' size" so I decided to do just that -- keep it for fileting! Catfish is among my favorite freshwater fish to eat. Walleye > perch > catfish. Although I haven't had crappie or sunfish for a long, long time.

This was also in the general area where a catfish stole a Whopper Plopper a few years ago. Who needs chicken livers when you can use swimbaits and topwater lures?!

That catfish and the smallmouth weren't the only fish I caught over the weekend. 

After arriving at the campsite on Saturday, I went upriver and caught a 12-inch smallmouth on the same flavor of Cabela's swimbait that would land Mr. Whiskers and another 12-inch smallmouth the next day. However, a smallmouth that was around 16 inches missed a picture-taking opportunity when the line snapped just as I was about ready to "lip" the fish. The fish put up a good tussle and had briefly burrowed into the rocky bottom, and the line frayed at the knot. "Snap!" and the fish was gone.

First fish of the weekend, a 12-inch smallmouth bass.

I also had a few more misses Saturday, but those fish merely unhooked themselves.

The Whopper Plopper yielded a couple blowups (which I think was the same fish) Saturday at dusk. My gut told me topwaters would be killing it since the river was so low and clear, but the fish thought otherwise.

Next up is our annual roadtrip with a date set again with RainyDaze Guide Service on Rainy Lake bordering Minnesota and Canada. We fished with them first in 2019 and then again in 2021. They have been posting pictures on their Facebook page of beast walleye and northern pike, so hopefully there are some left when we get there!

Bonus content:

Nah, you guys can have that spot.

Mr. Whiskers was rewarded as dinner.

Sunrise on the Potomac.

Smallmouth bass free their oppressor (me) on the 4th of July

Sunrise on the Potomac River.

The Potomac River smallmouth bass declared their freedom today in the pursuit of life, liberty and crayfish!

Or something like that. 

Karen and I camped overnight at 15 Mile Creek Campground on the historic C&O Canal, and I hit the river around 6:15 a.m. this morning hoping to escape the oppressive humidity.

The sun was still trying to peak over the hills, and clouds would keep it mostly at bay for awhile.

First cast with a Heddon Super Spook (the middle brother between the Zara Puppy and Zara Spook) was greeted with a typical topwater blowup! That left the lure floating on the surface. I tried a couple more casts and couldn't get the fish -- any fish -- to bite.

I switched to my other rod with a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and was zeroing in on "slick" water behind some barely protruding rocks. After five or so casts, there was ever-so-slight resistance on the other end. Either the lure bumped a rock or it was fish. I pulled back on the rod, and the resistance stayed there as I kept reeling.

Sometimes smallmouth hit subtly, and I don't think they realize they are hooked. They swim in the direction you're reeling (sometimes this could also be a stick!).

Until they realize the trickery. In this instance, I cast upstream, got the hit, this fish got a bit downstream from me then started fighting. It swam back upstream, made a couple jumps -- and looked to be about a 12-inch smallmouth -- before freeing itself from the hook.

This same scenario happened three more times over the next 90 minutes. Hook a fish after a light bite, reel frantically until the fish suspected something was up, a couple jumps, and then the fish was gone.

FOUR TIMES I had fish on, could identify the species and roughly the size after they breeched the water, and FOUR TIMES they declared their freedom. I couldn't even oppress them for a few seconds for a picture.

Bonus content: The trouble with trebles

I'll make this a two-parter going back a couple weeks ago just so I can post a picture of an actual fish. This was from the Little Patuxent and was the only fish I caught on a Sunday morning the day after autocrossing my Camaro.

The trouble with trebles. Even with removing the trailing treble hook
on a topwater lure, releasing a tiny smallmouth bass was a challenge.

I've mentioned removing the trailing trebles on "stick" lures because smallmouth bass always seem to get part of the leading treble hooked in the corner of their mouths. 

Not this little one. All three hooks from the front treble were in its tiny mouth. I struggled for about 45 seconds trying to get the treble free -- pushing the hooks further in its mouth, but it was so small there wasn't any room. 

I dropped the fish back in the water, and let it swim for a few seconds. Pulled it back up, and the part of the treble that was in its bottom lip was free! The other two parts of the treble were in its upper lip, but they were easy to remove now.

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.

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

What's the time? It's time to catch fish!

My Casio "fish watch" had two fish icons lit,
indicating it was time to catch smallmouth.

Whether by dumb luck or actually utilizing experience, I stumbled across smallmouth bass in a frenzy this morning where I induced seven fish to bite lures in about 30 minutes after Karen and I camped along the Potomac River.

Air temp was brisk after I rolled out the tent -- around 55 and climbing -- and water temp was 65 degrees. Overcast skies. 

After starting off the morning wading a secret spot on the river where I caught a 20-inch smallmouth last year (only caught one dink at the same location this morning), I moved down off a point that created a seam between fast and slow water. I cast a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper a couple feet into the faster water and slowly reeled as the swimbait drifted into the slower section. And nabbed a smallmouth (another dink) just as it crossed the seam.

I switched rods to one with a Heddon Zara Puppy tied on, cast to about the same area, and the lure disappeared in a small whirlpool of disturbance! Another hungry smallmouth, but this one seemed a little bigger. The fish submitted and sure enough, it was about about 14 inches.

The 14-inch smallmouth that nailed the Zara Puppy.
And my blood on my thumb after the fish weaponized the
treble hook to stab me.

While holding the fish and fumbling for my camera, four or five baitfish jumped within a couple feet of me. The spooked baitfish, I think, were trying to evade another smallmouth that was trailing the one I caught (fairly common for them to chase a hooked fish either to snatch whatever "food" is in their mouth or to say, "Hey man, don't worry, everything is going to be alright.").

Figuring there was at least one more smallmouth bass on the prowl, I snapped a picture of my fish, released it and cast the topwater lure again. Another fish attacked but used the Zara Puppy like an orca uses a beach ball at Sea World. The fish nosed the lure through the air a couple times but didn't actually chomp it.

The action went off and on for about 10 minutes with swimbaits (nothing else with the topwater lure), and I landed two more fish -- the tally was up to five at that point.

Then there was a lull for a little while, but it picked up again about 10 minutes later after shuffling a few feet downriver along that seam of fast/slow water. Again casting barely into the fast water and "drifting" the lure across to the sluggish water, I caught three more smallmouth bass -- one was in the 13-inch range, and the other two were dinks. I had another fish on that felt really good, but it freed itself before I could get a look at it.

The Reaction Innovations Little Dippers are really lively and oscillate wildly even drifting through current.

Then the frenzy was officially over -- no more fish were enticed after that.

I wandered back down the C&O tow path to our campsite, and Karen and I had a breakfast of eggs and sausage.

Itching to try again, I waded in the river behind our campsite. I caught a 12-inch smallmouth last night on a Little Dipper, and this area usually yields fish anyway. Peppering the water with casts even up past the last site on the campground, nothing was interested. I returned to the area directly behind our site, cast a Little Dipper and got smallmouth No. 9 for the day. This one was about 12 inches, and I pulled it out of the water just as Karen was coming down the bank with her fishing rods.

Karen gets a picture of me just
after landing a 12-inch smallmouth
behind our camp site.

A few casts later, No. 10 found its way to the end of my line. Nothing else after that, and Karen didn't catch anything (although she caught four smallmouth yesterday). I'm pretty sure it was my best day on the Potomac since 2016 when trying "Ned Rig" Z-Man Finesse TRD worms for the first time. 

That made it ten this morning plus one last night. 

The casualties of war: The tattered Little Dippers.
Notice two that are missing tails.

The spoils of war: A knife, a rod holder and
a hammer. No doubt from catfishers because
they leave EVERYTHING behind.

Also, for others fishing for smallmouth on the Potomac, don't forget to fill out the Maryland DNR survey specific to the river and smallmouth bass. DNR also has a general fisheries survey.

The only fish from yesterday -- a smallmouth bass
about 12 inches -- just before being released.
Picture taken with my Olympus Tough TG-6
submerged.

Karen had spotted these dragon flies emerging
like cicadas from their shells.

Two-foot long rainbows are actually pretty big

 

First fish of the year, a monster rainbow trout!

I was not expecting my first fishing trip of the year involving a monster rainbow trout, but here we are.

I decided to hit the Little Patuxent River this morning in the usual stretch and try out Bass Pro Shops Mean-Eye Swimmers (2-1/4") for the first time as well as a new two-piece Daiwa Tatula XT spinning rod (maybe the best $100 rod on the market).

First time using BPS Mean-Eye Swimmers.

As I was wandering down the river, a little movement to my right near the water caught my eye. It was a large, dark animal that I thought for a split second was a dog. As I turned my head to get a better look, the creature ambled down to the water, and I could clearly see a flat tail -- a beaver! I saw what I am sure was a mink a few years ago on the Little Patuxent, but never a beaver.

The black blob in the center is the beaver paddling
away to mess around at Metzger's Field

I made a stop upriver from my usual hot spot and made some casts with the Mean Eye Swimmer. It has a more subtle action compared to the Reaction Innovations Little Dipper I usually use for swimbaits. Just the rear tail paddled in the water as opposed to the oscillations Little Dippers produce.

On the fifth or sixth cast, I tossed the Mean Eye (shad pattern) near a rock protruding from the surface, turned the handle on the reel two or three times and WHAM! Wake me up before you go go, a big fish was on! It thrashed to the surface, and I could tell it was too long to be a smallmouth bass. Maybe a carp?

As I reeled in some more and the fish again came to the surface, I saw the horizontal pink band running down the fish's side -- a rainbow trout! This wasn't a little dink; this fish was BIG.

I was standing on the river bank about two to three feet above the water and came to a realization -- what was I going to do? This fish was probably five pounds, and I couldn't just heave it from the water. So I slid down the bank into the water. I didn't have a net, and the trout was a little too big to scoop with one hand while holding my rod in the other.

I held the rod tip up so the fish's head was out of the water, took a picture, then removed the swimbait -- thankfully it wasn't deeply embedded in the top of its mouth. The fish then rolled belly up, so I grabbed the fish's tail and turned it over. After pulling and pushing the fish a few times to get water flowing through the gills, I released my grip, and the trout slowly swam away.

I was stoked/shocked/whatever for about five minutes just trying to process what happened. I didn't measure the fish but eye-balled it with the Daiwa rod next to it as I was trying to revive it. When I got home, I pulled out a tape measurer -- the trout was 24 inches at least. Easily the biggest fish I'd caught on this river eclipsing the 16-inch smallmouth from five years ago.

This trout likely didn't grow this size in the Little Patuxent. When Maryland DNR stocks trout around the state early in the year, they release trout in varying sizes with a few trophy sized fish in the mix. So this rainbow likely grew up in a hatchery before being released to the wild. It feels a little like cheating -- I'd rather catch another 16-inch smallmouth again from its legit home turf.

After colleting myself, I moved down through a couple more spots. Finally caught a run-of-the-mill Little Patuxent smallmouth on the same Mean Eye swimbait that tricked the trout. A few casts later, had another one hooked -- likely in the 10- to 12-inch range -- that clamped the lure just as it hit the water.  Then it did an SDR (short distance release) just before I could pull it out of the river. Both smallmouth were in the same general area, tailwaters behind a rather fast flow through a rocky section.

Now that's more like it -- a cookie cutter smallmouth.

My other rod had a Heddon Zara Puppy tied on, and it wasn't getting any action.

Nothing other than a couple nibbles on the Mean Eyes before I donated them to the river. Switched over to the usual Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and had a couple sniffs at that, but I think they were timid sunfish.

The Mean Eyes are $3.50, so it sucks to lose them, as opposed to a Little Dipper swimbait, which comes in a pack of 10 for $7 or so. The Mean Eyes are a little more durable plastic, though, so as long as you don't snag them, they'd last longer than a Little Dipper. They each behave differently, so it's almost an apples-to-oranges comparison anyway.

The Daiwa Tatula XT rod seemed to do the trick. It's fairly light and had good sensitivity through the rod as the swimbaits skimmed rocks or the river bottom. Or hooked fish! Definitely a bargain at $99 (and I used a $25 gift card from Susquehanna Fishing Tackle that Karen got me for Christmas, so the rod was even less).

In addition to the beaver, I also saw three separate hatchling turtles -- that appeared to be snappers based on their long tails and knobby shells -- swimming in the water. I had never seen turtles in the Little Patuxent either.

Little Little Patuxent turtle.

Found some cookie cutters since the holiday season is around the corner

A cookie-cutter sub-12-inch smallmouth bass from the Upper Potomac River.  This picture was taken with my new Olympus TG-6 submerged underwater.  The river was really clear, and the clarity is really close to a picture I took out of the water of the same fish.

It was a return to Fifteenmile Creek Campground along the C&O Canal this weekend on the Upper Potomac River.  I finally tested out my new Olympus TG-6 camera with a couple fishy pictures with the camera submerged underwater.  The clarity of the river now barely affected the pictures -- they were almost as clear as the pictures taken of the fish out of the water (see below).

In just under two hours on Saturday, I caught two cookie-cutter (sub 12-inch) smallmouth bass each on the same Reaction Innovations Little Dipper.  Rando-casting into the middle of the river, both chomped on the swimbait and fought bravely despite their size limitations.  

Fish had no other interest in a River2Sea Whopper Plopper (I didn't think a topwater lure would entice them, but ya gotta try!  Because topwater.) or a shallow-running Rapala Shadow Rap.  

The clarity of the water made it deceptive for wading.  The bottom of the river with its rocky terrain looked to be extremely shallow -- maybe a foot or so deep, and I could walk across to the West Virginia side.  But a few places, I would take a step and plunge to my waist in water.  If the flow isn't as clear, it's easier to identify shallower water because the sunlight still can't penetrate murkier sediment.

Oh and the water was around 48 degrees.  I didn't have insulated waders, but it was tolerable thanks to the sun and air temps in the mid-60s.

What time is it?  It's fish o'clock!

Another new techno product I was trying was a Casio Active Dial Multi-Task Gear Sport Watch.  In layman's terms, a "fishing watch."  I don't wear watches but for some reason stumbled upon this one, and Karen got it for me for our anniversary.  It's water proof (can be used diving down to 200 meters) and has a fishing mode based on moon data (I think common solunar tables integrated with GPS).

It is fairly inexpensive, and I was intrigued by the functionality.  Plus I could check time the old fashioned way -- glance at my wrist instead of fumbling with a phone.  In the middle of a river.  Where I could drop the phone.

There are five LCD icons that indicate the ideal fishing conditions.  Basically no icons means fish aren't prone to feeding, and it progresses from one to five.  The four fish icons lit plus the "FISH" text blinking every second means you better stop what you're doing and cast a line in the water.  Which of course was happening as we were driving home on Sunday.

But whatever.  It tells time and is waterproof.  A small hindrance is the watch hands obscure the digital display, and nobody is going to mistake it for a Richard Mille.

Now here are pictures of smallmouth bass!

Smallmouth number one, picture taken out of the water ...

... and with the camera submerged.

Another photo comparison with the next smallmouth:

Smallmouth number two out of the water ...

... and about to be released.

Moar pics with the Olympus TG-6:

Landscape mode.

Underwater shot.

Setting sun.

River shot.

Sunrise on Fifteenmile Creek at the Potomac River confluence.

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One and a half fish

Under an I-95 overpass, the best view
as morning rush hour was winding down.

Not much doing on a Monday in October with water temps at 50 degrees.  A Columbus Day off directed me targeting non-indigenous fish of Maryland -- smallmouth bass!

After the remnants of Hurricane Ian stammered through the area last week -- just steady, moderate rain -- the Little Patuxent River was at its normal self this morning and actually wasn't very stained.  One cookie-cutter smallmouth slurped a Heddon Zara Puppy on my third or fourth cast and freed itself after a brief struggle.

Later another cookie-cutter smallmouth hit a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper and stayed on so I could take a picture.

Which didn't work out as planned.  I had purchased an Olympus Tough TG-6 to replace my aging (10 years old, LOL) Canon S90.  While replacing my Samsung Galaxy A6 with a newer variant might get me something that takes better pictures, I opted for the TG-6 because it's waterproof and a bit more rugged.  Duh, that's why "Tough" is in the name!  I can drop it in the water and even shoot pictures underwater of fish.  

I envisioned my first fishing expedition with the Olympus camera with me taking a picture with the camera submerged while setting a fish free.  But for some reason I got an error message because of the data card.  

So here are just some random underwater pictures taken with the new camera with no fish present:

Pictures seem better than the Nikon Coolpix I shot with a couple years ago.  I stopped using because of battery life and, well, the pictures weren't that good, although the little camera captured one of my top-five pictures of all time.

And here's a comparison of the Olympus TG-6 (first picture) versus the Galaxy A6 (second picture) at the same spot just seconds apart:

The Samsung phone isn't very good under low-light conditions and even the Canon S90 excelled there.  It looks like the Olympus is better for normal colors and not muddying things down.

Karen and I are scheduled to go camping on the Potomac in two weeks, then there's the first trip of the year with Susquehanna Smallmouth Solutions after that, but otherwise, I think the fishing season is winding to a close.

Do not adjust your monitor if you see spots. Or walleye. Or a meanmouth.

The first of many largemouth spotted bass.

As has become a tradition in our yearly road trips, after Karen drives out from Maryland and picks me up at an airport somewhere out west, and we fish the following Wednesday.  In 2019, it was Rainy Lake on the Minnesota-Canada border.  In 2020, it was Lewis and Clark Lake part of the Missouri River system on the Nebraska-South Dakota border.  In 2021, it was back to Rainy Lake.

Karen has left it up to me where to fish, and this year I chose Table Rock Lake in the Ozark territory of Missouri.  We stayed at a hotel the first night, and I didn't find a stash of money hidden in the walls.

This was an experience that wasn't turning out well even before we got on the water.  First, I booked a guide with Fishing Booker, and all I heard from him was the robo, "Thanks for giving me a deposit!" email.  I sent a message a couple weeks later asking where we would be launching from and NOTHING.

After cancelling with him, I went to Fishing Booker again, and because of his positive ratings, I booked a trip with Eric from Eric's Elite Guide Service.  Got the robo response and immediately messaged asking where we would likely be fishing so Karen and I could book a hotel nearby.  He responded within a few hours.

It was a Wednesday trip, and the day before as Karen and I were cruising toward Branson, Missouri, Eric called me.  He had boat issues.  I was afraid he wanted to cancel, but he gave the option of starting to fish at 3 p.m. (initial launch was supposed to be 6 a.m. and fishing for four hours) while he commandeered a backup boat from one of his guides.  I told him I would mull it over and call back.

One of three species I caught for
the first time -- a longear sunfish.

It was HOT at this point and didn't seem to be letting up for the next day.  Mid-90s temps, and we would be fishing right in the middle of it.  I asked Karen what she wanted to do, and she gave me the usual, "It's up to you."  

Thinking we would have to stay another night in Branson since it would be a later trip, and it would be too late reserving another hotel room had me on the fence.  But I found a tent site open at the local KOA.  Called Eric back and told him, "Fish on!"

Instead of fishing at 6 a.m. as originally planned, we had the morning free.  I wanted to go to Pea Ridge Battlefield but Karen suggested another nearby battlefield, Wilson's Creek, and we could visit Pea Ridge the next day.  So we drove to the former.

When we got there, the parking lot at the visitors center looked full, and there were a couple of park rangers heading us off at the pass.

"Are you here for the ceremony?"

"What ceremony?"

"The one for the 161st anniversary of the battle."

Then we saw a large canopy with a bunch of people underneath escaping the heat and the about-to-be-sweltering temps.

It turned out, we stumbled on the exact day of the Battle of Wilson's Creek 161 years later.  Of course we obligated to stay and drove the battlefield tour afterwards.  Spoiler alert:  The Confederates won.  

Looking back on how the events unfolded, if it wasn't for Eric's boat issues, we probably would have fished in the morning and visited Wilson's Creek the next day missing the ceremony. 

After leaving Wilson's Creek, with the sun getting higher in the sky, we meandered through the winding roads of the Ozarks to Baxter Marina.  As the crow flies from Wilson Creek, it's about 20 miles.  As it drives, it's 120, or so it seemed.

We found Eric at the end of the dock already waiting for us, and boarded the boat.

His borrowed steed was a Skeeter of some flavor with a quiet engine even at full throttle.  His regular boat was a 2022 model that had a compressor issue, and he had to be towed back to the marina the day before.

Eric was confident the bite was on, but I was sweating and downing water not sure of what to expect.

After about 20 minutes knifing through the water, we stopped at a spot maybe 30 feet from shore.  It looked shallow but since Table Rock Lake was a reservoir produced from damning the White River in the 1950s, looks were deceiving.  It was roughly 30 feet to the bottom of the lake at that spot.

Eric rigged a "drop shot" -- a sinker with a hook tied 8-10 inches from the weight.  Threaded with a plain nightcrawler on the hook, I let the bait sink and hit the bottom of the lake.

"You have a fish on," Eric calmly said while still trying to assemble Karen's rig.

Double spots?!  What's it mean?

I jerked the rod, and there was indeed a something fighting on the other end.  Cranked on the spinning reel to bring the fish to the surface, and it looked like a largemouth bass about 14 inches.

But it wasn't a largemouth.  It was a close relation, a spotted bass.  "Spots" look almost exactly like largemouth but their mouths aren't as big, and they don't sprout more than smallmouth bass size.  A 14-incher like the first one I pulled up was picture worthy.

An easy way to identify a spot over a largemouth is to feel the fish's tongue -- spots have a small sandpaper-like patch on the tip.

That first spot was the beginning of a short frenzy.  Karen caught one.  I caught one.  Karen caught another.  And all the fish were legal size, although we didn't keep any.

I think I had 11 fish while Karen had at least as many before we motored to another spot.  Here I reeled in what looked like a smallmouth bass, but it wasn't a smallie.  Read about The Legend of the One-Eyed Meanmouth Bass.

Double walleye?!  What's it mean?

We trekked to another area and still tantalizing fish with a nightcrawler and found walleye territory.  Minimum keeper size on Table Rock is 18 inches, and we boated three while having to release a few that didn't measure up.  Karen had the biggest walleye at 22 inches.

After four hours, I counted 18 fish for me.  Karen didn't keep track but I'm sure she had at least as many.

Sometimes our guides are more pumped than we are, and Eric was sure the late start made for better fishing despite the heat.  The breeze was comforting and maybe the fish were on the cusp of fall feeding.

Karen and I caught our first spotted bass, and I caught my first meanmouth bass, plus another first, a long-ear sunfish,

Definitely in you're in the Branson, Missouri, itching to land fish, check with Eric's Elite Guide Service on availability.

From water to flame, not many -- if any -- fish
taste better than walleye cooked two hours after
pulling them out of the water.

Want to see more pictures from the trip from Utah and Canyonlands and Arches and the New River, click on the picture below: