A fishing pard pointed out a good spot and I’ve been trying it out. It’s on the main river in our drainage, one of the bigger in Michigan, and the one that the other rivers I’ve been fishing dump into.
It’s a shallow point that sticks out into the water creating a narrow “slot” of deep water up against the opposite bank.
I’ve been thinking about a MH baitcaster rig for big topwaters & pike lures but I had a big 3500 sized spinning reel so I got an inexpensive 7’ MH. I was a little hesitant to use it for anything but the biggest fish because I like the feel of em fighting on lighter tackle… been running a 6’6” fast action medium light rod for 75% of my fishing this year, and a 5’6” fast action light rod for almost everything else.
We worked the edges around the shallow water on our side and caught nothing but kept losing our worms and leeches to small fish. As light waned I switched to the MH set up and a 130 whopper plopper, which with that MH set up I was able to cast into the faster deeper water on the other side of the river.
On my first cast something huge took the lure. The water is fast and the fight went on a while; even with that 7’ MH rod it took some work to get him in. It was a personal best smallie that weighed over 4 lbs and was a solid 18” long:
I was super excited by this fish. First fish on a new rod/reel, first on a new lure size (I’ve done well on the 90), and first good one in this spot, and of course a fantastic fight and personal best!
After letting him go I cast back out and caught another good one, but not quite as good:
He also knew how to use the strong current and there was one point when I wondered if I ought to have changed out my leader after that monster.
I cast again with nothing, and a 4th time got me another nice smallie, again smaller than the one previous but still fun:
The summer doldrums have been hitting us hot and heavy with a lot more effort necessary to catch fish. I’ve been working hard to expand my repertoire to be more versatile and be able to catch fish under different conditions and I’ve learned a ton.
By far best year of fishing I’ve had since childhood. My wife even commented something like “wow honey you’ve been catching tons this year!”
Thanks for reading I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!