Today was a big fish day! I didn’t get bit a lot but when I did it was a darn good fish. I caught 10 smallmouth bass in about 3 hours of fishing. The fished ranged from 12 inches to 17 inches. In my 6 years of blogging I’ve never talk about fish that I’ve lost. I figure there is not point and many times, I never know how big they really are. Today I’m going make an exception. I had two fish that I lost close to the kayak after they totally annihilated my top water bait. These fish were definitely 19 inch plus fish…definitely! I don’t loose a lot of big fish and to loose two on the same day…well its a bumber!! hey that’s fishing though. I’m definitely putting the braided line back on my top water combo!
Unfortunately, I have not pictures of the fish today. My camera took a swim. Time for a new water proof one!!
Time Fished
2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Weather Conditions
- 60 degrees
- alternating periods of sun, overcast, and rain (it was some crazy weather today!)
Water Conditions
- 68 degrees
- Clear
- Below normal levels for this time of year
Baits Used
- Yum Dinger
- Houdini Shad
- Custom Popper (in development)
Fish Caught
- 10 smallmouth bass ranging from 12-17 inches
Comments on Pattern
This was definitely a big fish day and a top water day. I did get some bites on the other baits but the popper definitely drop the most attention. The key pattern was finding weed growth in about 3 feet of water or more that reached the surface. I worked the popper around the weed edges. This is were I caught the biggest fish and lost the two monsters. It was definitely a strong pattern.
Juan! that stinks about the lost fish! I had the same problem yesterday too! I was fishing at sayers practicing for my tournament next sunday (october 4) and i missed 2 fish that easily went 2lbs and another that was 4+lbs!!! I dont know what i was doing wrong.. i landed the smaller fish but the bigger ones would swim about halfway to the boat, swim to the left, then come unhooked!
Jimmy, I was fishing a popper that has a lot of weight and the fish seemed to throw it easier. I was actually fishing a bad rod for the job. A medium light glass rod. It was just too soft to get a good hook set. I changed up. to my 7 foot Allstar TPS. The allstar is graphite. It has a nice flexible tip but better backbone. I still lost the second big one on this combo. I’m fishing mono on the rig now. I’m going to switch it back over to braid. I prefer braid on my top water rods for a coupe of reason. First, low stretch means a more solid hookset on long casts. I tend to make really long casts when I’m top water fishing. Second, it floats so its a lot easier to manage in moving water. If my line get a big bow in it on a long cast, I can pick up line and slack very easily. Similar to fly fishing.
Juan, I enjoy your articles – thank you. Tough break on loosing the big ones, but at least you got a good look at them. For a waterproof camera I recommend the Olympus Stylus model and the optional floating strap. It is my favorite fishing accessory for the past two years. I mostly wade the Juniata and Susquehanna and as a catch and release angler it is nice to have pictures of the “keepers”.
Also wanted to add a comment on the torpedo, my favorite topwater lure. I notice you have recommended the “tiny” size in the past, which I do have success with but I have had better success with the larger “baby” size – what has been your experience with the baby size?
Doug, that’s actually one of the camera’s that I really like. I’ve heard good things about it! on the torpedo.. I tend to lean toward the smaller size baits for top waters…but I’m a firm believer, that under the right conditions big baits catch big fish. The baby would probably be perfect. I like the tiny because it does a nice job on some of the smaller flows I fish during the week..and I’m too dang cheep to invest in a bunch of each (baby and tiny) so I pick one.