7//7 smallmouth report

Made it out after work with my son last Thurs evening. Had only been out a couple of previous times so far this year, but the fishing had been pretty slow. Finally had some decent luck this time. We caught 40-50 smallies and while most of them were 5-8 inches, we managed to catch some nice fish too. We caught 3 around 15 inches as well as another 6-8 fish from 12-14 inches. Unfortunately my son lost one quite a bit bigger. Judging by the way the drag sang and the rod bent I would guess it was at least 18″. Hopefully we’ll get a shot at it in another week or 2.

We fished almost exclusively with spinners since we didn’t have a lot of time and wanted to cover quite a bit of water.

i am assuming you were on a river. Which one???

Going by what Lew has just reported to us, the best I can give you is that it’s within an hours drive of Rochester

boy, I thought we were tight lipped on the bass forum.

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Going by what Lew has just reported to us, the best I can give you is that it’s within an hours drive of Rochester

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Please see my response to this under the report. “Smallie On A Hot Night”. Maybe I am way too naive for my own good, but I feel that most of the smallie fisherman that read these reports share my concern for the fishery in our area. The person that took a 4 lb smallie home recently found that fish the old fashioned way, casting his line. I’m not suggesting that we need to share GPS coordinates, but I will still share general information.

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I feel that most of the smallie fisherman that read these reports share my concern for the fishery in our area.

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I agree with you on that note, but the problem is that it only takes one or two people to ruin it for everybody.

My dad and I used to share where we fished. But, after we reported that the fishing was quite good on a particular stretch of water there was an increase of fisherman out there. We never did have real good luck out there after that. Maybe it was just a coincidence that that part of river saw an increase in pressure, but I think it was more from the fact that we told people where we were. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they practiced C&R. They unfortunately kept their limit. If that keeps up it doesn’t take long to get fished out.

The bottom line is that personally seeing a favorite stretch of water go kaput…well that was enough for us. We just don’t say where we fish anymore.

Sharing can be done by saying you caught fish on a river bend or deep hole or below a riffle, etc. Exact locations don’t have to be given out. You can mention a certain river or stream between such and such town or area. General info about your fishing and lures/bait used will point people in the right direction but finding a spot and catching is up to the anglers who decide to fish that stretch of water.

Thanks, Bill

PS. Thanks for sharing with all of us everyone. We ALL learn from each other no matter where we are in the skill level in angling. Keep the reports coming!