Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Great evening of fishing

Been on a mission for smallies all summer. I live in a watershed known for lots of them, and work near a trib with big ones. Last night I had some time so I hiked into a favorite spot to see what I could do.

Along the way I’ve been hoping for some northern but before last night hadn’t caught any, although I’d “guided” my son in law and his buddy each to one.

On my way into the dam I caught a few dinks on a Mepps but when I got to the deeper water I switched to a two-bladed half-ounce spinner bait to take full advantage.

I knew where they ought to be, and just a few casts in I hooked a smallish northern and got a couple pics. He was feisty as they always are and fought very well. Awesome fish these toothy torpedoes are!!



I was pretty excited to have heard my drag sing the way it did so I turned toward an area where I’d lost a few (YES! 3x!! ) big smallies the previous time I was there. I’ve got their location dialed in… they’re hanging in deepest water right where the dam releases hence the effectiveness of the ned rig & my need to “bottom bounce”.

Maybe third cast I hooked my personal best smallie. I was by myself and had lost some LUNKERS in that exact spot last time so I was REALLY excited… hootin and hollering all by myself, talking to the fish first begging him to stay on then thanking him for an awesome fight… then cursing myself for forgetting to put one of my two tape measures back in my tackle bag after I’d laid it all out to dry… so I quickly took pics with the fish near my pole for reference. I’ll compare lengths to try and get an estimate when I have time:






After the excitement of catching that pig I went back to “the northern zone” and pretty quickly caught a little but rather exuberant northern. I’m pretty sure he’d have been a keeper (24”) so he was bigger than what I’d call a “hammer handle” and he jumped and flipped all over.




Funny cuz as I approached the dam all I’d caught was dinks and I thought, “man I wish ida brought my light weight pole to make this more fun…”

Sure reminded me of how hunting and fishing, as with most things in life, are best shared with friends and family. It’s satisfying just having done it but man to have had a friend with me to share that really woulda been the icing on the cake.

I hope everyone has a great summer!!!

LIKE !

Awesome!

Great evening! No one can have a bad outing when the smallies are biting, great fun fish!

Osky

Took my son in law over to that same spot last night. He has really gotten into fishing since I took the family to witness my grandson’s (his son) catching of his first fish. I keep giving him stuff and he keeps branching out and checking out different things. A few weeks ago we fished this spot and he caught his first northern on a swim bait that cost him $15 which he promptly lost when a second northern broke his line with its teeth.

He has since decided he’d like to learn topwater. He picked up a couple Zara puppies and tied them on right away. I was in the middle of offering unsolicited advice about how I’ve always had my best topwater action near dark when he hooked his first fish. I promptly kept my “expert opinion” to myself and laughed at my desire to treat him like a kid even tho he is a grown man in all the most important ways.



I’ve really loved fishing with him. We’ve been pretty close for many years but this has drawn us closer. He is a deep thinker and fun to hang with.

At any rate he was excited to catch that smallie & caught another that we didn’t they a picture of. I’ve been trying to figure out different methods of fishing deeper running water and caught quite a nice fish. I had the tape measure and wish I’d have taken the time to get a measurement! It fought really well but I made the mistake of comparing it to the one I got last week rather than to the vast majority I’ve caught this year. Didn’t realize how nice it was till I saw the pic of myself later in the evening.



This guy bent my rod deep it was great!

I also caught a more average one, but in these rivers even these guys are a blast and a half to catch!



It’s been one heckofa summer fishing-wise!!