I took the daughter to one of my favorite early season creek mouths to see if the suckers were running. I only had an hour, so I moved the bait, a crawler, to different areas about every 10 minutes. I had no bites until about 20 minutes remaining on the clock when I finally pulled in a 17 1/4 Redhorse. We are talking about 7:40, so the sun was getting low. I proceeded to catch 2 more by 8pm, so it was 3 in about 20 minutes, then time to go home. I wish I could have stayed longer. How long will these guys be there?
I’ve had issues in the past with nibblers at this spot. Today I had the light rod and reel and I loosened the drag enough so that if a big fish shot off with my offering, the line would peel off the spool instead of snapping or the rod getting pulled into the water. Using a circle hook I would let these guys ‘nibble’ all they wanted until I thought they were hooked. That worked perfectly. I had a 3:1 hook up ratio, 1 being a miss at the end where I didn’t give it as much time from the first indication of a bite. I am sure the fish were hooked well before I picked up the rod each time too, but letting the rod and circle work their magic was the ticket.
These guys were like walking a dog when you reel them in until they got near the shore. Then they got ornery. I take that back, 2 of them fought like this, the 17″ers. The last guy was only 15″, but when I was reeling him in, I thought I had a little smallmouth or something else on the end of the line. He actually felt bigger than the other two.
So it was a good short trip where I learned to move the bait until you find them and use light gear with a circle and give them time to set the hook on themselves. Also, with all the trips to this spot I have made, I finally realize where they have been 90% of the time and where to concentrate from now on when I go there.
