No…I’m not on Cheq Bay, Lake Erie, or Lake St Clair…not Canada, Maine or Pickwic Dam… I’m fishing in Da U.P. on a public lake 45 min from home!
My friend Rich “moose” Henrion and I decided to put my strategy of deep water Drop Shotting to the test for late summer Bass…His first attempt (3rd cast) and this tank crushes the 3.5″ Stinger worm and it all began!
I was working the edge of a long rock point that dropped abruptly from 7 to 40 fow… 5 years of Zebra Mussels have this lake as clear as air, but 70% of the weedbeds are gone…I am guessing that the smallies have relocated to crayfish for their staples, and the long rock rubble bar has many. I opt to try an 1/8th oz custom football jig with a 3″ craw trailer…about 4 casts and this baby nearly takes my rod with her!
The color of my jigs has a lot of red…a few weeks ago my friend Richard had a crayfish hang onto his Senko and we were surprised to see the vivid red color it had.
I contacted my friend Jack at Elk River Jigs and he was kind enough to send a few samples… they worked really well!
The wind blew softly at our backs and I set a trail on my I Pilot to parallel to the rock bar and stay out in about 30 fow…casting to 15-24 fow. Rich sticks another Sow with
the 702 Dropshot and now I break out my own rod rigged with 8# Abrazx fluoro and a Revolution Stinger worm in Watermelon Red. That is some great line!Thank you Glen Walker for that tip!
I should mention that this fishing trip was a midday to 6 PM jaunt…not really “Prime Time”…makes you wonder…
I flipped the DS rig gently ahead of the boat and repeated the drill…tighten up, shake…pull a few feet, and repeat… the line suddenly feel heavy…hookset! Deep throbbing headshakes…another big fat brown fish…gotta LOVE this boys!
In 6 hours we put 19 Bass in the net…12 fish from 16-18.5″ and 5 tanks from 19″ to 19.5″…Not pinching tails, just laying them on my Hawg Trough. The over 19″ fish weighed from 5.02 to 6.42 lbs on my Rapala scale…exceptional girths for 19″ers (amazing!)
I cant remember a better afternoon fishing smallies of such amazing size! I wish you were here!
See ya on the water! Tom
Here are more pics including the lures we used… My friend Rich caught 3 of the Mongos and it was a lifetime day for him… not to mention he stuck a 7 and 8.5 lb Lgmouth this summer…
Lucky guy Tom, I wish I could get into some smallies like that, I’m envious.
Great report Tom and great pics.
That looked to be a whole lotta fun!
Nice! 
Nice fish Tom
WTG Tom!!!!!!!!! 45 mins from you means, it might be an hour from me???
Mark
There are several lakes along the border between us that are loaded with 17-20″ Smallies that hardly ever see a boat on them…
That looks like a lot of fun Tom!
Congrats on a very memorable day! 
Nice job Tom!
Tom:
My bad, if I had been reading a little more carefully I would have understood what’s going on!!!
Mark
Tom and Rich,
Awesome day you two…..
Super brown bass !!!!
Rich- I really hope the Explorer is working out for you.
Jack
Hey Tom
Great report. Tell me about the yellow rod you’re using in your first pic. Can’t say I’ve ever seen one that color. It definitely sticks out.
Sorry I missed your reply on this one James… It is a Skeet Reese Micro Guide finesse worm rod… I will say it is a sensitive, easy casting rod, albeit a lot slower action than the typical St Croix’s I am used to. Definately worth a tryout, I would stick to braid or flouro though, due to the softer action on hooksets.
Chicaugon is one of my favorite lakes for smallmouth. Been up there a couple times and we caught fish on all.bThe water is gin clear