The bite on pool 8 for the past month or so in my boat has been very spotty to say the least. One day you have a great day fighting the current on the main channel, the next, it can be extremely tough. The high water that we had also brought extremely high flow and made those areas unfishable for a while in my boat. With a couple weeks withought much precipitation, the water has finally come down and cleared up considerably, making these areas fishable, and the smallmouth bass are on a tear.
I hit the water around 10:30 yesterday to see if I could find some smallies that would be willing to bite for today’s trip with Justin. Call it pre-fishing if you will. My goal was to cover many wingdams on the pool and locate the best ones so I didn’t have to waste time when I had an extra person in the boat. The end result of that was 6 keepers early in the day and after I left that area, I never caught a bass again. My 5 fish limit was only a touch over 9 lbs with the biggest going about 3 lbs. I lost a solid 3-1/2 to 4 lber at the boat and I knew that this was the right area.
Arriving at the spot today right before the kickoff of the packer game was an incredible feeling. The first fish was boated by Justin at the same time the packers scored their first touchdown.
It turned out to be a day of amazment for us both, as we proceeded to catch some of the largest smallmouth I have ever seen in my boat. My first fish of the day was a 20″ smallmouth that made some incredible runs at the boat. I took a long time to catch my second keeper of the day, however it was worth it when another 20″ fish came to the boat, this one being much fatter than the first. The fish could hardly swim it was so fat, and I honestly thought I may have a smallmouth that would be close to 6 lbs when I first saw it. I won’t talk my self up much more, this whole time Justin was whacking the smallmouth too. By 4:30, Justin had 8 keepers in the boat, and I had 7 keepers (not including a 14″ snagged in the side). Justin’s best 5 were 13-1/2 lbs and mine were at 15-3/4. But it does not stop there. Just minutes before it was time to leave (due to darkness), i felt weight on my line. After a few minutes of fighting It finally set in what had just happened. I had boated a 19-1/2 inch smallie which secured the biggest limit of my life. At 19-1/4 lbs, I could hardly believe what I was doing. Thank goodness for a good friend that was with to share the experience and witness this magical day. We caught all of our fish on wingdams in 7-15 ft of water with little current on them. Not every wingdam is going to produce. You need a combination of light current, sand, and wintering water nearby. 2 of these monster smallies came off of the same dam, the other came off of a different one. Both of these dams have access to 30+ foot water.
Hair jigs are the way to go. 
pictured below are a sample of Justin’s fish. We also had one double today, they were both the exact same size. My fish is on the right.
